After seven months of deployment around the world, more than 5,000 military personnel returned to San Diego this weekend.

The U.S. Navy sailors and Marines formed the Makin Island Amphibious Preparation Team, which was deployed on November 10 after conducting pre-deployment isolation and back-to-back exercises in October.

“I want to hug him and remind him that I got the first hug in 2014,” Izzy Gurrola said.

For the few families who are allowed to wait for their relatives on the dock, the long-awaited return is special, as COVID-19 restrictions still only allow a certain number of people in the area.

Some of these lucky families are holding a new baby and waiting for their news dad.

“The ultimate goal is for him to go home, so it is worth looking forward to. Fundamentally speaking, this is what prompted me to move forward, because you know that you are a mother who can’t rest, so you have to persevere no matter what.

It is safe to say that these sailors and Marines are very happy to be back in the arms of their loved ones again.

“Oh, this is great, this is the best part of deployment, all of which is worth it. This is the best part here.” Paul Gurrola said.

The Mackin Island ARG is composed of the amphibious assault ship “Mackin Island” and the amphibious transport dock ships “San Diego” and “Somerset”, commanded by the third squadron of the amphibious squadron.

After unloading, USS McKin Island (LHD 8), USS San Diego (LPD 22) and USS Somerset (LPD 25) will return to the port of San Diego Naval Base after being unloaded, and the 15th MEU crew will continue to be transported by ARG Arrived at the side of the pier, the military spokesman said.

They will return to San Diego after seven months of deployment to the US Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Fleet operations area. During the deployment, the sailors and marines provided support for the Octave Quartz operation in Somalia, the natural determination operations in Iraq and Syria, the theater amphibious exercises in Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and provided support for the 2021 Northern Fringe exercise in Alaska. stand by.

ARG-MEU conducted more than 10,000 hours of flight operations, 6,800 launches and recoveries, and traversed 135,000 nautical miles of high seas and restricted waterways.