Royal Marines take to the water with Operation Deep Blue

Royal Marines paddled alongside members of the Operation Deep Blue team in the United States as part of Exercise Virginia Gauntlet (VG).

During their time in the US on Exercise VG, British Royal Marines spent the day training with the Op Deep Blue team and learning more about how the organisation uses sport as a platform for wider military initiatives. 

Operation Deep Blue are a team dedicated to raising awareness of law enforcement officers, other first responders and military service members who have died in the line of duty, as well as providing support to their surviving family members.

Each year, Operation Deep Blue plans and organises ‘The Expedition To Honor Our Fallen." Over an eight day period, the Operation Deep Blue team paddles approximately 225 miles from Fort Mott State Park in Pennsville, NJ to Washington, DC. 

In addition to honouring all law enforcement officers, other first responders and military service members who died in the line of duty, each team member selects an individual hero to honour throughout the expedition.

As a key tool in building allied relationships with the US Marine Corps through sport, the exercise also provided the opportunity to gain an insight into other civilian and military organisations across the US during training days.

The paddlesports association formed lasting connections with the Operation Deep Blue team and explored opportunities for future collaborations with the UK and US paddling initiatives. 

Chairman of the Royal Marines Paddlesports Association, Lt Col Ed Hands said, ‘It’s funny because there is not a lot of padding over here [United States], but we have been absolutely bowled over by how welcoming the paddling community is here. They have bent themselves out of shape to support us. 

I hope for us, this gives us the opportunity to expand our own paddling community. We are already looking at inviting them over to the UK and taking part in one of the future Operation Deep Blue events. 

It also acts as a seed core for future integration between the UK and US communities, as we learn more about their paddling communities, we can really explore and integrate with a bigger team across the two countries.’