ROTA, Spain -- Marines with 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division,
Marine Forces Reserve, are working with Spanish nationals in Rota, Spain for
Exercise Trident Juncture 2015.
Trident Juncture is the largest NATO exercise in
the past 10 years that includes more than 5,000 U.S. service members out of
36,000 troops from more than 30 Allies and partners. The exercise began October
19, 2015 and will conclude November 6, 2015.
An exercise of this
magnitude demonstrates NATO’s ability to respond to global threats to peace and
security.
“Trident Juncture is an opportunity for NATO to show its
operational capability, speed and ability to accurately deploy its forces around
Europe in an efficient manner,” said Cpl. Matthew L. Grizzle, vehicle commander
for Delta Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th MarDiv. “The
importance of the United States Marine Corps being here is for us to show what
we can do in conjunction with those forces.”
Reserve Marines
participating in Trident Juncture will gain real world experience within their
military occupational specialty and demonstrate their readiness in conjunction
with other foreign nationals.
“For many Marines this may be their only
opportunity to go outside of the U.S. and experience a major operation like
this,” said Grizzle. “For us this is a really big opportunity to do something
like the active-duty part of the Marine Corps.”
Marines from Delta Co.,
4th LAR Bn. used the Navy’s maritime prepositioning ship the USNS Sgt. William
R. Button to stage gear afloat in Rota and test the capability of positioning
gear aboard ships around the globe for rapid response. Over the past couple of
days they have been unloading and preparing to maneuver nearly 300 miles inland
for the next portion of the exercise.
“Today we went on a preparation
road march to get all of the engines up to operating temperature and test all of
the seals on the vehicles since they’ve been on ship for approximately four
years,” said Capt. Ryan Moroney, company executive officer for Delta Co., 4th
LAR Bn., 4th MarDiv. “We need to push their capabilities before we drive them
500 kilometers across the South of Spain.”
On October 25, 2015, Delta Co.
4th LAR Bn. will conduct a road march from Rota to Alvarez de Sotomayor where
they will perform field operations with the British Royal
Marines.
Trident Juncture demonstrates NATO’s commitment to Allies,
partners and organizations focusing on deepening cooperation, collective
defenses and interoperability while testing NATO response force capabilities.