Most decorated infantry battalion returns from Afghanistan

Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Hardin, an independent duty corpsman serving with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, reunites with his family after returning home Sept. 17, 2012, from a deployment to Afghanistan. Hardin, an Escondido, Calif., native, treated Marines at the battalion aid station, a medical component within 2nd Bn., 5th Marines’ Headquarters and Service Company. More than 1,100 Marines and sailors serving with the battalion returned from a seven-month deployment to northern Helmand province, Afghanistan.