Moroccan military members practiced non-lethal weapons tactics alongside U.S. Marines with the Military Police Company, Headquarters Battalion, 4th Marine Division of St. Paul, Minnesota, May 17, 2010, during Exercise AFRICAN LION 2010.

The non-lethal weapons training is a big portion of what these Marines will teach the Moroccan Army during the MP's two-week stay in the country. It involves a lot of personal, physical and technical techniques.

"We'll be training on various things for about two weeks, and the non-lethal portions will last four to five days," said Sergeant James Forbord a non-lethal weapons instructor serving with the MP Company. "It includes Mechanical Advantage Control (MAC) holds, pepper spray, how to correctly use TASER guns, crowd control with riot shields and batons, and munitions out on the range."

This type of education will prepare the Moroccan Army and provide more alternatives if they face any type of societal disturbances in the future.

"Non-lethal training gives another option," said Corporal Mark Stickney, a field MP and martial arts instructor serving with the MP Company. "You're using other means to get a rowdy crowd to do what you need them to do. It's better than laying hands on and hurting someone."

For some MPs, this was their first time in Morocco.

"At first you don't know these guys, so it's always kind of awkward the first day. But as soon as you do a hands on activity together, everyone kind of finds out each other's personalities and realizes that we're all the same, and from there training goes smoothly," Stickney said.

Training with a foreign military can have many challenging fronts. However, both Marines and their Moroccan counterparts share a mutual disposition and create memorable experiences and friendships through learning non-lethal tactics together.

"The communication is hard, but we've had good interpreters and the Moroccans are really responsive to us," Forbord said. "You can tell they want to train and have fun with it. Our hope is that regardless of the challenges, we can give them another tool to diversify their tactics, while we create friendships along the way."

Forbord and other Marines have found the exercise to be rewarding and educational, as well as a new experience for them.

"This is the first time that I've worked with a foreign army and it's been a really good experience," Forbord said.

"This is my first time outside of the country," said Lance Corporal Michael Phillips, serving with the MP Company. "It's been an awesome experience, I like the Moroccan people and it's good to know that you can get past [language] barriers and do the things that you need to."

The Marine MP Company will continue to train the Moroccan Army on non-lethal weapons techniques and other subjects over the next week.

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