U.S. Marines with Personnel Retrieval and Processing Company, 4th Marine Logistics Group, Marine Forces Reserve, lead training with joint and multinational forces during Northern Strike 26-2. Northern Strike 26-2 is an Army sponsored, multi-component, multinational exercise designed to build readiness and enhance interoperability to fight and win. This year’s exercise featured over nine-thousand participants across the joint force and participating NATO countries.
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After more than a half-century of global service, the U.S. Marine Corps has officially retired the assault amphibious vehicle, marking the end of an 80-year tradition of tracked amphibious landing vehicles. To honor the legacy and service of the historic vehicle, the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion hosted a sundown and redesignation ceremony as the Reserve force transitions to a new era of littoral warfare and modernized combat platforms. The sundown ceremony was hosted on August 9, 2026 in Jacksonville, Florida and served as a formal farewell to the AAV-P7/A1. The events signaled the battalion's operational shift toward the newer amphibious combat vehicle and advanced small-craft platforms—such as the multi-mission reconnaissance
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Sgt. Lelo “Steven” Toko’s path to 4th Reconnaissance Battalion began in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.Sgt. Toko’s father sought political asylum in the United States in 1996, while Sgt. Toko remained in the Congo with his mother and two siblings during two wars that swept through the country. With U.S. diplomatic facilities closed because of the conflict, the family’s journey to the United States was delayed until 1999, when they traveled through Cameroon and finally reunited with Sgt. Toko’s father. The family settled in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Sgt. Toko later completed trade school in Virginia.“Reuniting with my father was a surreal moment because we weren’t sure we would survive the wars,” Sgt. Toko said. “We lost so
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U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jonathan Hastings, a water purification specialist with 6th Engineer Support Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, Marine Forces Reserve, is currently participating in exercise Northern Strike 26-2. Hastings is a native of Michigan.Northern Strike is an Army sponsored, multi-component, multi-national exercise designed to build readiness and enhance interoperability to fight and win. Northern Strike 26-2, Michigan’s largest and longest joint readiness exercise, is held from August 1 to August 15, 2026, at the National All-Domain Warfighting Center. This year’s exercise will feature around 9,000 participants.Hastings currently lives in Mason, Michigan. However, his connection to the Marine Corps began long before
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