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Staff Sgt. Jeremy Simms briefs a group of Marines on safety procedures during a grenade and MK19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK-19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment. Simms is a low altitude aerial defense gunner with the battalion.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

Lance Cpl. Arismendy Reynoso observes targets as Lance Cpl. Johnathan Velasco engages them during a grenade and MK19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK-19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment. Reynoso and Velasco are both low altitude aerial defense gunner with the battalion.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

Marines engage designated targets during a grenade and MK-19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

Cpl. Christopher Roseblossom operates a MK-19 during an M67 fragmentation grenade and MK-19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment. Roseblossom is a low altitude aerial defense gunner with the battalion.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

Marines receive grenades prior to proceeding to the firing pits during a grenade and MK-19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

A Marine throws an M67 fragmentation grenade during a grenade and MK19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

Lance Cpl. Patrick Marlowe prepares to throw an M69 Practice Grenade during a grenade and MK-19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment. Marlowe is a low altitude aerial defense gunner with the battalion.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

Master Sgt. Donald Johnson prepares M67 fragmentation grenades during a grenade and MK-19 Grenade Launcher range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015. More than 70 Marines with 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion took turns handling the MK19 and handheld grenades during the familiarization range. The range offered Marines the opportunity to build confidence and proficiency skills on some of the crew-served weapons they operate while providing security in a deployed environment. Johnson is the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Detachment staff noncommissioned officer in charge with the battalion.

Photo by Cpl. Neysa Huertas Quinones

U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Timothy Cunningham sits in the back of an MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft as he waits to release Philippine and U.S. Marines to jump Oct. 3, 2015, during jump operations as part of the Amphibious Landing Exercise 2015 at Basa Air Base, Philippines. PHIBLEX is an annual, bilateral training exercise conducted by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines alongside U.S. Marine and Navy forces. Cunningham is a jump master for the jump operations and he is with the Maritime Raid Force, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler Ngiraswei

Gunnery Sgt. Gabriel Machado, an airborne and air delivery specialist with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, notifies a jump team of the estimated time of departure during static-line parachute operations and free fall jump training aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Oct. 16, 2015. 1st Recon conducted parachute operations in preparation for future deployments.

Photo by Cpl. Demetrius Morgan

U.S. Marine Sgt. Nick Bardsley parachutes out of a UH-1Y Venom from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 (Reinforced) in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti on Sept. 16, 2015. Bardsley is a point man with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Force Reconnaissance Detachment. Elements of the 15th MEU are conducting bilateral training with the 5th Overseas Combined Arms Regiment (RIAOM) and French paratroopers in Djibouti in order to improve interoperability between the MEU and the French military. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Steve H. Lopez/Released)

Photo by Sgt. Steve Lopez

Colonel Thomas Savage, the commanding officer of 2nd Marine Regiment, speaks to Marines with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, during a battalion deployment for training exercise aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sept. 16, 2015. Savage and Sgt. Maj. James Boutin, the regimental sergeant major of 2nd Marines, visited the battalion in the field to show their support and dedication to the Marines under their command.

Photo by Cpl. Sullivan Laramie

Donnelly, Idaho, native, Sgt. Elizabeth Azcuenaga, an enlisted aircrew training manager with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 (HMLA-169), Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, prepares to fire a GAU-17 machine gun aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Sept. 17, 2015. Azcuenaga fired the weapon from the door of a UH-1Y Huey during a weapons proficiency range designed to help new pilots and crew chiefs become more effective with their respective weapons systems.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Caitlin Bevel

Donnelly, Idaho, native, Sgt. Elizabeth Azcuenaga, an enlisted aircrew training manager with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 (HMLA-169), Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, fires a GAU-17 machine gun from the door of a UH-1Y Huey while the pilot simultaneously launches a rocket aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Sept. 17, 2015. Azcuenaga fired the weapon during a weapons proficiency range designed to help new pilots and crew chiefs become more effective with their respective weapons systems.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Caitlin Bevel

A Marine with 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division works on a radio during Operation Firestorm, a week-long field exercise to prepare the regiment for their upcoming exercise, Rolling Thunder, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Aug. 15, 2015. “The main focus for Operation Firestorm is to get the regiment out into the field and knock the dirt off the gear, get all of the communications checks and operations checks and make sure that we’re ready for Rolling Thunder coming up next month,” said Master Sgt. Justin Mingie, logistics chief for 10th Marines.

Photo by Cpl. Krista James

U.S. Marines with the Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) within Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/1, the ground combat element for the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, practiced employing hunter-killer techniques with multiple weapons platforms during sustainment training on Aug. 21, 2015. The CAAT, composed of heavy machine gunners and anti-tank missilemen, is used to combat hardened targets as well as provide security.

Photo by Sgt. Paris Capers

U.S. Marines with the Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) within Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/1, the ground combat element for the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, remain braced for fire while holding radio antennae out of the back-blast area of a TOW missile during sustainment training on Aug. 21, 2015. The CAAT, composed of heavy machine gunners and anti-tank missilemen, is used to combat hardened targets as well as provide security.

Photo by Sgt. Paris Capers

U.S. Marines with the Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) within Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/1, the ground combat element for the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, practice loading and unloading rounds during sustainment training on Aug. 21, 2015. The CAAT, composed of heavy machine gunners and anti-tank missilemen, is used to combat hardened targets as well as provide security.

Photo by Sgt. Paris Capers

Lance Cpl. Jay Singh, a U.S. Marine with the Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) within Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/1, the ground combat element for the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, performs maintenance on an M2 .50-Caliber machine gun during training on Aug. 21, 2015. The CAAT, composed of heavy machine gunners and anti-tank missilemen, is used to combat hardened targets as well as provide security.

Photo by Sgt. Paris Capers

A U.S. Marine with the Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) within Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 2/1, the ground combat element for the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, pulls a radio antenna clear of the backblast of a Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missile during training on Aug. 21, 2015. The CAAT, composed of heavy machine gunners and anti-tank missilemen, is used to combat hardened targets as well as provide security.

Photo by Sgt. Paris Capers