FRIDAY FOTO (July 6, 2012)

U.S. Marines, Polish Amphib, Lithuanian Beach

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Nate Hauser

Marines of Black Sea Rotational Force 12, disembark a Polish amphibious tractor during Exercise BALTOPS 2012 at Klaipeda, Lithuania. The Marines and sailors of BSRF-12 joined Lithuanian infantry in the first amphibious landing on Lithuanian soil in 40 years.

We’ll bet most people don’t know there are U.S. Marines posted to the Black Sea area. BSRF-12 is a Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force training with 19 countries in the Black Sea and Caucasus regions to promote regional stability while providing a limited crisis response capability in the area.

BALTOPS 2012 is an international military exercise that seeks to increase interoperability of equipment and cooperation of troops among NATO members and other militaries in the Baltic region. Land and naval forces from Estonia, Latvia, Poland, the Netherlands and Germany were among the  participants in the exercise, which ran from June 1-16.

For more photos of the Marines’ amphibious operations at BALTOPS 2012, click here.

Marines from BSRF-12 are currently in Romania conducting joint training with Romanian troops.

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