On 5 March 2003 Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/8 departed Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on board the USS "Iwo Jima" (LHD-7), USS "Nashville" (LPD-13), and USS "Carter-Hall" (LSD-50). The 26th MEU sailed directly to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in order to prepare for the potential invasion of Iraq. Following the Turkish government's denial of the usage of their country for a northern invasion, BLT 1/8 was forced to deploy from Crete and fly nearly 1,100 miles via U.S. Marine C-130 transport aircraft and 440 miles from the far Eastern Mediterranean Sea via CH-53 and CH-46 helicopters into Northern Iraq. On 12 April, the battalion began combat operations in Irbil and Mosul, Iraq as part of Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - North (TF - Viking) for Operation Iraqi Freedom. During combat operations in Iraq, 1/8 suffered 1 Marine wounded in action (WIA) on 21 April 2003 from Weapons Company 81mm Mortar Platoon during a night-time probing attack on the Mosul Airport. By 1 May 2003, the battalion was relieved by the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. The battalion withdrew from Mosul, Iraq and returned to the Iwo Jima ARG waiting in the Mediterranean Sea.