Marines of 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Battalion Landing Team, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit assault an objective during a rehearsal of the final exercise at Exercise Africa Lion 2012, April 16. AL-12 is a U.S. African Command-sponsored, Marine Forces Africa-led exercise involving various types of training including command post, live-fire and maneuvering, peace keeping operations, an intelligence capacity building seminar, aerial refueling/low-level flight training, as well as medical and dental assistance projects. The annual exercise is designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation's military tactics, techniques and procedures.