NATO Multimedia

Romanian, Spanish and US Marines storm a beach in Estonia as part of BALTOPS 2019, a multinational amphibious exercise held in the Baltic Sea region.

A combined force of Romanian, Spanish and US Marines landed in Estonia as part of BALTOPS 2019, a US-led exercise intended to strengthen maritime interoperability across the Alliance.
Involving 16 Allies and two partner nations, this annual exercise features amphibious operations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, giving participants a chance to share tactics and practise the complicated art of deploying land forces from the sea.
Shots include Romanian, Spanish and US Marines conducting a beach landing, Polish amphibious tracked vehicles disembarking Polish Navy ship ORP Gniezno plus soundbites from a US Marine infantry captain and a Spanish Marine.

1. (00:00) VARIOUS SHOTS – POLISH AMPHIBIOUS TRACKED VEHICLES DISEMBARKING POLISH NAVY SHIP ORP GNIEZNO
2. (00:13) VARIOUS SHOTS – POLISH AMPHIBIOUS TRACKED VEHICLES TRANSPORTING ROMANIAN MARINES ASHORE
3. (00:53) VARIOUS SHOTS – ROMANIAN AND US MARINES TAKING UP POSITION ON THE BEACHHEAD
4. (01:04) MEDIUM SHOT – US NAVY BEACHMASTERS SIGNALLING A US NAVY LANDING CRAFT UTILITY (LCU)
5. (01:13) VARIOUS SHOTS – LCU DISEMBARKING VEHICLES
6. (01:32) VARIOUS SHOTS – TRUCK COMING ASHORE
7. (01:41) MEDIUM SHOT – US MARINES DISEMBARKING AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLE
8. (01:52) MEDIUM SHOT – SPANISH MARINES ON THE BEACHHEAD
9. (01:59) TELEPHOTO SHOT – US MARINES ON THE BEACHHEAD
10. (02:05) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) CAPTAIN NEIL SIMMONS, CHARLIE COMPANY COMMANDER, 1ST BATTALION, 2ND MARINE REGIMENT, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

“What we did do here was secure a beachhead, and why we practise that, why we do this exercise is to allow for follow-on forces to flow up through here.”

1. (02:12) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) CAPTAIN NEIL SIMMONS, CHARLIE COMPANY COMMANDER, 1ST BATTALION, 2ND MARINE REGIMENT, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

“Being able to work with other nations, with countries like the Spanish and Romanians, it’s building interoperability. You know, we may work together again, in some climate and some place. We don’t know what time that will be, or where that will be or when that will be. They understand our tactics and we understand their tactics. We can share information with them, they also share information with us. That’s been one of the greatest parts about BALTOPS 2019, was the fact that we’re able to take away different hints, advice, fieldcraft items from these other countries, and we’ve also been able to allow them to learn some things from us.”

1. (02:47) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) SPANISH MARINE PRIVATE ADRIAN GOMEZ EGUREN, 5TH COMPANY, 2ND BATTALION

“So we’re here doing an exercise, a landing exercise alongside the American Marines, and also the Romanian Marines. Pretty much what we did was assaulting this beach and securing it.”

1. (03:00) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) SPANISH MARINE PRIVATE ADRIAN GOMEZ EGUREN, 5TH COMPANY, 2ND BATTALION

“Marines as a unit are being used in BALTOPS 2019 as an amphibious expeditionary force that can be both used overseas and obviously in the land, and it is a powerful resource for the NATO and its Allies.”