2nd Battalion, 4th Marines reported to have been killed in a helicopter crash that occurred northwest of Baghdad. He was actually killed by a suicide bomber at a checkpoint. From January to July 2008, 2/4 deployed to Okinawa, Japan, as the Battalion Landing Team for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. BLT 2/4 spent time in the Philippines for Balikatan 2008, while Fox Company conducted training exercises in Indonesia. In May 2008, the 31st MEU supported Operation Response off the coast of Burma, due to the Cyclone Nargis making landfall in the Irrawaddy Delta. BLT 2/4 deployed in September 2009 as the Battalion Landing Team
Cyclone Helen (2008) Cyclone Helen (2008) Tropical Cyclone Helen was the first tropical cyclone to bring gale-force winds to Darwin, Australia since 1985. The fourth named storm of the 2007–08 Australian region cyclone season, Helen developed out of a weak area of low pressure in late December over the Top End region of Australia. Generally tracking westward, the system eventually intensified into a tropical cyclone and was given the name Helen on 2 January. By this time, it was situated over the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and was beginning to retrograde eastward. Late on 4 January, the storm made landfall near Channel Point with