page_title: Operation Bright Star
section_title: Bright Star '08
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Bright Star / Bright Star '08
caption_attribution_description: English: Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, along with Marines from Kuwait and Pakistan, conduct an amphibious assault demonstration during exercise Bright Star 2009. The multinational exercise is designed to improve readiness, interoperability, and strengthen military and professional relationships among U.S., Egyptian and other coalition forces.
context_page_description: Operation Bright Star is a joint multi-lateral, multi-national military exercise held every two years in Egypt. It is usually a series of combined and joint training exercises led by United States and Egyptian military forces. The exercises began in 1980, after the Camp David Accords were signed – the military forces of Egypt and the United States agreed to conduct coalition training in Egypt.
  Bright Star is designed to strengthen ties between the Egyptian Armed Forces and the United States Central Command and demonstrate and enhance the ability of the Americans to reinforce their allies in the Middle East in the event of war. These deployments usually are centered at the large Cairo West Air Base. Since the liberation of Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm, the exercises have grown to include as many as 11 countries and 70,000 personnel. Nations joining Bright Star exercises have included the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
  The exercises begin with coalition interoperability training on how to operate with one another in a wartime environment.
context_section_description: Among the US participants for Bright Star '08 were the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard, the only U.S. National Guard division headquarters to have deployed to Iraq at that time, and the 48th Brigade Special Troops Battalion of the Georgia Army National Guard.
caption: US Navy Landing Craft Air Cushion make an amphibious landing during Bright Star '09
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