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Tuy Hoa, Viet Nam. (July 5, 2023): In this photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Austin Ingram, Builder 3rd Class Colby Leche (left) and Equipment Operator Aiden McKenna (right), assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3, fabricate rebar during a building project during Pacific Partnership 2023. This annual deployment of forces from the U.S. Pacific Fleet is designed to strengthen relationships and security ties with regional governments. American military personnel provide humanitarian, medical, dental, and engineering assistance to host countries while working with local non-governmental agencies and local military.
These deployments were conceived following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami that killed over 227,000 people in fourteen countries.
The 9.1 magnitude quake was the most powerful ever recorded in Asia generating a tidal wave of over one hundred feet in one of the worst natural disasters in history. The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response, with donations totaling more than US$14 billion.
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Aboard the USS John Murtha. (July 14, 2023): In this photo by Corporal Quince D. Bisard, Marine Staff Sergeant Gordon Adams points out targets for Corporal Vince Silva, both members of Battalion Landing Team 2/4, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit as they practice gunnery while at sea. Officially called a “Deck Shoot,” Marines must maintain their weapons proficiency while being transported to trouble spots around the world.
The Marines are firing the M240B Machine Gun mounted to a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle that would go ashore during an amphibious assault. The M240B replaces the M60 machine gun, affectionately called the “Pig” by infantry types, that dates to the Viet Nam War.
The M60 was both loved and hated by American troops. It was highly valued for its reliability, but soldiers hated the weapon for its weight and the difficulty of carrying the weapon in dense jungles. The M60 could be fired from the shoulder or on the hip as dramatized in the Hollywood movie Rambo starring Sylvester Stallone. While firing this way made great film, the reality was that it was near impossible to aim accurately and was much more efficient with a two-person crew. Even worse, the M60 had parts that worked loose in the heat and humidity of the jungle which caused what infantry soldiers called a “runaway gun” in combat.
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Cerab, Philippines. (July 10, 2023): In this photo by Corporal Tyler Andrews, Corporal Mark Bernal, a landing support specialist with 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, receives a package from a TRV-50 Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) as it lands to deliver supplies to Marines participating in Balikatan 2023. This annual exercise helps strengthen ties between the American and Filipino armed forces that have blossomed over years of military cooperation.
The TRV-50 UAS, manufactured by Maryland based Survice Engineering Company, is a quadcopter that uses waypoint navigation based on pre-programmed coordinates to get where it needs to go, and it can transport a 150-pound payload of supplies over nine miles. The TRV-50 is designed to provide rapid and reliable automated distribution of vital supplies to small units operating in the field during wartime. The Marines depend upon this unmanned system to do emergency resupply and to create a constant flow of vital materials to units in rugged terrain quicker and safer than traditional means of transport. In fact, the system is so simple Marines can be trained to operate and perform field-level maintenance on the system in just five days.
This April, the Navy awarded an $8.4 million contract for the production and delivery of 21 TRV-150 Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft Systems and 12 months of systems engineering program management services support. With the advent of drone aircraft like these, the Marines know they will be resupplied when they need it most.
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Halmstad, Sweden. (July 12, 20o23): In this photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher Jackson, Army Reserve Sergeant Conner Williams negotiates an obstacle course in preparation for this year’s Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers Military Competition. The Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers Military Competition is a three-day team event consisting of NATO and Partnership for Peace nations in Europe. Established in 1957, the competition is open to all reserve components for both NCOs and officers. U.S. teams competed against teams from eleven other countries in pistol and rifle shooting, an obstacle course, utility swimming, orienteering, range estimation, map reading and hand grenade throwing.
The Confederation is the world’s largest and oldest Reserve Officer organization that represents the interests of more than 1.3 million reservists from 34 NATO and Partnership for Peace nations.
Their mission is to develop links between reservists of different countries to foster interoperability and to conduct joint training events to assess military skills.
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Kirkland Air Force Base, New Mexico. (July 11, 2023): In October 2020, an American citizen was kidnapped in the tiny African nation of Niger. The kidnappers planned to sell the American to terrorist groups operating in neighboring Nigeria. What followed was the longest distance hostage rescue in American military history.
In the above photo by Allen Winston is one of the key players in this drama, Major Kyle Konkolics (center), who received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic actions in the rescue.
Here is how it went down.
Twenty-seven-year-old American Philip Walton was kidnapped in front of his family by seven men armed with AK-47s from his farm in Massalata in southern Niger in the early morning of October 27, 2020, and the kidnappers demanded one million dollars ransom. Three days later, operators from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, known as SEAL Team Six, conducted a night-time raid that killed six of the seven gunmen and rescued Walton unharmed. The raiding force, consisting of around 30 operators, was inserted into the area via parachute from Air Force Special Operations aircraft. Once on the ground, they moved on foot for about three miles to the site where Walton was held. After a short but intense firefight, Walton was moved to an extraction point, where he and the rescue force were flown out of the area.
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Adriatic Sea. (July 6, 2023): In this photo by MC2 Nolan Pennington, Quartermaster Seaman Apprentice Zachery Teetz, from Montgomery, Texas, assigned to the navigation department aboard the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. In the above photo, Seaman Teetyz acts as bow flag walker on the flight deck during a refueling-at-sea with the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Leroy Grumman. The Gerald R. Ford is the U.S. Navy's newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, representing a generational leap in the U.S. Navy's capacity to project power on a global scale.
Resupplying a vessel as large as an aircraft carrier is no small feat.
The Gerald R. Ford has a crew of over 4,500 Sailors and Marines and up to ninety aircraft of varying types. Supplying this floating city is mostly done by transferring supplies from one ship to another while underway which allows the Navy to remain at sea almost indefinitely.