Pacific Marines Stories

U.S. Marines with Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Marine Rotational Force – Darwin, conduct patrol-based operations and engage in platoon-level attacks with troops from His Majesty’s Armed Forces of Tonga, the New Zealand Defence Force, the French Army of New Caledonia and the Tongan Royal Guards during their culminating event for Exercise Tafakula 15 Sept. 9-11 on Tongatapu Island, Tonga. Each military force split into integrated platoons for the event that comprised of 72 hours of patrolling, land navigation and attacking mock enemy positions. The rotational deployment of U.S. Marines in Darwin affords unprecedented combined training opportunities such as Exercise Tafakula and improves interoperability between the involved forces. - U.S. Marines with Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Marine Rotational Force – Darwin, conduct patrol-based operations and engage in platoon-level attacks with troops from His Majesty’s Armed Forces of Tonga, the New Zealand Defence Force, the French Army of New Caledonia and the Tongan Royal Guards during their culminating event for Exercise Tafakula 15 Sept. 9-11 on Tongatapu Island, Tonga. Each military force split into integrated platoons for the event that comprised of 72 hours of patrolling, land navigation and attacking mock enemy positions. The rotational deployment of U.S. Marines in Darwin affords unprecedented combined training opportunities such as Exercise Tafakula and improves interoperability between the involved forces.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Todd McCaffrey, chief of staff , U.S. Army Pacific (far right) and U.S. Marine Corps Col. Daniel Masur, officer in charge of the Forward Coordination Element, Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (far left) pose with soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division, USARPAC and Marines with 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, MRF-D after the Exercise Kowari 2015 closing ceremony Sept. 12, 2015 at Larrakeyah Barracks, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. In its second iteration, Kowari 15 was a trilateral environmental survival training opportunity hosted by Australia and included forces from the U.S., Australia and China simultaneously. - U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Todd McCaffrey, chief of staff , U.S. Army Pacific (far right) and U.S. Marine Corps Col. Daniel Masur, officer in charge of the Forward Coordination Element, Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (far left) pose with soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division, USARPAC and Marines with 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, MRF-D after the Exercise Kowari 2015 closing ceremony Sept. 12, 2015 at Larrakeyah Barracks, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. In its second iteration, Kowari 15 was a trilateral environmental survival training opportunity hosted by Australia and included forces from the U.S., Australia and China simultaneously.