5th Battalion 10th Marines 5th Battalion 10th Marines ( 5 / 10 ) is a US artillery battalion comprising three firing batteries and a headquarters battery . The battalion is stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune , North Carolina , USA and its primary weapon system is the M777A2 howitzer , with a maximum effective range of 30 km . They fall under the command of the 10th Marine Regiment and the 2nd Marine Division . Mission . Provide direct support to 2nd Marine Division in time of conflict . That support may come in the traditional fashion of artillery fires to maneuver forces , or by providing batteries to serve as provisional rifle companies . The battalion also has the secondary mission of providing civil affairs . The battalion has currently returned from a year deployment to Helmand Province , Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . The battalion served as the 2D Marine Expeditionary Brigade Headquarters Group . History . Originally activated as 3rd Battalion , 10th Marines on 1 January 1941 and armed with 75mm Pack Howitzers ; the battalion now known as " the Steel Rain Battalion " fired the opening artillery rounds of the first U . S . offensive of World War II on 7 August 1942 against a Japanese sniper position on Guadalcanal . After earning two Presidential Unit Citations for service on Guadalcanal and Tarawa , the battalion briefly switched designations to 5th Battalion , 10th Marines . Six weeks later , the battalion transitioned to 155mm howitzers and was renamed the 2D 155mm Howitzer Battalion , a designation carried through the campaign for Saipan where they fired over 10 , 000 rounds , Guam where their displacements outpaced even the more nimble 75mm guns , and Iwo Jima where the battalion landed on D + 1 . The battalion was deactivated in 1945 , and its guns remained silent until 1954 when it was re - activated . With the exception of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 , where our Marines supported the blockade that forced the Soviet Union to remove its missiles from Cuba , the Steel Rain Battalion did not see action again until the Gulf War . The battalion was re - designated 5th Battalion , 10th Marines , 2d Marine Division in 1978 and served as the division ’ s general support artillery battalion . During Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm from December 1990 to April 1991 , the Marines of 5 / 10 manned 8 " and 155mm self - propelled howitzers and supported the division during the liberation of Kuwait . Corporal Besst and Corporal Fuapel distinguished themselves as outstanding Artillery Marines . Since 1991 , 5 / 10 has distinguished itself during service in Haiti in 1994 and by supporting the on - going War on Terrorism through service as provisional infantry , civil affairs , training foreign militaries , and providing artillery fire support to the coalition forces in Iraq . The battalion most recently served as the Brigade Headquarters Group for 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade while deployed to Southern Afghanistan . The battalion was deployed as a Civil Affairs Group in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 . The battalion was part of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade in support of Operation Enduring Freedom that deployed in Spring 2009 , and returned in spring of 2010 , from the Helmand Provinence in southern Afghanistan . The battalion was deactivated on 1 June 2012 at Camp Lejuene , N . C .