Simon's Town, SOUTH AFRICA -- Approximately 20 Marines from Small Craft Company, Camp Lejeune, N.C., conducted training off the coast of South Africa Saturday. The exercise involved transferring passengers from South African to American vessels while underway.
The small craft company will be on board the High Speed Vessel 2 Swift conducting training in seven West African nations as part of the West Coast Training Cruise 04. WATC is a regularly scheduled exercise designed to enhance security cooperation between the U.S. and participating West African nations.
"This relatively simple exercise was actually a big step in showing the interoperability of our military," said LtCol. Dawson, commander of Marine Forces WATC. "It shows our ability to work together not only as Marines and sailors, but also with other nations."
The small boat operations also showcased the innovation of HSV 2 Swift, including its vehicle launch and recovery capability. During the exercise, four Marine Rigid Raider craft and two Zodiacs were launched from the Swift by the ship's crane.
"This was my first time doing crane ops," said LCpl. Jose Paz, Small Craft Crew. "It was good training with the South Africans to see how they train and what their equipment is like."
The Marines onboard are looking forward to upcoming training that includes riverine operations, live-fire exercises, search and rescue and amphibious raids in a "real-world" environment.
"I was impressed with how advanced they are," said Paz. "I thought we'd be way ahead of them, but that's not true, these guys were right on line with our capabilities."
During this series of exercises U.S. and African personnel are developing a working relationship that will increase the military capabilities of both sides and provide an avenue of cooperation that will improve our collective military capabilities and increase our ability to bring stability to the region.