An Italian Navy AV-8B Harrier aircraft prepares to take off from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) in the Atlantic Ocean Nov. 1, 2013. The 26th MEU finished an eight-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility with the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group serving as a sea-based, expeditionary crisis response force.