MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- It was an early morning Sept. 4 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, when approximately 230 Marines and sailors from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing deployed from the air station to Iraq.

Service members with Marine Wing Support Squadron 373, Marine Wing Support Group 37, Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1, and Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367,  deployed to Central Command Area of Operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Third MAW is the aviation combat element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and will remain deployed for the next seven months.

“I am ready to do some great things in the Marine Corps,” said Sgt. Maj. Wallington Sims, sergeant major, MWSS-373. “I am ready to do what the Marine Corps does best, go to war for during what looks to be a great deployment.”

For many Marines and sailors with MWSS-373 this is not their first deployment, but their second or third time deploying to Iraq.

“This is my second time deploying,” said Cpl. Jorge Franco, warehouse clerk, MWSS-373. “I have already left my wife, Constance, once for a deployment, and now I am going to do it again.”
Franco, a father of a two-and-a-half year-old daughter, Alyssa, and his wife are also expecting a second child within the next two months.

“I wish that I could see my son being born, but it will be a nice present to come home to,” explained Franco.

Marines from the squadron are going to be more familiar with what is going on during this deployment, explained Lt. Col. Daniel Ermer, commander, MWSS-373.

“The first time a Marine deploys, it’s hard to leave their family,” he added. “With more deployments, it becomes easier.”

With the war in Iraq still going on today, Ermer believes America is still staying strong.
“Every time I go home to hometown America there is always someone who says thank you,” Ermer said. “America is very supportive.”