II Marine Expeditionary Force visits STRIKFORNATO

Oeiras, Portugal – On 26 August 2019, the Commanding General of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF), LtGen Brian Beaudreault, U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), visited STRIKFORNATO in what proved to be a fruitful opportunity to exchange information about our organizations and to explore opportunities to develop a stronger mutually beneficial relationship between the two commands.

During the visit, a series of institutional and operational briefings set the base for the main topic of the visit: the future of our commands. STRIKFORNATO and II MEF discussed planned exercises, goals and challenges of the real life security and defence scenario, the everyday preparation needed to effectively deploy our forces, as well as our shared vision and potential opportunity to develop cooperation between commands. The visit ended with an informal meeting between LtGen Beaudreault and all U.S. enlisted personnel at STRIKFORNATO.

II MEF is one of the three MEFs in the U.S. Marine Corps, which are the largest and most powerful Marine Air-Ground Task Force. They have the distinguished capability of being self-sustainable for a period of 60 days while projecting offensive combater power ashore, by combining ground, air and logistics forces. With its 50 000 Marines and Sailors, this MEF is able to support Joint Force Commanders in missions and situations of Humanitarian support and natural relief operations, support a rapid crisis response, train allied forces and operate independent of established airfields, basing agreements, and over-flight rights.When forward deployed, it can also provide credible deterrence.