Marines Are Practicing A Little-Used Tactic In Eastern Europe

The U.S. Marine Corps' Black Sea Rotational Force left its base in Romania for training in Bulgaria this month, carrying out exercises that are another sign the U.S. military is preparing for a kind of conflict that's different from what it has faced in recent decades.

A Marine Forces Europe and Africa release issued earlier this month said units from the rotational force were headed to Bulgaria's Novo Selo training area, "where they would be able to take advantage of the rough, verdurous terrain for multiple training events."

"We deployed from the place where we're stationed at in Romania to this training area in Bulgaria. That way we can utilize the training areas out here that are a little better suited for the training that we're trying to accomplish," an unidentified Marine said in a video released this week by the command, first spotted by Marine Corps Times.

The Marines carried out a number of exercises focused on combined-arms proficiency and on building operational capacity.

"During this training event we had snipers conducting everything from unknown distance ranges to live-fire stalks," said 1st Lt. Daniel Kult, a combined anti-armor team (CAAT) platoon commander. "We also had our 81 mm mortar platoon conducting dismounted and mounted live-fire operations, both day and night."

"We have our combined-anti-armor platoon conducting high-angle Mark-19 fire, which is a new thing for us," the Marine said in the video. "It's not really done in the Marine Corps anymore."

High-angle fire with the Mark 19, an automatic grenade launcher that can fire up to 60 40mm grenades a minute, could come in handy if Marines engaged enemy personnel behind walls or other barriers, Marine Corps machine-gunners told the Times. Such fire could...