2nd Marine Regiment exceeds expectations in first CPX

Photo By Sgt. Austin Long | Petty Officer Second Class Michael Marshall, 2nd Regimental Aid Station training officer and corpsman from Pittsburgh, Pa., watches and gives advice to Marines while they get hands-on training with a practice dummy during the Combat Lifesaver course, April 29, 2013, during the Regimental Command Post Exercise. “The main focus of the CLS course is to teach Marines, prior to going on deployment, how to treat casualties in a tactical, combat setting. It’s to teach them the basics of hemorrhage control, airway maintenance and any other injury they may see on the battlefield,” said Marshall.  

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES

05.03.2013

Story by Cpl. Austin Long 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Marines with 2nd Marine Regiment’s Headquarters Company conducted their first Command Post Exercise in the field, aboard Camp Lejeune, for five days of training on scenarios they will be facing while deployed to Afghanistan.

Beginning the first day, and continuing throughout the week, Marines exceeded expectations by approaching each task given them with high morale, teamwork, efficiency and speed despite rainy weather and movements from one area to another.

“The training is going to harden and prepare them for situations they will be facing overseas,” said Sgt. Maj. Paul Archie, the regimental sergeant major from Dallas. “I’m impressed so far, but we still have a long way to go. It’s dangerous now even if the enemy isn’t here. I’m excited by what I see already but we still need to train and prepare. If each Marine will do his individual job, it will help the team complete their overall goal.”

Focus during the CPX was on building teamwork, communication and job efficiency. The Regiment approached these goals by bringing Marines to the field where they could have access to resources 24 hours a day for scenario based training in the Command Operations Center. Scenarios were given to Marines working in the COC by MAGTF Integrated Systems Training Center(s) (MISTC).

The scenarios force Marines to better apply leadership for situations they could face when deployed to Afghanistan and build on goals that will aid in mission accomplishment.

“The COC is the brains of Headquarters Company. That is where incoming information is received and processed through multiple systems linked to multiple units outside of the COC,” said Maj. Daniel Zappa, 2nd Marine Regiment’s operations officer from Pittsburgh, Pa. “The COC is given a fictional scenario covering different events coming in from different units to add stress on the Marines. The units have to decide what information is vital to operations and what order it gets pushed to the Regimental Commander for a reaction. In this COC we have Marines from Division and MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) training for the deployment, and so we have them training in the field so they can operate 24 hours a day or long hours into the night. The field gives a camaraderie effect that you can’t get in the office simply working from nine to five. The Marines did well despite weather conditions, working long hours in the night, and working on the weekend by maintaining a great attitude when accomplishing the task at hand.”

While in the field, Marines from private to colonel, field mess to navy corpsmen, played an important role in overall mission accomplishment, and conducted training to better themselves such as job specific training, pre-deployment training and various other skills training necessary for performing operations in Afghanistan.

The Motor Transport Platoon conducted convoy training that covered the basics and built on training they recently completed before the CPX. Training allowed Marines to practice responding to small arms fire, roadside bombs, un-operational vehicles, maneuvering tactics, resupply requests and evacuation procedures for injured Marines.

“Our main mission is to resupply the external battalions who are on the front line (in forward operating bases) facing the enemy. On the convoy we practiced immediate-action drills to (counter) small-arms fire and IEDs, which is our biggest threat right now. We rehearsed and practiced that and how to push to our objective and get the resupply to those forward units,” said Sgt. Marcos Aglar, a platoon sergeant with Headquarters Company, Motor Transport Platoon from Houston, Texas. “The immediate-action drills are very important. It’s what is going to keep us alive, and they keep us on our toes. The drills teach all the Marines from pfc (private first class) to captain what to do if we take casualties or fire. Also, they make us practice letting everyone else in the convoy know what’s going on and what a vehicle or Marine needs, whether it be a nine line (template radio call describing wounds attained during an attack for evacuation) or more suppressing fire so we don’t lose any lives or gear and complete the mission.”

Corpsmen with 2nd Regimental Aid Station conducted training amongst themselves in daily open discussions over different field treatment procedures and trained 12 Marines on combat lifesaving basics during a two-day Combat Lifesaver course.

“The main focus of the CLS course is to teach Marines, prior to going on deployment, how to treat casualties in a tactical, combat setting. It’s to teach them the basics of hemorrhage control, airway maintenance and any other injury they may see on the battlefield,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Marshall, 2nd Regimental Aid Station training officer and corpsman from Pittsburgh, Pa. “I love training Marines and Corpsmen; I love my job. Practicing trauma medicine and passing on my knowledge to others is what I’m about. The CLS course is a great opportunity for that. The future (of trauma medicine) depends on what we pass on. The Marines here at 2nd Regiment showed the ability to absorb the knowledge and master the basics, which is what it’s intended for - teaching the basics.”

Training accomplishment was top priority while in the field for the senior leadership but morale followed close behind. Mission accomplishment and morale go hand-in-hand while conducting a field operation. To keep morale high during the rainy weather, two hot meals a day were provided. One meal in the morning to help wake Marines up after long nights and one in the evening to help set in sleep after the long day of work.

“Marines in general are happy. They’re excited, they’re motivated - it makes their day. In the morning when they wake up, they’re tired, everyone’s tired, plus they’re in the field but when you see something good like chocolate, strawberry or regular milk, cereal, Pop-Tarts, Nutri-Grain bars and fresh fruit, it puts a smile on their face,” said Staff Sgt. Nathan Nagler, 2nd Marine Regiment field mess chief. “And when your Marine is happy, he’s going to do his job better. It helps them maintain focus on the mission and objectives at hand. When we’re requested by the regimental commander we come out and provide hot chow. On deployment we won’t necessarily be feeding Marines like this.”

Nagler said that their main mission on deployment would be, “working on ordering and maintaining food requests at FOBs. Making sure they get the food they request, that it’s used properly, and that it is transported there and back.”

The main focus of the CPX is to train new Marines on realistic scenarios they will be seeing on deployment with Regimental Combat Team 2. But without every Marine doing his part and working as a team the regiment’s overall mission cannot be accomplished.

“We have a fairly new group of individuals checking in for the deployment and to get closer with one another we conducted a CPX, which allows us to establish a Command Operations Center and run scenarios that we will be facing in Afghanistan,” said 1st Lieutenant Derick Roberts, Headquarters Company executive officer from Hoxie, Ark. “They’re realistic scenarios based on experiences in Afghanistan that have occurred in the past. For example, the scenarios are similar to an infantry battalion finding an IED on the road, planning and tracking casualty evacuations, and logistical request (food, water, ammo, and supplies). It sets them up for success in the future. Our job as a regiment is to support our battalions. We have to track the changes on the battlefield and give logistical support. With this CPX the Marines have done great. Things started off with a learning curve. Everyone had to figure out the smoothest way to accomplish their job while working together. Everyone works closer and faster together now and the regiment has developed better communication. All the Marines have done an outstanding job out here with everything we’ve asked. I couldn’t ask for a better job.”

• Date Taken: 05.03.2013
• Date Posted: 05.09.2013 15:47
• Story ID: 106659
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US
• Hometown: DALLAS, TX, US
• Hometown: HOUSTON, TX, US
• Hometown: HOXIE, AR, US
• Hometown: PITTSBURGH, PA, US