As the situation began to rapidly deteriorate, 1/8 and the 26th MEU were ordered to Liberia. The MEU left the coast of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, sailed back through the Suez Canal and took up a position off the coast of the west African nation. In an impressive show of force, the U.S.S. Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group sailed in-line roughly 3 miles off the coast of Liberia. On 14 August 2003, elements of the battalion eventually inserted into Roberts International Airport and at the Freeport of Monrovia on Bushrod Island outside of Monrovia, Liberia as part of Operation Sheltering Sky. A rifle company from 1/8 and supporting units from the 26th MEU conducted airfield security operations as part of Joint Task Force Liberia in an effort to facilitate the transition of governmental operations from the regime of Charles Taylor to a democratically elected government.