As part of UNITAS 2017, elite troops from the United States, hosting nation Peru, Mexico, Paraguay and Colombia conducted various shooting drills in Lima's northern Ancon coastal area on July 20.
Held in Peru on July 17-26,
UNITAS trains forces from the Western Hemisphere in a variety of maritime scenarios. Thus, ships, aircraft and personnel from the U.S. and 18 countries are participating in the exercise.
Training aims to bring service members from each nation together, hone capabilities with their issued weapon systems, become familiarized with other nations' weapons, and learn operational procedures from each other to increase interoperability.
"UNITAS is essentially a combined operation where forces come together to accomplish a mission and build a partnership," said Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Macarthur, the acting officer in charge of a detachment from 3rd Force Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division.
"It is in itself about the training. However, it also gives us all a chance to build upon the relationship that our nations have with one another and strengthen our ability to work together for possible future operations that might arise," he added.
The troops spent the day on the range, performing shooting drills and sharing their respective techniques and tactics with each other.
"For all the Marines and commandos out here, there are already commonalities that exist," said Macarthur.
"All the forces are very similar to us, which is very helpful because it allows us to be able to take what each of us does effectively and build upon our operating procedures to make us all better-rounded individually, and as a unit."
Training among nations can prove to be beneficial to all forces by strengthening camaraderie and skills that may be used in a situation where multiple nations must work together for a common goal.