US Military Intensifies Cooperation With Israel: The US and Israel are marking a jam-packed week of military-to-military cooperation that cuts across all services and command echelons, from America’s top-ranked officer – USMC Gen. Joseph Dunford – to members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), who are winding up a five-month deployment with rest and relaxation here in this Red Sea resort town.
While Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began meetings in Tel Aviv Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, dozens of US Air Force personnel joined the Israel Air Force in launching Blue Flag, a two-week multinational exercise at Israel’s Uvda Air Base in the Arava desert.
Not far away, at one of Israel’s desert training schools, officers from the US Army and four other countries are winding up a one-month course focusing on ground tactics and ethics in urban combat.
The US officers participating in Israel’s first-ever international officers course include a UH-60 Blackhawk pilot, a US Army brigade-level intelligence officer and a graduate of the US Army Ranger school who is going into Special Forces Assessment after the course, US and Israeli officials said.
