Four months to the day
before the 68th anniversary of the landing at Normandy, the Navy and
Marine Corps team conducted another historic amphibious operation.
Exercise Bold Alligator 2012, the largest amphibious exercise in the
past 10 years, culminated Feb. 6 with a D-Day landing on the beaches
of Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Amphibious craft and thousands of U.S. Marines and British and Canadian
commandos deployed from multiple ships to the shores of North Carolina
following a week at sea practicing all facets of amphibious operations.
The exercise's scope and scale were last seen during the opening days
of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"This type of an amphibious operation occurred at the start of
the war as we brought forces over into the [Arabian] Gulf off the
coast of Kuwait, in about this size of a task force," said Marine
Col. Scott S. Jensen, commanding officer of Marine Air Group (MAG)
29. "The difference being, is once we got there we offloaded
onto the shore and our command and control shifted into a friendly
country, and we reset ourselves land-based and were ready to support
the combatant commander."
Landing craft air cushions and amphibious assault vehicles delivered
Marines and coalition forces from the United Kingdom and Canada from
amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) to the beach in a mock
amphibious landing. The exercise is a revitalization of amphibious
capabilities and re-investment in the Navy-Marine Corps team.
Marines from Regimental Landing Team 2, MAG 29, 2nd Marine Regiment,
and British and Canadian commandos embarked Kearsarge Jan. 23 through
Feb. 3 in preparation for the landing. The combined nature of the
exercise allowed the U.S. and its partners to share amphibious tactics.
"A lot of times we say, 'oh they're coming to learn our tactics,
techniques and procedures,'" said Jensen. "But I think these
are smart people from great countries who bring a lot to the table
from what they've learned, and we're seeing a lot of that sharing."
