They immediately deployed to France, arriving on 26 June, and were assigned to the 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army.

In spring 1918, the regiment, commanded by Colonel Wendell C. Neville, a Medal of Honor recipient, was involved in the fierce battle of Belleau Wood and was given the nickname Devil Dogs.

Elements of the regiment participated in mail guard duty in the eastern United States from November 1921 through May 1922 and once again from October 1926 through February 1927.

During World War II they fought on Guadalcanal, New Britain, Eastern New Guinea, Peleliu and Okinawa.

They remained in Vietnam for the next five years, fighting at Rung Sat, Chu Lai, Hue, Phu Loc, Que Son Valley, An Hoa, Tam Kỳ and Da Nang.

"[6] Elements of the regiments participated in Operation New Arrivals, the relocation of Vietnamese refugees to Camp Pendleton, California, from July through December 1975.

[7] On 21 March, the regiment became the first unit to cross into Iraq[citation needed] as it moved to seize the Rumayllah oil fields.

For the drive north, RCT-5 advanced up a four-lane highway before swinging east toward the Tigris River until the 1st Marine Division reunited to push into the red zone that encompassed Baghdad and its suburbs.

[citation needed] From October 2004 to March 2005 the regimental headquarters staff, led by Colonel Stuart Navarre, was deployed to Iraq in order to take over the role of the Iraqi Security Forces training directorate in support of 1st Marine Division at Camp Blue Diamond.

RCT-5 was in Camp Ripper, Al Asad, under the command of I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd) and led by Colonel Patrick J. Malay.

Throughout the deployment, RCT-5 lost one Marine and one Soldier who served in units under the regiment while conducting combat operations.

In early 2009, 5th Marines was designated as a contingency force due to back-to-back 13 month deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

In August 2011, 5th Marines deployed as Regimental Combat Team 5 (RCT-5), for the first time to Helmand province, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

They conducted a Relief-In-Place (RIP) with the 1st Marine Regiment (RCT-1) and under the command of Colonel Roger Turner, assumed control of their area of operations of Marjah, Garmsir and Nawa districts.

Their focus was on developing local defense forces in Garmsir and Nawa, mentoring and expanding the police force across southern Helmand, providing further training to the Afghan National Army and supporting the retrograde of thousands of pieces of equipment out of Afghanistan.

The Marines learned about and fired French weapons systems, including the FAMAS G2 assault rifle.

More than a hundred Marines, veterans and Gold Star Mothers gathered at the San Mateo Memorial Garden to join the regiment at the ceremony.

The 7-foot tall, 8-foot, 4-inch wide memorial was created in Barre, Vt., and traveled to Camp Pendleton in a 10-day journey where it was escorted every mile of the trip by Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle club that strongly supports service members by welcoming them home from deployments.

[14] The SP-MAGTF will act as CENTCOM's crisis response unit with Colonel Jason Bohm commanding it.

It will also prove CENTCOM's ability to support theater security cooperation events such as exercises as well as respond to contingencies.

The task force flew both kinetic and non-kinetic missions daily in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led intervention against ISIS.