Cpl. Travis Blanton provides security for the incoming

Cpl. Travis Blanton provides security for the incoming MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft during a long-range raid from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa to the Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji, Japan, as part of Blue Chromite 2017, Nov. 4, 2016. The Marines honed their ability to project forces from afar by executing a long-range raid over 1,000 miles via MV-22B Osprey to include an aerial refueling by KC-130J Super Hercules. Blue Chromite is a U.S.-only exercise which strengthens the Navy-Marine Corps expeditionary, amphibious rapid-response capabilities based in Okinawa and the greater Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Blanton, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, is a machine gunner with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment which is a forward deployed unit from Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, to 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan. The Ospreys are from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 265, Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force.(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Kelsey Dornfeld/ Released)