Helicopters brought back thousands of Marines and their gear Friday as they returned from a seven-month tour of the Western Pacific and Middle East.
The copters are assigned to USS Boxer and other ships.
The Camp Pendleton-based Marines were in the Western Pacific and Middle East and just so happened to be off the coast of Africa when Somalia pirates hijacked a civilian vessel.
The Marines provided support, surveillance and transport for the daring rescue of Captain Richard Phillips
