Second Marine Division

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The 2d Marine Division is the ground combat element of II MEF. Its backbone is the individual Marine infantryman whose basic mission is to locate, close with, attack and destroy, or capture the enemy.

The Division is comprised of more than 15,000 enlisted Marines and Sailors and 1,000 officers who form the 2d, 6th and 8th Marine Regiments (infantry), 10th Marine Regiment (artillery), 2d Tank Battalion, 2d Reconnaissance Battalion, 2d Combat Engineer Battalion, Headquarters Battalion, 2d Assault Amphibian Battalion and 2d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.

Formed in 1941, division units began regular deployments to the Mediterranean as landing forces for the U.S. Sixth Fleet. The units have also deployed to Korea as replacements during the Korean War and to the Middle East to evacuate Americans and to prevent civil war during the Mideast crisis. The 2d Marine Division provided forces for the multinational peacekeeping effort in Beirut and for Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, Operation Just Cause in Panama, and Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.

Most recently, the 2d Marine Division provided forces for multinational peacekeeping efforts in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Liberia. The 2d Marine Division - the "Follow Me Division" - is combat ready and an intregal part of America's force in readiness.

  
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