180815-N-HE318-1020

SEA OF JAPAN (August 15, 2018) Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Matthew Spano (left), from Phoenix, instructs Ensign Taisei Sakai, assigned to the Kongo-class guided-missile destroyer JDS Kirishima (DDG-174), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), during a live-fire exercise with a M2HB .50 caliber machine gun on the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54). Antietam is on patrol in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operation supporting security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.