Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C. --
After more than seven months in the arid desert of Afghanistan, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 264 made their triumphant return to their awaiting families in the early morning hours of Aug. 10, inside their hanger aboard Marine Corps Air Station New River.
Just after 3 a.m. three buses packed with the Black Knights arrived at their hangar. After a brief formation, the Marines were released to greet their not-so-patiently waiting families.
“I have been so excited and anxious for my husband to finally get home,” said Annette Rall, wife of Cpl. Ethan Rall, VMM-264 Osprey crew chief. “While my husband was on deployment, I gave birth to our second child and I am just excited for him to finally be able to meet his daddy.”
While deployed, VMM-264 performed all of the duties requested of them to the highest of Marine Corps standards and finally completed their mission.
“One of our main responsibilities while deployed is general mission support,” said Maj. Aaron Bonds, VMM-264 executive officer. “We also perform tactical insertions and extractions, medical evacuations and causality evacuations.”
The flight crews of VMM-264 flew more than 2,000 hours, carried more than 19,000 passengers and flew more than 600,000 pounds of cargo while executing general support operations in support of combat operations, said Bonds.
“The Marines and Sailors of VMM-264 performed outstanding on this deployment,” said Bonds. “They conducted 24-hour operations, seven days a week, with 20% less personnel than the previous deployment and successfully supported every mission that was assigned without missing a beat.”
The squadron also successfully executed more than 60 named operations in support of foreign militaries, including British, Australian and Afghan armed forces.
“During all of the missions that were carried out by the Black Knights, there were zero mission fails or aborts,” said Bonds.