Task Force Leatherneck or MEB-Afghanistan was a Marine Air-Ground Task Force that operated in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The name was originally given to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade during its 2009-10 operations for OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. On July 3, 2010, it was renamed as Regional Command Southwest, RC(SW)|, and in January of 2015 it was renamed Train Advise Assist Command - Southwest (TAAC-SW) under the new NATO mission RESOLUTE SUPPORT.[1] It is also the name used by the 1st Marine Division and 2nd Marine Division during their deployments to Afghanistan. Task Force Leatherneck was commanded by Brigadier General Lawrence D. Nicholson with the command element at Camp Leatherneck. The task force took over the battlespace from Special Purpose MAGTF-Afghanistan on May 29, 2009.[2] In July 2009, Task Force Leatherneck participated in Operation Strike of the Sword (Operation Khanjar), the largest Marine Corps operation since the Battle of Fallujah, and then in February 2010 an even larger battle, the largest of the Afghan Campaign, Operation Moshtarak (Operation Together).[3]
Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division(HQ Battalion 1st Marine Division) File:Marine Corps ends mission in Afghanistan.jpgHELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Marines and sailors with Marine Expeditionary Brigade – Afghanistan load onto a KC-130 aircraft on the Camp Bastion flightline, Oct. 27, 2014. The Marine Corps ended its mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the day prior and all Marines, sailors and service members from the United Kingdom withdrew from southwestern Afghanistan. Photo by: SSgt John Jackson
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^Canals, Meghan. "Task Force Leatherneck Deploys to Afghanistan", Leatherneck, (July 2009), p. 18.
^R.R. Keene (editor). "The War on Terror", Leatherneck, vol XCII, no. 11 (November 2009), p. 30.
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