Stories and photos of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division's recent training exercises at the National Training Center has been popping up on the Internets more than photos of heart shaped food. And why not, the 3-2 SBCT out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord were involved in severasl first at NTC, including bilateral training with Japanese soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Company, 1st Mechanized Battalion, from Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (that's a mouthful!).

Staff Sgt. Christopher McCullough with the 3-2 SBCT, was one the scene with soldiers from 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which in conjunction with Task Force Arrowhead, shared operational tactics with their Japanese counterparts.

"We had eight Abrams tanks out there to mentor the Japanese and work with them in terms of armored formations and tank maneuvers in the desert," Capt. Christopher Walgren, Chief of Operations for 3-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division, told McCullough.

"This is the very first time for the Japanese Ground Defense Forces," said Maj. Yoshinoki Adachi, of Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, company commander for 1-1 BN (Mech), JGDF. "The coordination with the U.S. Army was impressive because the language was different ... yet we can fight alongside the U.S. Army to achieve the same objective."

The overall mission was to gain a working relationship with one of the U.S. Army's main allies in the Pacific region, Walgren, a native of Gardner, Mass., said.

Read McCullough's full story here.