Photo By Staff Sgt. Immanuel Johnson | Lance Cpl. Grover Heard, a squad leader with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th...... read more read more
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By Lance Cpl. Immanuel Johnson
BALTIC SEA – U.S. Marines sailed from New York City to Gdynia, Poland, to integrate with the combined, joint force for BALTOPS 2015, an exercise featuring 17 NATO Allies and partner nations in the Baltic region to strengthen their capability to work together through a series of maritime operations and amphibious tactical maneuvers and scenarios.
The Marines of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, sustained their basic infantry skills to enhance their capability to work and learn from their Swedish and Finnish Marine counterparts.
“During the training, Marines got a chance to have rounds in their weapon,” said Sgt. Matthew Sanford, a squad leader with 2nd Platoon, 1/6 Marines, and native of Rochester, New York.
The three nations, out of the 17 participating, make up the amphibious-assault capacity for the exercise.
“The junior Marines have not worked with experienced Marines in a group before telling them what to do and how to do it and they learned a lot,” said Lance Cpl. Jerimiah Trajkovski, a squad leader with 2nd Platoon, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines and native of Macomb, Michigan. “This training sustains the Marines with combat marksmanship skills, as well as using their weapons effectively.”
Sustaining combat-marksmanship skills keeps the Marines proficient when it comes time to integrate with NATO allies and work side-by-side to enhance everyone’s tactics and expertise, both on land and at sea.
“Live-fire training allows you to get down with the weapon,” said Sanford. “Without live rounds, you don’t know how much recoil the weapon has, and how it feels with your adrenaline pumping.”
“Mostly because of the availability, we cannot shoot farther than 25 yards [here] on the ship,” said Sanford. “But the fundamentals used here on the ship are the same ones you would use in a real combat situation.”
During the BALTOPS exercise, Marines will operate in Poland, Sweden, Germany, and the Baltic States. BALTOPS is an annual, multinational exercise designed to enhance the operational familiarity of NATO allies and partner nations and demonstrate the capabilities to defend the Baltic region.
| Date Taken: | 05.30.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.09.2015 23:04 |
| Story ID: | 166043 |
| Location: | BALTIC SEA |
| Hometown: | MACOMB, MI, US |
| Hometown: | ROCHESTER, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 332 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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