2/3 deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Haditha "triad" region of Al Anbar Province in western Iraq in 2006–2007. 2/3 faced some of the worst fighting in the entire war. They were one of the last Marine units to face combat in Al Anbar. 2/3 suffered 23 KIAs from September 2006 to April 2007 and was given the nickname of "The Angels of Anbar." In February 2008, the battalion again deployed to Iraq, operating in the vicinity of Fallujah. On June 26, 2008, the commanding officer of 2/3, LtCol Max Galeai and two other Marines (Captain Philip J. Dykeman and Cpl. Marcus W. Preudhomme) from the battalion were killed when a suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonated an explosive vest at a meeting of tribal sheiks in the town of Karmah. The battalion returned from this deployment in late August/early September 2008.