Marine Forces Europe and Africa

U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, prepare cargo during helicopter support team training with a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey on Moron Air Base, Spain, July 9, 2019. The exercise was conducted to increase interoperability between the aviation combat element and logistics combat element. SPMAGTF-CR-AF is deployed to conduct crisis-response and theater-security operations in Africa and promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Margaret Gale)

U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, introduce themselves to children at Parrocchia Di San Giuseppe in Mascali, Italy, July 3, 2019. Marines with SPMAGTF-CR-AF 19.2 volunteered to give a nutrition class and fitness instruction to children attending summer camp at the San Giuseppe parish in Sicily. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Mark E. Morrow Jr.)

A U.S. Marine with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, plays baseball with a student from La Inmaculada charter school during a community relations event on Moron Air Base, Spain, July 2, 2019. Marines and Sailors of SPMAGTF-CR-AF played various American games with the students such as cornhole, football, and baseball while speaking English to help increase the students’ fluency in the language. Community relations events like this help strengthen relationships between the local communities and the deployed Marines. SPMAGTF-CR-AF is deployed to conduct crisis-response and theater-security cooperation operations in Africa and promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Margaret Gale)

A U.S. Marine with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, posts security during a tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel mission rehearsal on Moron Air Base, Spain, July 2, 2019. The rehearsal was conducted to maintain high-response time and proficiency in night operations as a crisis-response force. SPMAGTF-CR-AF is deployed to conduct crisis-response and theater-security operations in Africa and promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Margaret Gale)

A U.S. Marine with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, prepares his night-vision goggle for a tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel mission rehearsal on Moron Air Base, Spain, July 4 , 2019. The rehearsal was conducted to maintain high-response time and proficiency in night operations as a crisis-response force. SPMAGTF-CR-AF is deployed to conduct crisis-response and theater-security operations in Africa and promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Margaret Gale)

Friends and family observe a change of command ceremony between Spanish Col. Carlos Perez Martinez, the off-going base commander, and Spanish Col. D. Rafael Saiz Quevado, the on-coming base commander, at Moron Air Base, Spain, July 5, 2019. Perez Martinez was the commander of Moron Air Base since 2017 and worked closely with multiple iterations of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, Marine Forces Europe and Africa. SPMAGTF-CR-AF 19.2 is deployed to conduct crisis-response and theater-security operations in Africa and promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Margaret Gale)

Major General Patrick J. Hermesmann , the incoming commander of Marine Forces Europe and Africa, receives the organizational colors from Maj. Gen. Russell A.C. Sanborn, the outgoing commander, during the change of command ceremony on the Devil Dog Field on Panzer Kaserne in Boeblingen, Germany, July 9, 2019. Sanborn, who commanded MARFOREUR/AF since July 2017, presided over several initiatives that grew the headquarters as a dynamic warfighting institution, to include increasing NATO capacity for allied amphibious operations; enhanced naval and amphibious integration into plans, operations and exercises; the expansion of the Marine Corps cold-weather and mountain-warfare rotational training presence in Norway's high north; and responsibility for US forces participating in Exercise Trident Juncture 2018, the largest NATO military exercise since the end of the Cold War. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Menelik Collins/Released)

U.S. Navy Sailors with Marine Rotational Force-Europe 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, perform an assisted carry on a simulated casualty during Sea Breeze 19 in Chabanka, Ukraine, June 29, 2019. Sea Breeze is a U.S. and Ukraine co-hosted multinational maritime exercise held in the Black Sea and is designed to enhance interoperability of participating nations and strengthen maritime security and peace within our region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Williams Quinteros)

A U.S. Marine with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, fires his M4 carbine at the Etna Range, Catania, Italy, June 28, 2019. SPMAGTF-CR-AF is deployed to conduct crisis-response and theater-security operations in Africa and promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Mark E. Morrow Jr.)

A U.S. Marine with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, advises a member of the Uganda People’s Defence Force during a theater security exercise at Peace Support Operations Training Center Camp Singo, Uganda, June 12, 2019. The Ugandan soldiers trained alongside the U.S. Marines and learned how to properly conduct reconnaissance and improve their logistics and engineering capabilities. SPMAGTF-CR-AF is deployed to conduct crisis-response and theater-security cooperation operations in Africa and promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Margaret Gale)