In 2020, I was attached to a special operations team as part of Special Operations Command Europe in Stuttgart. Germany.
I was there for about a month, following them around, taking pictures, and creating videos for them. One thing I will never forget is how many feral dogs there were. They were really the sweetest things ever; some of the guys tried to take the dogs back with us, but I'm not sure they were actually successful. It's usually awkward the first few weeks because I'm usually just a random guy thrown in a group of Marines who have known each other for some time. The Docs and the Explosive Ordnance guys are the first ones I make friends with. They are kinda in the same boat as me when it comes to being thrown into a crowd that knows everyone. It wasn't long before they took me under their wing and starting doing the things Marines do like eating MRE's (meals ready to eat), shaving each other's heads, talking about the little things we missed, conducting operations outside of the base, and many other things to pass the time.
The U.S. Marines with Georgia Training Team 12 was the official name of the guys I was with. On a day-to-day basis, we conducted extraction operations with the Georgian soldiers with the 32nd Georgian Infantry Battalion all in preparation for the Mission Rehearsal Exercise. The Mission Rehearsal Exercise is a training and assessment focused on preparing the Georgian infantry battalions to integrate and contribute to the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.