Editorial:

The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, fresh off their tour in Afghanistan, are home for Christmas.

The men and women in that unit, and other Marine Corps units coming home from combat tours, likely won’t be reunited with their families for long enough. Chances are that in the near future, they’ll be sent back — or to Iraq — now that President Obama is deploying another 30,000 troops to fight the Afghan war.

His will be a tall order. There aren’t enough airmen, soldiers, sailors and Marines to spare, many of whom are combat weary, already having done more than one tour to Afghanistan and/or Iraq.

Nonetheless, let’s welcome back Costa Mesa’s adopted military unit. We salute them along with their fellow Marines assigned to two more infantry units based at Camp Pendleton: the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, Newport Beach’s unit, and the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, whom the boys, girls and teachers at Mariners Elementary School in Newport Beach have taken into their hearts for the holidays. We commend their efforts, and the efforts of locals like Dan Marcheano, owner of the Arches restaurant — and a Marine veteran — who’ve spearheaded yuletide toy drives, as well as food, clothing and care package collections for those Marines and their families.

Things like this make the holidays a little warmer and more comfortable for Marine families. Anything we can do to boost morale for this country’s overstretched Armed Forced more comfortable is undoubtedly a good thing.