Every year, increasingly erratic and unpredictable climate forces are threatening Marine Corps installations and capabilities. Typhoon Mawar made this clear less than a year ago when it struck Guam – scattering debris on runways and shuttering access to essential services across the island – or more recently in California when stormwater washed out roads at San Onofre Beach near Marine Corps Base (MCB) Pendleton. More than five years later, the Marine Corps is still rebuilding from 2018’s Hurricane Florence, which caused $3.6 billion in damage to installations on the east coast of the United States.
Exercise Balikatan 2024, the largest annual bilateral exercise conducted between the Philippines and the U.S., commenced with an opening ceremony at Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) General Headquarters today.
Focused on strengthening the operational ability of 3rd Radio Battalion (RADBN), exercise Corvus Dawn 24 sharpened the unit's capacity to deliver technical information-related capabilities to III MEF and the joint and multi-national force throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Rehearsing with a focus on redundant, resilient, and reliant capabilities, this exercise showcased the unit's ability to address dynamic challenges within this strategic area of operations.
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Training Squadron 2, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, began the assembly of 2nd MAW’s first MQ-9A Reaper, April 10, as part of the U.S. Marine Corps’ continued transition from the legacy RQ-21A Blackjack in accordance with Force Design initiatives.
