STRAIT TRANSIT SECURITY EXERCISE: Marines with 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) participate in a “strait transit exercise” aboard the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall. The machine guns aboard the vehicles would provide additional “close in” defensive firepower against small boat and drone attack when the ship passes through a narrow channel (naval choke point) like the Strait of Hormuz. Photo taken March 1, 2021. This Marines update from 2019 discusses the tactical use of using weapons on Marine vehicles to repel small boat swarm attacks– precisely the mission the Marines in the picture are training to do. The third paragraph of this Air Weapons update from 2017 discusses Iranian small boat “swarm” attacks.