This Photo of the Day has a lot going on, just the way we like it. Some training days need more real estate than others. During a Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure exercise at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit turned the surrounding sea and airspace into one crowded stage.
Scout snipers with the Ground Combat Element, Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, provided overwatch from UH-1Y Hueys, part of the Aviation Combat Element's Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 (Reinforced), while the Maritime Raid Force, Force Reconnaissance Company, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, closed in on a simulated vessel of interest below.
The exercise, part of Realistic Urban Training, marked the first major pre-deployment training event for the 24th MEU ahead of that year's deployment (2014), and for a few hours, that stretch of coastline had more armed hardware overhead and afloat than most harbors see in a year.
Images by: Cpl. Devin Nichols, U.S. Marine Corps