 The United States teamed up with nine North African and European nations for Phoenix Express 2014, a U.S. AFRICOM Command sponsored exercise that includes a preparatory import phase and seven days of underway operations. Captain James Hodge explains the reason for the exercise. It brings multiple nations from both Southern Europe and North Africa together to work on various aspects of maritime security. It facilitates interoperability. If something actually does happen in the real world, this exercise really helps to set the foundation for that interoperability and cooperation. The scenarios created for the exercise were designed to test a variety of skills, such as boarding techniques, search and rescue operations, medical casualty response, radio communication and information management techniques. Tactical operations are led by a combined exercise staff running the Maritime Operations Center at Naval Air Station Sigonella, who are passing directions to the participating ships distributed across the Met. With so many people in the loop, communication is paramount. It's critical that both between the countries and between the various pieces of the echelons of leadership that the communications are clear, you have to be clear of your objectives, how you carry them out and the instructions that you're giving and then the feedback you get from the other end. 2014 marks the eighth time this exercise has been conducted. The countries involved in this year's Phoenix Express include the U.S., Italy, Malta, Greece, Croatia, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and for their first time Libya. For us it's a very good exercise and we hope in the future, in the next exercise, that we can participate in higher level. For Naval Air Station Sigonella, I'm Petty Officer Donovan Petubo.