The Royal Marines and the Netherlands Marine Corps are taking on the US Marine Corps in Mojave Desert, California, as they prepare to join a new task force next year.
The Littoral Response Group (LRG) (South) is a “high-readiness force” formed to respond to “global events,” comprising 500 British and 120 Dutch marines, including amphibious ships and aircraft. The LRG will maintain its focus “east of Suez.”
Exercise Green Dagger
Exercise Green Dagger will offer the marines ample opportunity to test their skills against the US Marines at the sun-scorched deserts before joining the LRG. The exercise will take place at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, an area as big as Luxembourg.
“This is the first time I’ve been to the States and worked alongside the US and the Dutch,” Marine Sean McGrath from 40 Commando said. “Seeing how they operate and how we can work together has been really rewarding.”
“It’s been fantastic to work in one of the best training environments in the world. Twentynine Palms is absolutely huge and offers pretty much every type of training possible. We can train across terrains, in cities and with so much capable kit, I can see why we come here.”
Mountain Duel
Personnel from across the Commando Logistic Regiment, 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group, 24 Commando Royal Engineers, and 29 Commando Royal Artillery have joined 40 Commando in the desert along with 12 Raiding Squadron of the Netherlands Marine Corps.
As part of the exercise, a team from 40 Commando will head 400 miles north of Twentynine Palms to the Mountain Training Warfare Center, Bridgeport, to duel with the US Marines in “unforgiving surroundings.”
Commando Logistic Regiment Role
Commando Logistic Regiment (CLR), meanwhile, will face the challenge of keeping the dispersed group of soldiers “across a wide area in all extreme of climes supplied and ready for battle.”
To overcome the challenge, the regiment has formed Combat Service Support Troops “that deploy at range and are isolated from the direct chain of command, working independently to keep supplies of food and ammunition flowing.”
The CLR is also developing its 3D printing capability to “provide battle damage repair options on the front-line.”