The United States Marine Corps may conduct combat operations all over the world, but its roots shall always remain in amphibious warfare.  The Marine Corps itself, a subset of the U.S. Navy, Marines take pride in their ability to fight in any environment, but like their Navy siblings, they tend to take to the water.

In the event of war with North Korea, an invasion of the reclusive state would undoubtedly include amphibious assaults carried out by Uncle Sam’s favorite aquatic invasion force, the U.S. Marines, fighting alongside allies from South Korea.  Fighting within North Korea would be brutal, but then, if you were to ask the Marines, they’d likely tell you that they wouldn’t have it any other way.  In order to be successful in such an endeavor, however, the Marines and South Korean forces need to develop the ability to fight alongside one another by land, and by sea.

Because of this need to develop cultural, tactical, and strategic interoperability, U.S. forces participate in joint military operations with South Korea’s military on regular basis, often simulating offensive and defensive scenarios to develop both competence and confidence.  While the fundamentals of these types of activities are drilled frequently, however, there comes a time when you’ve got to gather your forces and throw them at an objective in order to see how they’ll fair while working in unison.

In this video from 2014, a massive U.S. Marine Corps force, bolstered by the South Korean military, simulate a large-scale amphibious assault in order to do just that: improve international cooperation while further honing the skills of our warfighters on the ground.

While we may hope such an amphibious invasion of North Korea is never necessary, we can sleep soundly at night knowing that, if we need them, the Marines and allied forces on Kim Jong un’s doorstep are there ready, and prepared, to take the fight to him.

Watch footage of the amphibious assault training below:

Image courtesy of YouTube