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NAGASAKI, Japan (Feb. 23, 2025) — Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members with 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment, embark a high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle onto a CH-47 Chinook helicopters assigned to 1st Helicopter Brigade, during a bilateral insert exercise in support of Iron Fist 25, at JGSDF Camp Ainoura, Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan, Feb. 23, 2025. Iron Fist is an annual bilateral exercise designed to increase interoperability and strengthen the relationships between the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The 31st MEU, the Marine Corps’ only continuously forward deployed MEU, provides a flexible and lethal force, ready to perform a wide range of military operations as the premiere crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Tyler Andrews)