Washington Army National Guard soldiers descended on Southwest Washington rivers and lakes for back-to-back weekends earlier this month for large-scale training exercises.

The exercises were aimed at preparing soldiers for air assaults and waterborne insertions in the Horn of Africa and around the Indo-Pacific, the Guard said in a recent news release . They come amid growing tensions with China over the future of Taiwan and increasing risks of the United States getting drawn into at least one of Israel’s U.S.-backed wars across the Middle East.

Soldiers of the 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment took the guard’s combat water survival test, as well as boat operation trainings, at Ike Kinswa State Park on Mayfield Lake on Aug. 2 and 3 in Lewis County.

The training culminated with an ex

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