Peoria Marines coming home
<p align="justify">If all goes according to plan, some 40 Peoria County-based Marine Corps reservists could be home in about two weeks, officials said Thursday.
<p align="justify">Capt. Justin Miller of Company C, 6th Engineer Support Battalion, said the Marines are expected to arrive in the United States within the next six days after spending seven months in Iraq. They will head initially to Camp Lejeune, the Corps' largest base on the East Coast, for a series of debriefing classes.
<p align="justify">"They'll spend four to six days at Lejeune getting post deployment classes about financial and stress management as well as health assessments," Miller said. "If all goes well, they could head back to Peoria by the first week of April."
<p align="justify">The Marines left for Iraq in September and have been based mostly at Taqaddum, located in the Anbar Province in western Iraq. There, they have been involved with construction, checking roads for IEDs and convoy operations.
<p align="justify">First Sgt. Casey Samborski, also with Company C, said the travel arrangements have not been totally worked out, meaning the group of 40 could arrive here in smaller batches or even in Chicago when they ultimately leave Lejeune.
<p align="justify">The battalion sent 40 other Marines to Iraq as well. Those Marines are serving with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines Regiment, or the 3/5. Miller said they have spent most of their time in Fallujah, but have been involved in more combat-related operations because of their assignment.
<p align="justify">Since the Iraq war started in 2003, members of the reserve unit, based at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center near Bellevue, have been to the Middle East repeatedly, with 2004 being the last time the entire company was deployed. A handful have been deployed at various times to fill in where needed.
<p align="justify">In those previous deployments, three of the unit's members were killed in Iraq. Cpl. Joshua Palmer, 24, of Blandinsville died November 2004 when his bulldozer fell into the Euphrates River near Fallujah. Two others -- Cpl. Evan James, 20, of LaHarpe and Sgt. Bradley Korthaus, 29, of Davenport, Iowa -- drowned while swimming across a canal in southeastern Iraq in March 2003.
<p align="justify">This time around, Miller said, there have been no fatalities and only a couple of Marines sent stateside because of injuries suffered there.
<p align="justify">Andy Kravetz can be reached at (309) 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com.