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Light it up

Pfcs. Greg Zecher and Nicholas Roberts, machine gunners with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, illuminate the night sky by firing tracer rounds and then reloading their weapons during Exercise Clear, Hold, Build 3 on Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Sept. 21, 2011. (Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder / RELEASED)

The two-day evolution — part of the Enhanced Mojave Viper training exercise — enabled “America’s Battalion” to improve its capabilities as the ground combat element of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force. The exercise is their final pre-deployment training event before deploying to Afghanistan’s Helmand province next month to support Operation Enduring Freedom. Zecher, 19, is from Jacksonville, Fla. Roberts, 20, is from Erie, Pa.

Chris Carter

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