A North Carolina-based infantry battalion will be the first U.S. unit to deploy to Afghanistan as part of an additional 30,000 troops who will be sent into combat during the next six months, said a Marine official overseeing the unit.

Camp Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, "will deploy in the near future,” said Col. David Fuquea, chief of staff for Lejeune’s 2nd Marine Division. He declined to say when the unit will arrive in theater, but Marine officials at the Pentagon said the first unit will deploy before Dec. 25.

The battalion was the first Marine unit to fight in Afghanistan in years when it deployed as part of Lejeune’s 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in 2008, but it has had nearly 15 months to rest and train for its next mission, said Fuquea, speaking at a Thursday night dinner sponsored by the Marine Corps Association, a professional organization composed of current and former Marines and their family members.

In all, about 9,000 Marines will be sent to Afghanistan by late-spring, Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, deputy commandant of plans, policies and operations, told guests at the dinner.

"That will bring our total in Afghanistan to just under 20,000,” he said. "We are in this for the long haul.”

The increase in the number of Marines has prompted the Corps to shift gears in Afghanistan in at least one regard. The service had previously named 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., to replace Lejeune-based 2nd MEB as the command element in theater. Instead, the Corps will now deploy I Marine Expeditionary Force Forward, a larger force to be commanded by Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commander of Pendleton’s 1st Marine Division.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Osterman, who was named as 1st MEB’s commander in July, told guests at the MCA dinner that "quick work” was done during the last few weeks at Camp Pendleton to prepare for the possibility of a MEF Fwd. task force deploying. Marine logisticians worked seven days straight through Thanksgiving to prepare, inspect and package more than 1,800 pieces of gear, ranging from vehicles to communications equipment, before President Barack Obama announced Tuesday what his plan for Afghanistan would be, he said.

Osterman will now deploy as the commander of the force’s ground combat element, he said in a brief interview Thursday night. The units deploying will include two regimental combat teams, a reconnaissance battalion, an artillery battalion, a light-armored reconnaissance battalion, as well as headquarters elements, he said.

The officers did not elaborate Thursday night on which other units will deploy. Marine officials have said deployment orders could be announced as soon as Friday, or sometime next week.