OKINAWA, Japan --
Marines and Sailors with 3rd Marine Logistics Group and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 are conducting Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations training on islands around Okinawa, Japan, during exercise Poseidon’s Watchtower from June 2-17.

Poseidon’s Watchtower serves as an opportunity to rehearse both Naval integration and EABO, with Marines and Sailors from 3rd Landing Support Battalion and 9th Engineer Support Battalion working alongside NMCB-4 Sailors, known as Seabees, to simulate reconnoitering and establishing expeditionary advanced bases on the islands of Ukibaru and Irisuna off the coast of Okinawa.

During the exercise, Marines with 3rd LSB and 9th ESB will support a contingent of Navy Seabees constructing a main bunker on Irisuna Island, along with decoy bunkers dispersed across the island. Construction materials and equipment will be delivered via amphibious warships and landing craft air cushion hovercraft, which will allow the Seabees and 3rd LSB to exercise littoral operations with the greater 7th Fleet forces in the Indo-Pacific. Additionally, Marines from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 will support transportation of equipment and materials to and from Irisuna island via CH-53 Sea Stallion aircraft external sling lifts.

Meanwhile, on Ukibaru island, a Marine Corps-Navy engineer reconnaissance team will reconnoiter the island and conduct hydrographic surveys with Navy divers from Underwater Construction Team 2. This experimentation will further assess support required to establish an expeditionary maritime refueling and resupply point for future light amphibious warships, unmanned undersea vehicles, and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.

Poseidon’s Watchtower builds on the success and lessons the naval engineering force experienced during 9th ESB’s Pacific Pioneer in April, in which naval engineers performed expeditionary construction in a distributed maritime environment.

“Poseidon’s Watchtower gives the naval expeditionary forces an outstanding opportunity to refine naval concepts such as the recently released Tentative Manual for EABO,” said Lt. Cmdr. Troy Bischak, operations officer for NMCB-4. “Operating in a littoral environment with no existing logistical infrastructure will require the unique skill sets that only the Navy-Marine Corps Team can bring to support Fleet maneuver, fires, and logistics from the littorals.”