An amphibious assault vehicle assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit launches from the well deck of the forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry during exercise Cobra Gold 2009. Harpers Ferry and the 31st MEU are taking part in Cobra Gold, an annual Thailand and U.S. co-sponsored joint coalition multinational military exercise designed to train a Thai, U.S. and Singaporean Coalition Task Force. The exercise will also include humanitarian civic action projects with participating nations from Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S.