SARDINIA– A platoon-sized element of Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) trained alongside 1st Regiment, San Marco Brigade of the Italian Landing Force during exercise Mare Aperto, Oct. 8-15, 2018.
During the integrated exercise, 13th MEU Marines participated in multiple ship-to-shore movements and live-fire events with the San Marco Brigade, strengthening their ability to work together in combat related skills.
“We were able to sustain skills ranging from marksmanship to amphibious planning, while simultaneously developing new skills based on the San Marco Brigade's techniques,” said Capt. Michael Falvey, executive officer of Weapons Company. “Each Marine gains something unique every time we work, live, and communicate with partner militaries. This exercise also demonstrated our support to partner countries, and that there is no place we cannot reach as the nation's forward-deployed crisis response force.”
Mare Aperto provides training in anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-air warfare as well as amphibious operations to enhance the tactical proficiency of participating units. This exercise allowed units to continue to build combined capability, quickly and effectively responding to a wide variety of maritime threats in a complicated maritime environment.
"Exercise Mare Aperto not only proved the strength between the U.S. and Italian navies, but also reaffirmed that our values and vision are so closely aligned,” said Cmdr. Ian Scaliatne, commanding officer of the USS Mitscher. “This shared experience was so critical for keeping us focused on what it takes to maintain security and stability and deter aggression. It was a privilege to operate with such professionals.”
The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD 23) and embarked 13th MEU are deployed to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations as a crisis response force in support of regional partners as well as to promote U.S. national security interests in Europe and Africa.
U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.
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Email: mallory.martinez@anchorage.usmc.mil