Participating members from Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and the United States engaged in this collaborative military-to-military, maritime-focused training event which fostered professional relationships among NATO allies and partner nations.

“Part of what makes this training valuable is the ability to take advantage of the wide breadth of knowledge and experience the different Adriatic partners bring to the event,” said Lt. Chelsey McMahan, one of the lead planners for this year’s event. “Allies working together in events like this provide an enduring advantage in the maritime domain.”

This year's iteration featured a return to live, in-person training after the annual event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure the safety and health of the participants and host nation citizens, all participating personnel were in compliance with host nation quarantine and infection control regulations.

Instructors from U.S. Coast Guard Mobile Training Team and U.S. Naval Forces Europe’s medical personnel, supported by U.S. Navy Reservists from Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, conducted a week-long training event covering a wide range of maritime specific training topics, including: international law, illegal narcotics identification, boarding procedures, interior and exterior tactical movements, use of force techniques, and tactical combat casualty care. The week-long training concluded with a shipboard boarding scenario encompassing all the participants’ learned skillsets taught by the U.S. instructors, and the event concluded with a formal graduation ceremony. 

U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.