Nearly 200 Marines from 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, arrived in Agadir, Morocco, April 7 to support the field training exercise portion of Exercise African Lion 2012.



Approximately 1,200 U.S. military personnel arrived in various regions of the Kingdom of Morocco to take part in the annual exercise, designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nationnâ?s military tactics, techniques and procedures.



Marines of Battery M and Headquarters Battery will work beside Moroccan counterparts to conduct events such as small-arms weapons training, infantry tactics training, battle tank operations, combat engineering operations, artillery operations and light-armored reconnaissance training.





â?All of these events will be bilateral with our Moroccan partners,,â? said Maj. Stephen Sarnecky, operations officer, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines. â?Weeâ?re looking forward to seeing what the Marines and Moroccans can accomplish working side-by-side..â?



The end result of this training will prepare participants to successfully conduct a mechanized, motorized, helo-born, combined arms assault.



The Marines said they look forward to this rigorous training schedule and learning about the Moroccan way of life.



"We all definitely look forward to liberty and getting the opportunity to get out and learn about the culture," Lance Cpl. Michael Fisher said, a combat engineer with 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines. "I'm also excited to work with the Moroccan military and see how they operate."



They will be assisted by Marines from 4th Combat Engineering Battalion, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine regiment infantrymen, 4th Combined Anti-Armor Team and 4th Marine Logistics Group, along with multiple sub-units.





"It's pretty amazing, considering we've taken reservists from all across the United States and combined them to ensure this event is successful," Sarnecky said.



AL-12 is a U.S. African Command-sponsored, Marine Forces Africa-led exercise that involves various types of training including command post, live-fire and maneuvering, peace support operations, an intelligence capacity building seminar, aerial refueling/low-level flight training, as well as medical and dental assistance projects.