Approximately 200 Marines and sailors with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, will return to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay tonight after completing a seven-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Marines and sailors are the first of several groups scheduled to return throughout September. The battalion, also known as "America's Battalion," participated in the stabilization, security and counter-terror efforts currently under way by other Marines Corps and U.S. forces in Iraq.

The troops deployed approximately 1,000 Marines and sailors to the Middle East in April in support of Task Force Military Police and provided general convoy security in support of Multi-National Force West convoys. This task force is under the command of II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group in Al Asad, Iraq. The headquarters for II MEF is at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.