U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Gavin Huegel, a parachute rigger with 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, spots Marines rappelling from a UH-1Y Venom during a Helicopter Rope Suspension Techniques course hosted by Expeditionary Operations Training Branch, I Marine Expeditionary Force, at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Dec. 11, 2024. The HRST course certifies Marines as HRST Masters enabling them to perform helicopter insertions and extractions, rappels, and other rope techniques when landing an aircraft is not feasible. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Jordan Searls)
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jessa Bucsit, a food service specialist assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 15, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and a Filipino native, describes her experience in the Marine Corps and the significance of returning to the Philippines to participate in Exercise Balikatan 2024 aboard the amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD 25) during a port visit to Subic Bay, Philippines, April 20, 2024. Balikatan is a longstanding annual exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the U.S. military designed to strengthen bilateral capabilities, interoperability, trust, and cooperation. Somerset and embarked elements of the 15th MEU are conducting routine operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations....
The Marines of 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, activated the Marine Corps’ first Fire Support Battalion during a ceremony at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Dec. 19, marking an evolutionary step in fire support capabilities.
