October 26, 2015 – 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.