KANE'OHE BAY — The Hawai'i Marines of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment fought door-to-door through Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004, and then lost 27 from their ranks in a helicopter crash in the western desert two months later.

Yesterday, as the last returning group of 350 Marines filed off a chartered DC-10 following the 1,000-member unit's latest seven-month deployment to Karmah, east of Fallujah, there was the sense — and a feeling of relief — that the door is perhaps closing on at least one combat zone.

President Obama last month announced that most U.S. troops will be pulled out of Iraq by August 2010, with 35,000 to 50,000 remaining to train and assist Iraqis through 2011.

Another battalion of 1,000 Hawai'i Marines and sailors is preparing to head to Iraq within the month — this time to Al Asad air base — but future deployments are likely to be to Afghanistan, officials said.

"It's six years since I first went to Iraq — almost to the day," said Lt. Col. Andy Milburn, who commands the 1/3 Marines. "I know a lot of other Marines feel the same — I feel as though we're leaving on a good note. It's not propaganda. You have to go out there and see what the Iraqi security forces are doing. Everything that we've been doing, they are now capable of doing."

Younger Marines had other ways of characterizing the deployment. "Boring," "slow" and "quiet" were a few.

"A lot of guys are looking forward to" Afghanistan, said Cpl. Joshua Baker, 21, from Tennessee. "We've all just had enough of Iraq. Afghanistan is where it's at now."

Baker, a married Marine whose wife, Rebecca, and 17-month-old daughter, Tara, greeted him yesterday in a hangar off the flightline, has been to Iraq twice. Some of the Marines on the deployment have been to a combat zone three times.

"A lot of these guys, especially the single guys, it doesn't matter, they signed up for the action," Baker said.

Cpl. Robert Tosh Jr., 22, yesterday got to hold his 2-month-old son, Robert Tosh III, for the first time, as a band blared Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)."

There weren't many words as the new father, still in desert camouflage and with an M-16 rifle, tried to take in his new reality after seven months in a combat zone. His wife, Kristin, smiled about the broadest smile of her life. Asked what it was all like, Robert Tosh just said, "I don't know yet."

The 1/3 Marines were based in Karmah, which lies between Fallujah and Baghdad, and at outlying forward operating bases.

One member of the battalion was killed in action: Lance Cpl. Thomas Reilly Jr., 19, died during a patrol on Dec. 21. Milburn, the battalion commander, also said two Marines were evacuated because of injuries.

"Always a tragedy when you lose one guy, but by comparison when battalions were deployed there two to three years ago and coming back with between 10 to 20 (killed in action), I think the fact we had one is incredible," Milburn said.

Sgt. Misael Estrada, 22, from Minnesota, left for Iraq when his daughter, Jayde, was 2 weeks old. He returned to his wife, Kaylee, and a 7-month-old.

"I'm trying to prepare myself mentally (for the readjustment)," he said. "They give you all these classes ... (and tell you) when you get home, your wife is in charge. But this is my third deployment. I know what it's like."

About 1,000 more Hawai'i Marines in Iraq with the 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, an artillery unit doing security patrols and light infantry duty, are expected back soon, Marine officials said.

Rebecca Baker, Cpl. Joshua Baker's wife, said she was really excited and happy that the deployment is over.

There will likely be future deployments to Afghanistan, she was reminded.

"But it's over with right now, and I'm enjoying my time," she said.