190124-M-PY691-134 EAST CHINA SEA (Jan. 24, 2019) Marines assigned to Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, board a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter before launching a tiltrotor and helicopter-borne raid aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) in the East China Sea, Jan. 24, 2019. 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, known as the ‘China Marines’ due to the battalion’s service in the Republic of China during the early 20th Century, is the primary component of BLT 1/4, the Ground Combat Element for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. The 31st MEU, the Marine Corps’ only continuously forward-deployed MEU partnering with the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, provides a flexible and lethal force ready to perform a wide range of military operations as the premier crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Kyle P. Bunyi/Released)