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CNMI is sovereign U.S. territory. and Republic of Palau; Commander, cluding Army live-? re Patriot surface- “We do quite a bit of training here U.S. Naval Forces, Marianas; Com- to-air shots from Palau; Marines Corps with various partners throughout the mander, Task Force West and Com- HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery region. It’s not nearly as far as going mander, Joint Region Marianas. Rocket System) ? rings from one of the to Hawaii, which means more time There are signi? cant training oppor- islands in Palau; Navy Seabees reno- training and less time in the transit,” tunities in CNMI. The Mariana Islands vating medical facilities; and Air Force said Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, Range Complex (MIRC) encompasses F-35s, F-22s and A-10s ? ying from the who has serves as Senior Military Of- 501,873 square nautical miles of open air? eld at Koror. ? cial for U.S. Indo-Paci? c Command ocean and littorals and 64 nautical miles “These exercises showed our ability representing Guam, Commonwealth of of land to provide multi-domain warf- to take forces that were staged here and the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), ighting training. press them out to other locations, setup,

Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), More than half of the island of Tinian and then be able to operate from there in the in the CNMI is a military use area very quickly,” Nicholson said. for training. Another island, uninhabited “Altogether,” Nicholson said, “these

Farallon de Medinilla, is used for live- activities demonstrate America’s re- ? re exercises and naval gun? re support. solve to protect sovereign US and COFA

During recent regional training exer- territory, ensure security and stability in cises, the U.S. demonstrated the ability the region, and assure allies and partners to surge forces to the COFA nations in- that the U.S. will defend them.”

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