NAHA MILITARY PORT, Okinawa, Japan -- Marines with 3rd Marine Logistics Group participated in III Marine Expeditionary Force Command Post Exercise 18.1 (MEF CPX 18.1) from Aug. 18-31, 2018 at Naha Military Port, Okinawa, Japan.

Maj. Allan Chiu, 3rd MLG training and operations section officer in charge, said 3rd MLG’s objective within MEF CPX 18.1 was to prepare the MLG headquarters staff for combat operations and to serve as a training tool for III MEF.

MEF CPX 18.1 was a scenario-based exercise designed for the leaders of III MEF’s major subordinate commands and their major subordinate elements to rehearse command and control of their Marines and assets in a major combat operation.

Chiu said that while the subordinate elements of the MLG were training independently, their commanders were still involved in all the events of the exercise.

For the exercise, 3rd MLG’s Headquarters Regiment assembled Combat Logistics Detachment 374 (CLD-374) to provide food services along with set up, security and deconstruction of the operational site.

“The Marines have been fantastic,” said 1st Lt. Thomas Blanke, the future operations officer with Headquarters Regiment S-3, 3rd MLG and the CLD-374 officer in charge. “This exercise has allowed us to validate our unit deployment lists and push past all the small friction points before MEFEX 19.”