Lance Cpl. Nicholas S. Whitesall, a canonneer with Echo Battery, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, and other Marines with the BLT wielding riot shields and Remington M1014 shotguns await further instructions during Noncombatant Evacuation Operations training at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, Dec. 6, 2018. Whitesall, a native of Chelsea, Michigan, graduated high school June, 2017, and enlisted from RSS Ann Arbor later that year. CLB-31, the Logistics Combat Element for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, provides security, logistics and transportation during NEO training. The 31st MEU is currently honing its planning capabilities during MEU Exercise, the first step of a pre-deployment training cycle designed to integrate the separate components of the 31st MEU into a cohesive crisis response force.. The 31st MEU, the Marine Corps' only continuously forward-deployed MEU, provides a flexible force ready to perform a wide-range of military operations across the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Harrison C. Rakhshani/Released)