MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina -- Enemy silhouettes line the rooftops of a small town. They are poised to defend themselves from allied forces preparing to engage them from the surrounding forests.
The enemy forces are U.S. Marines providing real-world training to their amphibious allies from Canada, United Kingdom Royal Marines, Royal Netherlands Korps Mariners and Spanish and Italian service members, Nov. 7, at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
“The best thing is that we can see how other forces operate,” said U.S. Marine Capt. Thomas McCabe, a platoon commander with 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company “It helps build interoperability because you can see how their techniques work and they can see how our techniques work.”
This was one of the many training events of Bold Alligator 2014. A large-scale amphibious exercise on the East Coast designed to improve U.S. and allied forces response to a myriad of different crises.
“The first time does not go as smooth as a normal routine does,” said Dutch Marine Maj. Vincent Maas, 1 Marine Combat Group, Korps Mariniers. “We have to get use to each other. The ship has to get use to the foreign units being onboard, and we have to get use to the scenarios that the ship addresses—that is a challenging part of working together.”
The assault teams took their places and, after receiving information from aerial reconnaissance, the teams moved into town. Crackles of blank rounds firing could be heard from both sides, as the forces clashed in the street. The smoke, light and concussive sound created by the assault teams’ flash bang grenades, which they used to provide cover or clear buildings, provided a realistic friction,
“We learned a lot about each others capabilities, things that we were good at and things that the U.S. Marines are good at,” said Dutch Marine 1st Lt. Daniel Stomp, 13 raiding squadron, Korps Mariniers. “We got to know each other better that way we can work closer together in the future.”
Although U.S. Marines may have played the enemy during the assault, they still get the chance to learn and gain experience from the assault, which they can use during future operations with foreign forces.
“It helps us build our procedures and it lets us see what we need to get better at,” said McCabe. “Any foreign country we get to work with expands the way we think.”