U.S. Marines of 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Battalion Landing Team, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Moroccan Armed Forces service members, teamed up to rehearse the final exercise for Exercise Africa Lion 2012 in Cap Draa, Morocco, April 16, 2012.



Starting at their encampments, U.S. Marines and Moroccan soldiers boarded helicopters, flew to the target objective and worked bilaterally to eliminate a simulated enemy threat.



"The entire goal of this exercise is to be able to combine forces, integrate and complete a mission using both countries' style of tactics," said Lance Corporal Samuel-Jesse Landry, a squad automatic weapon gunner with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, BLT, 24th MEU. "I think we did that."



The multinational force was cooperating days prior to the rehearsal and was able to complete the mission in less than 15 minutes.



Landry thought this was important, not only for the final exercise to be a success, but for success in future operations.



"Maybe one day down the road, since we're allies, we'll need to cooperate and lean on the Moroccans' expertise in a real world mission," he said.



Sergeant Justin B. Orange, squad leader, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, BLT, 24th MEU, added he would be glad if he had the opportunity to work alongside his Moroccan counterparts in the future.



"They're a good fighting force, and we've had a good time out here training with them," he said. "They've picked up quickly on the things we've taught them, and they actually showed us how they embarked and departed from helicopters."



Landry said the experience he's had with the Moroccan service members at Cap Draa was a memorable one.



"I've never been out of the U.S., I've never seen big sand dunes, and I've never communicated with people from another country, so this is definitely something I can tell stories about," Landry said. "Not many people can say they've ever done the things I've gotten to do here."



AL-12 is a U.S. Africa Command-sponsored, Marine Forces Africa-led exercise involving various types of training including command post, live-fire and maneuvering, peace keeping operations, an intelligence capacity building seminar, aerial refueling/low-level flight training, as well as medical and dental assistance projects. The annual exercise is designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation's military tactics, techniques and procedures.