15th Marine Expeditionary Unit Arrives at Indian Ocean

The San Diego-based Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and embarked 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton arrived in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of operations in the Indian Ocean today, the Navy announced.

The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu, amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay and the dock landing ship USS Rushmore left San Diego Sept. 17 for a seven-month deployment to the western Pacific Ocean and Middle East. The 15th MEU includes 2,400 Marines and sailors.

The Amphibious Ready Group is taking part in maritime security operations and what the Navy calls "theater security cooperation efforts."

Earlier this month, they stopped in tiny Timor-Leste, a mostly Roman Catholic nation that broke away from mostly Muslim Indonesia about a decade ago, to train its armed forces and provide medical and dental care to the local populace.

—City News Service