ALMERIA, 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.
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For more information and video coverage of NATO Allied Command Transformation's exercise, Trident Juncture 2015, please go to the ACT website: http://www.act.nato.int/