Photo By Cpl. Lauren Whitney | U.S. Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, prepare to fire of...... read more read more
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ADAZI, Latvia – Marine mortarmen of 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment worked with the Latvian army during a recent mortar firing training exercise at Saber Strike 2012.
The Marines, assigned to the Pennsylvania-based reserve unit, deployed here to take part in the USAREUR-led theater security cooperation exercise, improve interoperability and strengthen the relationship between military forces in the Baltic States.
“We are acting as a fire support asset for the Latvian National Guard and army as they execute a combined arms exercise,” said 2nd Lt. Brenden E. Clark, a 29-year-old infantry officer from Rocky River, Ohio. “We’re providing 81 mm and 60 mm mortar fire to suppress enemy ground and air defenses in support of friendly ground maneuver and close air support.”
The Marines enjoy working with their NATO allies. However, Cpl. Jeremy B. Triner said communication is a challenge.
“There’s a language barrier,” he said. “They are still ‘spun up’ like we are though, we are there to help.”
The Latvians have assisted the mortarmen also. There have been many occasions during the training when the Latvians have come to the Marines aid, said Sgt. Timothy B. McGinty, a mortar section leader.
“We actually broke two sights on our mortar tubes and we called in and they gave us two brand new sights,” said McGinty, a 28-year-old from Lakewood, Ohio. “We had a bipod on the mortar system break. So they ran out and gave us another bipod. They’ve been very helpful with that.”
So the Marines are more than willing to help the Latvians with anything they need. Triner has been working closely with the Latvian army soldiers train to become Joint Terminal Attack Controllers.
“I’ve been working with two of them,” said Triner. “They are JTACs in training. This is helping them through the process of become an actual JTAC.”
Triner said that they even have expressed their willingness to work after hours to improve their proficiency.
“They want to learn call-for-fire missions," he said. "They’ve been up there all day. They plan to stay after the fire mission is over because they want to hone their skills.”
Saber Strike 2012 is a multinational, tactical field training and command post exercise that involves more than 2,000 personnel from the U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Pennsylvania National Guard, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, the 4th U.S. Marine Division, the 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian armed forces, with contingents from Canada, Finland, France and the U.K. The exercise, led by U.S. Army Europe, is designed to enhance joint and combined interoperability between the U.S. Forces and partner nations, and will help prepare participants to operate successfully in a joint, multinational, interagency, integrated environment.
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.22.2012 08:01 |
| Story ID: | 90431 |
| Location: | ADAZI, AI, LV |
| Web Views: | 257 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, US Marines work with Latvians during mortar missions at Saber Strike 2012, by Sgt Raymond Lott, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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