Video by Defense Imagery Management Operations Center

A cavalry fire support team lands in a remote area on a Black Hawk helicopter and quickly moves for cover on a hill overlooking their target. Communication is set up swiftly to get the exact location of the team’s objective. The crew finds the coordinates of the target and calls an A-10 Warthog jet, which eventually swoops in precisely striking its mark.

Forward observers have the vital job of calling in targets for mortars, field artillery and provide eyes-on information for rotary and fixed aircraft, explained Capt. Chad Knowles fire support officer with the Oregon National Guard.

No landing zone, no problem for a group of Marines and Sailors who just earned the title Helicopter Rope Suspension Techniques Masters.

During a recent 10-day course, 18 Marines and Sailors spent countless hours learning the skills needed to slide down ropes out of helicopters and off rappel towers both day and night at Landing Zone Vulture, which is located on the Stone Bay training area of the base, July 25 to Aug. 5.

The Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) team from amphibious dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) conducted training with Sailors from Romanian mine countermeasures vessel Lieutenant Dimitrie Nicolescu (MCMV 29) as part of Summer Storm 2011, Aug. 2.

The maritime interdiction operations (MIO) exercise was one of several evolutions being conducted by Whidbey Island and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).

For many Soldiers, being sprayed in the face with pepper spray is not a common occurrence. But for the 15 Soldiers of the 571st Military Police Company, being sprayed is just another part of training and a skill that could save their lives.

The Stryker armored fighting vehicle is nearly 20 tons of machinery, including eight wheels and automatic fire power, all at the disposal of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Transporting these rolling giants of destruction from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., to the National Training Center required the unification of commanders, non-commissioned officers, and junior enlisted Soldiers to successfully complete the mission.

Maryland Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Eric Zubkus and Australian Defence Force Pvt. James Adams can’t be seen as they burrow under a framework of earth, grass and branches and scan the bush.

But they can sure be heard.

The Australian and the American are sharing a laugh with other Soldiers from the 1st Battalion 158th Cavalry Squadron (Long Range Surveillance) as they get ready to play their part in Exercise Talisman Sabre, a joint Australian/American exercise that ran from July 11 to July 29 here.

The Marine Corps is world renowned for its amphibious capabilities. Whether it’s conducting amphibious assaults, or humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations, the Marine Corps has earned the reputation as an elite amphibious fighting force.

It is because of this reputation, that Australia asked U.S. Marines to help extend their knowledge of amphibious operations, as they begin to develop their own amphibious capabilities.

A helicopter crew and pararescuemen assigned to Kirtland Air Force Base recovered a hiker Aug. 1 who had been lost in Colorado since July 30.

The HH-60 Pave Hawk crew of four Airmen from Air Education and Training Command's 58th Special Operations Wing, and two pararescuemen from Detachment 1, 342nd Training Squadron, recovered Lashaye Westbrook, a 22-year-old from Farmington, N.M.