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Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Elijah Rodarte, a Hesperia, California native, uses night vision goggles to search for surface contacts from the bridge of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD 25) during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, July 25. Twenty-nine nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 27 to August 1. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2024 is the 29th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
