Plymouth marines begin exercise Albanian Lion

Royal Marines based in Plymouth are heading to Albania as part of an annual training deployment.

42 Commando Royal Marines from Bickleigh near Plymouth are being deployed as part of the Response Force Task Group (RFTG), the Royal Navy’s high-readiness fleet.

The group which is comprised of four warships and five support vessels will embark on Exercise Albanian Lion in the Mediterranean and Gulf over the coming three months.

This week the 42 Commando group, will also be taking part in a large scale exercise with 1,000 Royal Marines training alongside their Albanian counterparts.

This will be third time the UK and Albanian forces have worked together after the RFTG was formed following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

“Exercise Albanian Lion demonstrates the Lead Commando Group’s flexibility and short notice utility across a spectrum of contingency tasks,” said Major Alex Gibson, who heads Command Company which comprises 160 men from 42 Commando Group.

Under the exercise scenario they practise landing on the shores of a hostile nation after launching an assault from HMS Bulwark and then carry out a series of mock assaults on enemy positions as they continue to build their core skill of amphibious warfare.

Marine Rubehn Enjily, 24, a former pupil of Cokethorpe School in Witney and a graduate from Sheffield Hallam University is in K Company who will also be training in the United Arab Emirates and Oman over the next few months.

“I’m looking forward to seeing new places, working in different climates and getting new experiences,” he said.

These will be his first visits to Albania, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

“That was part of the appeal of joining up really; you get to go to some places you probably wouldn’t have thought about going to before.”

So far this year, 42 Commando have taken part in exercises with the French, Dutch, Swedish, Lithuanian and Latvian forces