Marines, sailors targeting drug cartels from their temporary base in Puerto Rico

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit has been drilling with the National Guard in southern Puerto Rico since the Labor Day Weekend.

The nearly 4,500 sailors and Marines of USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group recently deployed from Norfolk, Virginia.

The Marines are practicing amphibious landing and jungle training. According to a release posted on a Department of Defense website, “The challenging terrain and tropical climate of Puerto Rico provides an ideal environment for the 22nd MEU to conduct realistic amphibious training.”

A defense official familiar with the operation in the Caribbean said the training is only part of their mission and that the three ships of the amphibious ready group are conducting enhanced counter-narcotics operations as part of a larger U.S. build up in the region around Venezuela in the southern Caribbean.Caribbean travel packages

The Norfolk-based destroyer USS Gravely and the submarine USS Newport News are also in the region. In a statement to WHRO, Col. Chris Devine, senior Department of Defense spokesman, said “the Secretary of Defense directed the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group/22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie to the U.S. Southern Command.