FRIDAY FOTO (July 22, 2016)

A Delicate Balance.

Canadian forces photo by Sgt Marc-André Gaudreault.

They call this insertion-and-extraction training.

U.S. Marines and Canadian soldiers board a Royal Canadian Air Force CH-147F Chinook helicopter balanced carefully if not precariously, on a hillside at Camp Pendleton, California during Rim of the Pacific 2016.

The biennial multi-national exercise, known as RIMPAC, is being held this year in and around Hawaii as well as in southern California locations like Camp Pendleton. Participants in RIMPAC, which began June 30 and runs through August 4, include 25,000 service members from 27 nations, including–for the first time–the People’s Republic of China. The equipment involved includes 45 ships, five submarines and more than 200 aircraft, according to the Defense Department.

The Canadian soldiers are snipers, pathfinders and reconnaissance members assigned to the 2nd Battalion Royal 22nd Regiment.

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