 The Marine Expeditionary Brigade provides the combatant commander a scalable, postured expeditionary force. This force focuses on assuring partners, responding to crisis, and projecting power from the sea while operating forward under the threat of potential adversaries. You now have a standing staff, so we are always ready. Instead of aggregating with a group of strangers when a crisis erupts, a MEB staff is able to pull out a playbook, apply their expertise, get out of town within a matter of hours, and provide both the MEF commander and the combatant commander a usable force immediately. The Marine Expeditionary Brigade is a standing command element regionally oriented and capable of conducting the full range of military operations. The hallmark of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade is its ability to aggregate elements of the Marine Expeditionary Force, establish a sea base, and conduct amphibious operations. We can push the blue-green team farther than we have before, and we can do it right out of the box. We're a very scalable force. We can send a-ship, two-ships, that can be self-sustained if it's a larger issue. We can send the whole amphibious readiness group with a tremendous amount of air lift capability, and then if it's a more sustained operation, we can roll the sustainment in lines. The Marine Expeditionary Brigade Command and Control provides the nucleus to create a Marine Airground Task Force. Coupled with our Navy counterparts and maritime pre-positioning ships, the Marine Expeditionary Brigade can project power from the sea and self-sustain while conducting the full range of military operations. The Marine Expeditionary Brigade personnel conduct numerous combined bilateral and multilateral training exercises annually that strengthen crucial ties with our partner nations. Our relationship has been there for quite a long, long time, and it's also easy for us because we train together every year. We try to enhance our interoperability as well as to maintain regional stability. The Intersecurity Cooperation facilitates access and enhances interoperability with our partner nations. Within the Pacific Area of Operation, the third Marine Expeditionary Brigade is mission-tailored, regionally trained, and culturally aware. The command is able to rapidly respond within hours of any crisis or conflict. Last year we were able to execute Operation Damian because we had been partnered earlier with the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Because we train all the time and it's not just in one vein, we're able to respond across that range of military options. Operation Damian validated the third Marine Expeditionary Brigade's capability and diverse structure while rapidly responding to a partner nation's call for assistance. With its ability to conduct command and control across the range of military operations and interoperability through sea basing, the Marine Expeditionary Brigade is the centerpiece of the Marine Corps' force in readiness. We don't just train for one mission set. We train across this range, which includes humanitarian assistance, all the way through supporting subunified commander with ground forces and strike forces that can be employed in a high intensity conflict. We are the perfect force to give the combatant commander a tool which should be effective. The Marine Expeditionary Brigade, partnered, capable, and ready.