At Camp Lejeune the 2nd Marines' primary mission was to act as a force in readiness. This entailed daily training, participation in annual training exercises, and overseas deployments. Among the continuing contingencies were making annual "Med Cruises" as the Sixth Fleet landing force and intermittent forays into the Caribbean. Elements of the 2nd Marines landed at Beirut in 1958, participated in quarantine operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and stability operations in the Dominican Republic in 1965. The regiment remained stateside throughout the Vietnam War, but was called out when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Regimental Landing Team 2 (RLT 2) comprised the ground combat element of the Marine Forces Afloat in the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. A rescue team including regimental assets was formed on the spur of the moment to save Americans and other foreign nationals besieged by rebels in Mogadishu, Somalia. As it had during World War II, RLT 2 acted as a diversion force tying Iraqi forces to the coast while the main attack struck inland during the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. One battalion (2/2) was attached to the 6th Marines to breach the infamous Saddam Line then drive north to seal off Kuwait City. 2nd Marines was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation for its actions in Southwest Asia.