Photo © NYT/AP - Battle in Helmand Province, Afghanistan (5/2/08)
:: :: ::
Lolita Baldor/AP: Pentagon extends tour of Marines in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. .. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and come home in early November rather than October . . .
[edit]
The Pentagon announced in January that the Marine Expeditionary Unit . . was being ordered to Afghanistan, largely because efforts to press other NATO nations to increase their troop levels at the time had failed.

Semper reformanda.