Nearly 75 former Marines who were attached to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment or 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment gathered Oct. 11-14 to tour the base, spend time with old friends and with Marines serving here now.

“A lot of things are different — it’s hard to find my way around,” said Cody Sharp, a former machine gunner with 2/2. “There is a lot more traffic and it’s a lot busier.”

The 1/8-2/2 reunion is not an event sponsored by a Marine Association, said Jennings.

The reason the event is called the 1/8-2/2 reunion is because the 1/8 was changed to 2/2. The reunion includes Marines who served in 1/8 before the name change and Marines who served in 2/2 after the name change, said Jennings.

During their stay at Camp Lejeune they toured the Military Operations in Urban Terrain Training Area where they received a brief about its capabilities and were able to watch Marines with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, practice their urban-fighting skills at the training area, said Mark Dayoc, an operations specialist with the Operations and Plans Office, Marine Corps Base. They also received a brief on Operation Iraqi Freedom from Capt. Sven Gosnell, the ground watch officer with II Marine Expeditionary Force Current Operations. Those attending the brief learned about the current unit structure of the Marine Corps and were able to ask questions about the Marine Corps mission in Iraq.

The group was also able to tour the School of Infantry (East) and receive a brief from the Marine Forces Special Operations Command, said Dayoc. At the end of their reunion, the former Marines held a formal banquet and invited Marines from the present 2/2 to join them. Unfortunately Marines with 1/8 were not able to participate because of their deployment to the Middle East.

Most of all the reunion was to meet with different generations of Marines and come back to a place where they served.

“I have quite a few memories here,” said Sharp. “I appreciate the opportunity to come here and meet a lot of the people that used to serve with my unit.”

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