Here We Go!

The Defense Department is enlarging a Marine Corps response force based in Spain, and it will send a Navy ship to the Black Sea to conduct exercises with nearby U.S. allies. A Pentagon spokesman says 175 Marines from Camp Lejuene, N.C., will be added to the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force. That will bring the total to 657. The task force is stationed at Spain's Moron Air Base, but the new Marines will be located in Romania. They'll join a contingent there who are part of the Black Sea rotational force. The spokesman says the additional troops are not in response to tensions over Ukraine and Russia. The Navy ship is another matter. It's going there for the purpose of reassuring countries surrounding the Ukraine that the United States is committed to the region's security.