Sattahip, Thailand. (February 26, 2025): If you are a Marine looking for a jungle to play in, there is no better place than the triple canopy forests of Thailand. In this photo by Corporal Migel A. Reynosa, Corporal Jayden Reed learns snake manipulation techniques from a Royal Thai Armed Forces service member during a jungle survival class. The Marines are participating in Exercise Cobra Gold 2025, the oldest and largest combined exercise in mainland Asia. Started in 1982, this years event included 3,200 U.S. personnel and forces from Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Malaysia.

While not rumbling in the jungle, American forces trained with their Thai counterparts to respond to natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. Teams practiced responding to collapsed buildings, chemical spills, and how to provide mass medical care. Other units held command and control exercises with Royal Thai Marines in the dense jungles of this island nation.

The Thai armed forces and America have a tight bond dating to the Vietnam War. Thailand was the staging point for the bulk of U.S. combat aircraft conducting bombing missions over Hanoi. The country remains an important element of the Pentagon’s forward positioning strategy to counter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The Kingdom of Thailand is the United States' only treaty partner in mainland Southeast Asia and the Thai have been a major non-NATO ally since 2003. The U.S. operates numerous regional offices from the Bangkok Embassy, one of the largest American diplomatic missions in the world.