190124-M-SQ016-166 PHILIPPINE SEA (Jan. 24, 2019) Marines assigned to Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, launch Combat Rubber Raiding Craft during a simulated reconnaissance and surveillance mission aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48), in the Philippine Sea, Jan. 24, 2019. BLT 1/4 is 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. Harrison C. Rakhshani/Released)