7th Communication Battalion

7th Communication Battalion (7th Comm) is a communications battalion in the United States Marine Corps.

Mission
7th Communication Battalion currently supports III Marine Expeditionary Force in order to provide communications for command and control over all exercises conducted throughout the Pacific area of responsibility.

History
Activated in 1957 at Camp Pendleton, California, the first deployment of the 7th was to Taiwan in 1960, stationed at Kaohsiung. The 7th were deployed to Vietnam on 1 July 1966 to Chu Lai, and assigned to the 1st Marine Division. They participated in the Vietnam War from then until 1969, also operating out of Da Nang. They were briefly reassigned to Okinawa in late 1969, before returning several months later to Vietnam, and serving there until 1972, except for a short break in late 1971 to early 1972.

After Vietnam
The 7th were deployed to Thailand in May 1972, until 1973 as part of the 3rd Marine Amphibious Task Force. They participated in minesweeping off the North Vietnam coast in early 1973, before aiding in evacuations, and search and rescue in Southeast Asia in 1974–75.

1990s to present
The battalion participated in support of Operation Desert Storm in Southwest Asia from December 1990 to April 1991. They also participated in Operation Desert Shield, at around the same time. They participated in Operation Sea Angel in Bangladesh in mid-1991, and also served in Somalia in 1992 and 1993.

Unit awards
A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. 7th Comm has been presented with the following awards: