BSRF-14 Marines, sailors fire away in paintball

MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, Romania - Black Sea Rotational Force 14 is the first full-year rotation of U.S. forces in Mihail Kogalniceanu, Romania. While being the premiere crisis-contingency force in the Eastern European region, Marines and sailors also maintain and further strengthen a close and solid relationship with their partner nations. Conducting community engagement events helps build that partnership and foster positive, mutual involvement in the area.

Marines and sailors with BSRF-14, and children from the Ovidiu Placement Center in Ovidiu, Romania, got together for a friendly paintball competition at NRG Park in Constanta, Romania, Oct. 19, 2013.



















Foto by Lance Cpl. Krista James

Corporal Nicholas Zablonski, a team leader with Black Sea Rotational Force 14, takes aim at his opponents in a game of paintball with children from the Ovidiu Placement Center at NRG Park in Constanta, Romania, Oct. 19, 2013. Community engagement events show the host-nation population the Marines and sailors aren’t only in the area to train, but to interact and further strengthen relationships with them.
Corporal Nicholas Zablonski, a team leader with BSRF-14, and Newport News, Va. native, and Lance Cpl. Henry Benitez, a Maintenance Management Officer with BSRF-14, and Houston native, both agreed that paintball with the children was a good experience.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Benitez. “I enjoyed myself and I think the kids had fun as well because they were smiling and laughing the whole time.”

The children also expressed gratitude to the Marines and sailors for the attention and time spent with them over the past few weeks. All of the children agreed that playing paintball with the BSRF-14 personnel was fun. Marines and sailors with BSRF-14 are not strangers to the children from the placement center. Their relationship began when BSRF-14 arrived to Mihail Kogalniceanu in early September and started spending time in the center. These engagements included painting and repairing the facility where the children reside.