They may be a long way from their home base of Clearwater, Florida, but the United States Coast Guard personnel from Security Unit 307 are starting to feel like honorary Aussies.
After arriving at Larrakeyah Defence Precinct in Darwin for Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, the US Coast Guard team were treated to a Welcome to Country and a smoking ceremony by Elders from the Larrakia Nation.
Soldiers from 8th Brigade also took the guardsmen and women through Australian Army EF88 Austeyr rifle training at Robertson Barracks.
And now the US Coast Guard personnel have been incorporated into the 2nd (Australian) Division task force in Darwin protecting vital infrastructure across the city.
US Coast Guard officer Lieutenant Nicholas Haas is relishing the opportunity to work side-by-side with Australian Army Reserve soldiers from 12th/40th Battalion, Royal Tasmania Regiment, at HMAS Coonawarra.
"To be able to work alongside the Aussies is invaluable learning for us," Lieutenant Haas said.
"We get to learn to speak a little bit of Army, understand what capabilities they bring and how they can be best used in port defence."
It's not all one-way, though, and Australian Army officer Lieutenant Doug Shephard who is leading the 12th/40th Battalion's direct-fire support platoon, is learning as much as he can, too.
"It's always great being able to work with partners such as the US Coast Guard," Lieutenant Shephard said.
"There's always something to learn and inevitably, you see things we haven't come across before, so every opportunity we get to exchange ideas and practices, we jump at it.
The training undertaken by the two partner units is all part of the critical task of protecting northern Australia.
"Our tasking on Exercise Talisman Sabre is to provide security for the Port of Darwin," Lieutenant Haas said.
"To achieve that we're doing a layered point defence, where we have our small boats out on the water providing security and our shore-side element is in multiple positions should any craft get past the boats.
"It all revolves around area defence and key point protection so providing defence and security for military or civilian infrastructure, which is obviously critical for the northern part of this country."
Exercise Talisman Sabre will run until August 4.
