CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Marine Christopher Minor was greeted by wife Tebra and daughter Christina yesterday after arriving at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. He was among 100 Marines from 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, returning to Hawaii after five months in Afghanistan.

100 Hawaii Marines return from war

About 100 Marines and sailors returned to Hawaii yesterday from a five-month deployment to Afghanistan, where they joined an offensive to root out Taliban and al-Qaida militants near the border with Pakistan.

About 200 family members and friends greeted the troops with leis and hugs after a chartered jet landed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.

"It was a very overwhelming experience, and it was great to see an early group of our boys come home," said 2nd Lt. Binford Strickland, a spokesman for Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

The returning troops belong to the Hawaii-based 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. Another roughly 300 from the battalion will be returning from Afghanistan within the next few weeks.

In Afghanistan they participated in Operation Mountain Lion -- a campaign involving some 2,500 Afghan and U.S. troops to hunt down extremists allied to the country's toppled Taliban regime and their al-Qaida allies.

The offensive was one of the biggest since U.S.-led forces ousted the hard-line Taliban regime in late 2001 for hosting al-Qaida.

The sailors were assigned to serve the Marines' medical needs. Though some Marines have first aid certification, the Marine Corps does not have its own professional medical personnel.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii still has one battalion in Iraq: the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.

A red carpet ran from the chartered jet to a hangar on base where the families and friends waited with signs and leis to welcome home their loved ones.

Several of the troops saw their newborn children for the first time when they walked off the plane, including one captain who knelt to hold his 8-week-old firstborn.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Marines from 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment deplaned yesterday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.