Exercise Trident Juncture, the largest multinational NATO exercise
in more than a decade. The exercise, which will include about 36,000
participants, will run Oct. 3 through Nov. 6. One exercise is launching a
ship-to-shore operation in Spain, pushing more than 300 miles inland using
light armored vehicles during a mock raid. The purpose is to prepare for
similar real military operations in Africa.
Marines with the Corps' crisis response force for Africa
have traveled long distances from their home base in Europe to places like
South Sudan to respond to embassy security threats and other emergencies. To
bridge that distance, the unit is continuing to explore the use of cooperative
security locations, which are temporary forward bases about the size of
football fields in Gabon, Senegal and Ghana. The CSLs give Marines a place
where Marines can base gear and sleep while training African forces. But if the
sea basing tests are successful during Trident Juncture, it could open the door
to efforts to put Marine afloat near Africa. It would be a huge advantage to
have Marines based at sea in or near the Gulf of Guinea.
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit's commanding officer,
Col. Robert Fulford shortly after he returned from a deployment leading Special-Purpose
Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response–Africa, (SPMAGTFCR-AF), said it
would help resolve difficulties associated with being too far from targets.
Trident Juncture will also be used to revamp the Corps'
post-war doctrine, Expeditionary Force 21, said Brig. Gen. Julian Alford who
heads the Quantico-based Futures Directorate. Officials at Marine Corps Combat
Development Command and Futures Directorate are working to update the document
to include information on complex threats Marines could face in Africa.
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