Military notebook: Camp Pendleton Marines arrive in Australia for large-scale training exercises (original) (raw)

Marines from Camp Pendleton traveled this week to Australia, where they’ll spend the next six months conducting training exercises with Australian defense forces.

The deployment also is meant to position a U.S. crisis-response force in the Indo-Pacific, the Marines said in a statement.

The U.S. and Australia have been deepening their alliance due to China’s threats to invade Taiwan. Last March, President Joe Biden and the Australian and British prime ministers met in San Diego to announce they were accelerating plans to provide Australia nuclear-powered submarines to counter China.

The newly-arrived Marines are part of an exercise called Marine Rotational Force – Darwin, which has occurred annually since 2012.

First look

The USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler built at General Dynamics-NASSCO in San Diego, made its first visit Thursday to San Francisco.

Milk was a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and gay rights advocate. He and San Francisco Mayor George Mascone were shot to death in San Francisco City Hall on Nov. 27, 1978, by Dan White, a former San Francisco supervisor.

Originally Published: March 29, 2024 at 1:34 PM PST