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Kakinada Beach, India. (April 11, 2025): In this photo by Air Force Staff Sergeant Aaron Irvin, Indian soldiers simulate securing a beach as a U.S. Navy air-cushioned landing craft arrive during a large-scale amphibious landing drill. The maneuvers were part of Exercise Tiger Triumph, a joint exercise focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response readiness involving U.S. and Indian troops.
The exercise aims to enhance interoperability between American and Indian military equipment and tactics and to improve mutual understanding. In particular, both countries exercised their ability to cooperate in humanitarian emergencies. The amphibious landing drill on the beaches of Kakinada last Friday was to simulate moving humanitarian relief forces from ships to shore. Marine Corps LAV-25s and Indian Army BMP-2s practiced securing the beachhead while U.S. Air Force C-130s practiced supply drops. Meanwhile, ground elements prepared a field hospital and supply point for the humanitarian efforts.
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Pacific Ocean. (April 2, 2025): It is not just a fashion statement, there is a reason why some Sailors wear green every day. In this photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Hannah Kantner, Sailors decked out in green remove a bolt during maintenance on an F/A-18E Super Hornet in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. The Navy uses a color-coding system to identify crewmembers and their roles on the busy decks of its aircraft carriers.
Green shirts are typically worn by catapult and arresting gear personnel, air wing maintenance personnel, and other maintenance-related roles. They are also involved in ground support including jobs like helicopter landing signaler.
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Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, California. (April 3, 2025): It is seven weeks of the most demanding flying, and classroom work, in Marine Corps aviation. In the photo above, Marines conduct a close air support exercise as part of the Corps Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course (WTIC). Hosted by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One stationed at Yuma, Arizona, the WTIC prepares instructors to be subject matter experts in aircraft and weapons, knowledge they will bring back to their operational squadrons.
The course focuses on integrating the six functions of Marine aviation, including air command and control, air assault, anti-air warfare, naval gunfire support, tactical support, and rotary wing aviation, in a simulated environment. Aviators are put through a series of increasingly complex combat scenarios in which they must plan and implement advanced air and ground tactics. If successful, graduates will become certified Weapons and Tactics Instructors.
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Fort Benning, Georgia. (April 9, 2024): Members of the 75th Ranger Regiment dominated the recent 2025 International Best Mortar Competition, and it wasn’t close. They beat out several other American military units as well as teams from Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In this photo by Captain Stephanie Snyder, Soldiers fire a 120 mm M120A1 towed mortar system during the four-day competition to determine the best indirect fire infantry in the world.
The shoot off was designed to highlight the capabilities of mortar crews while giving civilian spectators an inside look at Army combat operations. The competition was created to evaluate the physical, tactical, and technical capabilities of mortar teams from the U.S. and allied armies.
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Fort Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia. (April 9, 2025): The military is returning to using horse drawn caissons, or 18th century wooden wagons, for funerals occurring at Arlington National Cemetery. In this photo by Lance Corporal Christopher Prelle, Sergeant Joshua Williams straps in a training casket as a part of caisson refamiliarization training. This solemn custom was suspended in 2023 due to concerns about the health and care of the horses. After a thorough revamping of the Army’s veterinary care, practices, and equipment, these newly trained caisson squads will begin by conducting up to 10 funerals per week. When four squads are fully built and certified, the cemetery will be able to go up to about 20 caisson funerals a week.
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Pacific Ocean. (April 10, 2025): The world is witnessing the destruction of the supposedly mighty Russia military by inexpensive drones you can buy at a hobby store. The proliferation of FPV (First Person View) drones on the battlefield has the Marine Corps full attention. In this photo by Corporal Amelia Kang, Marines assigned to Battalion Landing Team 1/5, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit scan for simulated threats, such as missiles or other UAVs, from the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.
For the Marines, the primary goal is to protect troops down to the squad level by providing a multi-tiered defense against drones. Simply “shooting them down” (Kinetic method) may be expensive overkill or impractical if hundreds of targets are involved because even the best shooters miss.