Marines with the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., trained recently at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, while the San Diego-based USS Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group was in Pearl Harbor.

The six-ship strike group is headed to the Middle East. Marines practiced helicopter insertions and trained with mortars (below and left) while Cobra and Huey helicopters provided live-fire close-air support (bottom). The Boxer left Pearl Harbor Thursday.