United States Marines

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Didier

FROM STRATEGYPAGE.COM:

GULF OF THAILAND (May 8, 2008)

A Marine MH-53 helicopter, assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265 (HMM-265), takes off May 8, 2008 from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2). Essex is the lead ship of the only forward-deployed U.S. expeditionary strike group and is participating in Cobra Gold 2008, a joint military exercise sponsored by the United States and Thailand designed to enhance interoperability between joint U.S. forces and the combined forces of the Thai, Singaporean, Japanese and Indonesian militaries.