Marines Train on French Amphib During Camp Lejeune Stop - USNI News

A French task group on deployment with 130 officer cadets teamed up with U.S. Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Camp Lejeune for a few days of at-sea amphibious operations in North Carolina.

26th MEU is in the early stages of its pre-deployment training, and the Amphibious Task Force Jeanne d’Arc 2019 is nearing the end of its five-month mission through the Middle East, around Africa and up the Atlantic coasts of South and North America.

Ahead of the Jeanne d’Arc task force’s return home to France, the ships and the cadets joined up with elements of the 26th MEU to practice skills that they ultimately could be called upon to perform together in real-world operations.

“This training opportunity is a great moment for us, for the United States Marines and French amphibious forces to integrate and build upon our interoperability for future exercises and operations. This is very important because you cannot build trust, confidence and interoperability at a moment’s notice for a crisis. That’s why we have historically conducted bilateral and multilateral exercises … and why we will continue to do so in the future,” 26th MEU commanding officer Col. Trevor Hall told reporters aboard landing helicopter dock FS Tonnerre (L9014).