Marine Leaders of The Americas Conference (MLAC) 2025

A young Peruvian student receives a command coin from U.S. Marine Col. Paul Konopke, the commanding officer of 23rd Marine Regiment, during a community relations event in Huarmey, Peru, as part of UNITAS 2017, July 24, 2017. Much of Huarmey had been damaged by recent flooding, and Marines delivered more than 100 pallets of donated items from Project Handclasp for the city's hospital and schools. Project Handclasp is a U.S. Navy program that delivers humanitarian and educational materials donated by U.S. citizens. UNITAS is an annual, multinational exercise that focuses on strengthening existing regional partnerships and encourages establishing new relationships through the exchange of maritime mission-focused knowledge and expertise during multinational training operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by 1st Lt. Marco Valenzuela)