[Photo] MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft supports Marines guarding the U.S. Consulate in Herat following attack

An interesting image was just released by the U.S. Marine Corps.

It was taken on Sept. 14 and shows an MV-22 (most probably about to land on the local pad or – less likely – on an armed overwatch patrol) supports Marines with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, standing guard on the outside wall of the U.S. Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan.

The Marines were tasked to protect the U.S. Consulate following the Sept. 13 attack which caused significant damage to the building’s infrastructure and left six insurgents dead.

After Sept.11 2012’s attack on the Benghazi consulate, that cost the life of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three others, the Pentagon deployed to North Africa a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST), an expeditionary group of skilled and very well equipped Marines capable to reinforce U.S. security forces at embassies and other key installations around the world.

Image credit: U.S. Marine Corps

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.