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Marines train to deploy at NTC

US Marine Corps News

5/6/2010
By Lance Cpl. Antwain J. Graham, Marine Corps Bases Japan

Marines with 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, III MEF, conducted pre-deployment training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., March 27 – April 4.

While there, the Marines trained with soldiers from the 25th Striker Combat Brigade, an Army unit from Hawaii.

5th ANGLICO specializes in coordinating artillery, Naval gunfire and close air support for the Marine Corps, Navy, Army and allied foreign armed forces.

The joint training gave the Marines the chance to work with another service and prepare them for the working environment they will be in during their deployment to Afghanistan later this year.

“As a fire and close air-support element, we rarely work with other Marines in combat,” said Maj. Derek Bibby, executive officer for 5th ANGLICO. “We usually support combat elements of other military branches. So this training will be beneficial when we deploy and are working with the Afghan military.”

Bibby added even though they were all U.S. military training together, each service operates a little differently, so the training allowed them to learn and understand how to work with one another.

It also gave them the chance to conduct training they cannot do on Okinawa, such as calling in live-fire air strikes, said Gunnery Sgt. Miguel Navarro, platoon sergeant, 2nd Brigade, 5th ANGLICO.

“It was a big plus getting to do the training, because Okinawa’s roads are too small to conduct realistic convoy training, and there are no ranges to support some live ordnance or artillery fire, which will be needed greatly for the deployment,” Navarro said.

Navarro added the NTC terrain and environment is much like that of Afghanistan which he said makes for more realistic training.

“The terrain at NTC was very rough, dry and mountainous; much like the terrain in Afghanistan,” he said. “We can somewhat acclimatize to the environment.”

Navarro also said NTC facilities were set up much like they are in Afghanistan, and it will give Marines a good idea of what to expect on the deployment.

“It’s especially good for the new Marines who are deploying for the first time,” Navarro said.

“Its beneficial training that gives us firsthand experience of what our job will be in Afghanistan,” said Lance Cpl. Julian C. Chase, a fire support man with 2nd Brigade, 5th ANGLICO. “We actually get to experience explosions from live ordnance and train to provide close air support. This really brings the mission into perspective because we get to prepare ourselves more efficiently for the mission.”

During the training, the Marines conducted machine gun shoots, where they used a 50-caliber machine gun, M-240G medium machine gun and the MK-19 grenade launcher. They also used the AT-4 rocket launcher and did mounted and dismounted patrols with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.

“Overall, the training was very thorough using combat scenarios. It tested us physically and mentally,” Navarro said.

Navarro added for the future, he hopes they will implement more communication training so service members will know how to communicate with their foreign counterparts.

“The more diverse training we can get like this, the better,” Navarro said.