SHIROKYI LAN, Ukraine -- Service members from the United States, Ukraine, Georgia, Macedonia and Moldova gathered for a brief ceremony June 6 here to officially begin exercise Sea Breeze 2011.
Earlier in the morning, the group of multi-national service members had broken the ice with equipment and uniform displays to introduce their armed forces to the other nations.
The soldiers, sailors and Marines spent several hours learning about each other’s tools of the trade before gathering for the ceremony, where each nation’s flag was raised to signify the beginning of the exercise.
Speakers at the ceremony included Ukrainian Col. Igor Vorochenko, the commander of the exercise’s multinational brigade, and U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Watkins, the commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, a Reserve infantry unit.
Vorochenko opened the ceremony and spoke about the benefits of the upcoming training.
“This is an opportunity for our staff to come together and work jointly,” he said. “There are many dangers in today’s world and only through joint operations can we confront them.”
Near the end of the ceremony, Watkins spoke about the goals of the exercise for the service members in attendance.
“The intent of the exercise is to ensure interoperability, but more than that we will come together as brothers to learn. The skills sets and bonds we form will form strong cohesion and ensure our future operations will be more efficient,” he said.
Sea Breeze is an annual combined air, land and maritime exercise with the goals of enhancing amphibious operations, improving multinational maritime capabilities and fostering trust and cooperation among participating nations.
This year’s exercise includes amphibious operations, maritime interdiction, improvised explosive device and convoy operations and other platoon level training.