YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, Wash. – Soldiers were moving quickly through hallways giving hand signals, shouting commands, and communicating and working as a team. Each movement was important to the successful clearing of rooms and knowing the person next to you was trained and ready was paramount.

Soldiers from Company C, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, demonstrated their tactics and procedures in clearing a structure to Japan Ground Self-Defense Force troops from the 33rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division at Yakima Training Center, Washington, Sept. 9 as part of Rising Thunder 2015.

The goal of the training was for Japanese troops to observe how American Soldiers reacted to a scenario and then apply the techniques learned to their own training, said 1st Lt. Kenneth Medina, a platoon leader in Company C.

According to Medina, the Soldiers had been training for weeks to demonstrate the proper clearing procedures as part of the bilateral training event.

“This training helps us a lot because it’s important when you’re doing this, you have to be able to trust the guys next to you,” said Staff Sgt. Maurice Roberts, weapons squad leader and acting platoon sergeant in Company C.

The Soldiers felt the effects of all the practice.

“The more we do this, the more we realize we have to work as a team; we have to know each other's footsteps,” said Pfc. Hunter Hicks, infantryman in Company C.

The trust was something the 33rd Infantry Regiment soldiers built as they worked through the training, but Soldiers from each country learned a lesson in partnership.

“It’s important for Soldiers to know how to work well with others and not just Soldiers from their own country either,” Medina said.

Rising Thunder is an annual bilateral exercise between the U.S. Army and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.