U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa
February 13, 2015
U.S. Marines continue operations with Black Sea Rotational Force in Romania
Story by Sgt. S.T. Stewart
MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, Romania: The final wave of U.S. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment arrived on deck to join the rest of the approximate 500 troops comprising Black Sea Rotational Force 15 who assumed authority from BSRF 14, at Mihail Kogalniceanu, Feb. 9.
The Marine rotational force will continue providing theater security cooperation with NATO allies and partners in Eastern Europe, an enduring mission for the Marine Corps since 2010.
“We appreciate the professionalism and devotion of all who participated,” said Romanian Brig. Gen. Dorin Ionita, Chief of Training and Doctrine of the Romanian Land Forces. “This type of exercise represents the interoperability of the Romanian Land Forces. Thank you to BSRF 14 and good luck to BSRF 15.”
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Black Sea Rotational Force 15 is able to respond to a broad range of military operations in the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe area of responsibility, including crisis and contingency response, U.S. Embassy reinforcement, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, along with building allied and partner military capacity.
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During the six-month deployment, the Marines and sailors with BSRF 15 are scheduled to conduct more than 50 military-to-military engagements and the multilateral and “Platinum” series exercises.
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The outgoing rotation of Black Sea Rotational Force committed to Operation Atlantic Resolve and conducted eight multilateral exercises, six being the Platinum Series, in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia that demonstrated NATO allied and partner-nation commitment to collective security. In total, BSRF 14 conducted 32 military-to-military engagements, training with U.S. Embassies in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Bucharest, Romania, and more than 35 community relations engagements.
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