ALMERÍA, Spain --
U.S. Marines of 4th
Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion completed their final exercise for
Trident Juncture 2015 in Alvarez de Sotomayor, a Spanish military training area
north of Almería, Spain, Oct. 31,
2015.
Marines
faced off with British Royal Marines with simulated opposition forces for three
days. The training taught the Marines each other’s strengths and weaknesses,
allowing them to seek improvement among the warfighters.
“We’ve
been conducting training with the British Royal Marines and doing some of our
own training within the unit itself, getting used to the terrain and trying out
different tactics that we haven’t had the opportunity to do in the states,”
said Cpl. Benjamin Atha, light armored vehicle driver, 4th LAR, 4th Marine
Division.
“It’s
about supporting the security mission within the greater NATO community and
reinforcing the notion to our allies that we’re here when the need arises,”
said Staff Sgt. David Campbell, platoon sergeant, 4th LAR.
The
ability to communicate and understand how each other’s militaries operate plays
a large role in the exercise.
“The
Spanish were very helpful, especially in our road march here from Rota,” said
Sgt. Kyle Foster, scout team leader for 4th LAR Bn. “They gave us everything we
needed including logistics and it was a great experience working with them.”
The
exercise provided an opportunity for Reserve Marines to gain experience within
their military occupational specialty and demonstrates their readiness and
proficiency with NATO allies.
“In
the reserves, we’re typically not doing this every day,” said Atha. “This is a
good test to see how well we can just hop on a plane and go somewhere we need
to be and get to work without any problems.”
Trident
Juncture is the largest NATO exercise in more than 10 years with more than
5,000 U.S. service members participating along with 36,000 troops from more
than 30 nations. The exercise support training for the NATO Response Force and
to demonstrate NATO’s ability to respond to threats.