Photo By Lance Cpl. Suzanna Lapi | Staff Sgt. Michael Gallucci, a Mountain Warfare Training Center team leader...... read more read more
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MOUNTAIN WARFARE TRAINING CENTER, BRIDGEPORT, Calif. – Marines with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, learned how to live in the elements during basic survival training at Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif., April 5.
Staff Sgt. Scott Coffin, an MWTC instructor and native of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, said the training Marines conduct boils down to fundamental field craft.
“We have the opportunity out here to teach basic field survival,” Coffin said. “So if your unit or team were to get separated from everyone else, we give them the basics to endure. Nothing we teach is fancy or advanced. It’s all about brilliance in basics. If you can be good at the basics, you can survive a lot longer than somebody who knows how to do fancy, advanced training that may not pertain to your situation.”
The Marines learned how to procure and boil water to kill bacteria, build fires with limited supplies, create shelters, and carry out survival navigation.
Coffin said the training is versatile, which is an added benefit.
“The basics of survival are the basics no matter where you go,” Coffin said. “It’s about knowing how to develop a shelter to get out of inclement weather and protect yourself. This also provides warmth and comfort. Sleeping on dirt is a lot different than sleeping on a nice bed of pine boughs. If you can provide yourself good shelter, fire and water, you can survive 10 to 20 times longer than someone who doesn’t. Fire in and of itself is a good morale booster.”
The instructors taught different methods to build a fire and shelter, and the steps Marines need to take in order to obtain supplies for both. They also learned how to find north with simple tools like a stick and stones. Afterward, the men of Echo Company gathered in their respective platoons and conducted practical application.
Sgt. Daniel Vallejo, weapons platoon sergeant and native of Chicago, said the training was beneficial overall because it added variety to their knowledge.
“After Iraq and Afghanistan, this training provides a different climate for us to learn in,” Vallejo said. “We are able to prepare overall and sharpen our tools by training in all environments. It’s good for us to get out of Hawaii and get the best of both worlds. The survival techniques and variety helps us prepare for anything.”
Staff Sgt. Michael Gallucci, an MWTC team leader instructor and native of Columbus, Ohio, said part of survival is the ability to be resourceful.
“We are all Marines here,” Gallucci said. “We are very good at coming up with solutions to our problems.”
Lance Cpl. Jimmy Felix, a motor transport operator with Combat Logistics Battalion 3 and native of Fort Lupton, Colo., said the survival training taught him things he otherwise wouldn’t have learned.
“I never knew snow was an insulator,” Felix said. “I think many people like myself wouldn’t know that, and now I have a mixture of knowledge on surviving in the elements. If I ever come across a situation to implement this training, I will now know what to do.”
Coffin said MWTC provides Marines a distinctive opportunity to train.
“There’s nothing really special about what we do here,” Coffin said. “This is the stuff a lot of infantrymen joined the Marine Corps to do, and you don’t get to do it unless you come up here. I consider this training facility a diamond in the rough. You have to be a very hard individual to come here and not get a little bit harder.”
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2013 15:20 |
| Story ID: | 106656 |
| Location: | BRIDGEPORT, CA, US |
| Hometown: | CHICAGO, IL, US |
| Hometown: | COLUMBUS, OH, US |
| Hometown: | FORT LUPTON, CO, US |
| Hometown: | MOUNT PLEASANT, IA, US |
| Web Views: | 107 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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