By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Many of the same Greater Cincinnati Marines who returned from the Iraqi war in June to be cheered by a massive crowd at Sawyer Point will turn around next year and head back to Iraq for a second tour of duty.

At least 120 reservists with Communications Company of the 4th Marine Division's Headquarters Battalion will return to active duty - about 40 in January, the other 80 in June. The company, based in Walnut Hills, is the first local Reserve or National Guard unit to pull a second tour of duty in Iraq.

The Pentagon on Thursday announced that it will undertake its largest series of troop rotations since World War II when it sends 85,000 new Army and Marine combat forces to Iraq to replace soldiers ending one-year tours. Those plans included alerting an additional 43,000 National Guard and Reserve support troops.

The local Marine reservists specialize in setting up radio, telephone and satellite communications systems during combat. Members are drawn mostly from Southern Ohio and Kentucky.

"We don't know exactly who will be going or exactly when, but we have our orders to activate and we'll be ready to go," said Maj. Charles Dowling, public information officer for the unit.

Many of the Marines who will go next year, Dowling said, are already veterans of the war in Iraq, but he said there is also likely to be a number going who have joined the Marine Reserves since the first call-up.

Under the Pentagon's rotation plan, the overall number of American troops in Iraq will actually fall to 105,000 by May from 131,600, senior officials said

In February, about 170 Marines left the reserve center in Walnut Hills for deployment to Iraq. At an emotional farewell ceremony then, the unit's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Anthony Capetillo, promised the Marines' families he would "bring everybody back home to you."

He was as good as his word: The unit suffered no casualties in Iraq, though many members were often under fire.

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E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer.com