ANCON, Peru -- As part of a 10 country multinational, combined training exercise, Partnership of the Americas (POA-10)/Southern Exchange 2010 (SE-10), U.S. Marine reservists from Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force 24 (SPMAGTF 24), have been conducting their annual summer training at the Peruvian Marine Corps base to hone their military skill sets—not to mention their Spanish and Portuguese.
Over the past week, Marines from the U.S. and nine other partner nations have come together to focus on fundamentals that are necessary to enhance each nation's peacekeeping and humanitarian disaster relief capabilities, should the need arise.
From day one of the exercise, the 1,300 Marines and Corpsmen, originating from ten different nations, were broken into diversified training groups to encourage and foster cross-training. Each platoon is comprised of members from each nation with its own interpreters. Although the languages, dialects, and uniforms are different they are all eager Marines ready to train.
Training has been organized and effective to include: weapons firing, riot control/crowd control, convoy operations, first aid, water survival, amphibious training, martial arts, patrolling, and checkpoint operations to name a few.
Training also includes a number of classroom sessions like, Laws of War and Human Rights refresher courses taught by various experts representing each participating nation.
The combined exercise will provide participants the opportunity to train by air, land, and sea. Peru has provided a number of ground and amphibious vehicles and the U.S. is shuttling groups via three CH-46 helicopters, multiple ground transport vehicles, and a platoon of amphibious assault vehicles—all of which were brought to Peru on the USS New Orleans.
Live-fire exercises include pistol, machine gun and sniper ranges that promote arms exchange, allowing Marines of all nations to shoot foreign weapons and learn the different techniques and shooting styles that each country has to offer.
Multinational exercises offer a multitude of training opportunities and foster the exchange of ideas while training. Successful participants will return to their homeland with greater skills and the ability to train others these new military techniques—and maybe some new foreign words too.
The combined exercises, Partnership of the Americas 2010 and Southern Exchange 2010, will run simultaneously from July 2-24 in Salinas and Ancon, Peru. The exercises will focus on interoperability between the USMC and forces from nine other partner nations, exposing them to fundamentals that will enhance partner nation capabilities in the execution of peacekeeping operations and humanitarian aid/disaster relief missions that are common amongst Marines throughout the Americas: marksmanship, patrolling, convoy operations, water survival, amphibious training, checkpoint operations, civil affairs, human rights training and military operations in urban terrain.