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Subject matter experts train Marines to be force in readiness

US Marine Corps News

4/15/2010
By Cpl. Rebekka S. Heite, Marine Corps Bases Japan

Special Operations Training Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, trains the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit for all their special operations missions.

“We are the subject matter experts for our field,” said Lt. Col. Rafford Coleman, SOTG assistant officer in charge.

SOTG, based on Camp Hansen, conducts special operations training, exercises and evaluation support to the 31st MEU, said Coleman.

The staff also maintains the capability to provide training in arctic, jungle, desert, mountain and urban environments.
SOTG teams test and evaluate special operations doctrine, equipment and weapons as directed by higher headquarters, and it maintains a group of qualified instructors, Coleman added.

SOTG has approximately 100 Marines to train Marines in special operations tactics.

Special operations tactics involve more relative superiority rather than numerical superiority, said Staff Sgt. King Ritchie, senior reconnaissance and surveillance instructor with SOTG. They teach how to use surprise and speed rather than large numbers, he explained.

SOTG is organized to plan, coordinate, conduct, evaluate and supervise the special operations training for III MEF. It is organized around a group of special skills instructors divided into training branches of those skills to provide better training for Marines.

In order to meet its mission to provide training in special operations and warfare in diverse environments for III MEF, SOTG is constantly looking for new locations for training in and has multiple courses in almost everything from Helicopter Rope Suspension Training and Coxswain Courses to Urban Sniper Training, said Ritchie.

New locations are important because the Marines become used to the training areas on Okinawa, so the training loses the challenge of the unknown, said Col. Michael Langley, officer in charge of SOTG.

Each course has its own size limits, but most average about 23-28 people, he added. Courses also have differing prerequisites that include anything from a first class physical fitness test to the successful completion of a related course, he said.

Each training evolution requires a lot of planning, including site surveying by SOTG Marines, said Coleman.

The site survey must be completed before training can commence for safety purposes.

SOTG earns its money through training the MEU Marine, Coleman added. SOTG Marines train them to become a force in readiness ready to respond to many different contingencies, he said.