3rd AABN Trains with Division Schools

Photo By Sgt. John Baker | Corporal Jacob Kohrmann, 22, from Owensville, Mo., an Amphibious Assault Vehicles crewman with 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force aims an M18 claymore mine down range aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Oct. 21 2014. The training was held by 1st Marine Division Schools to increase 3rd AABN’s overall readiness for whatever the future may bring.  

CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES

10.21.2014

Story by Lance Cpl. John Baker 

I Marine Expeditionary Force

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Marines with 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, conducted proficiency training with the M203 grenade launcher and the M18 claymore mine aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Oct. 21-22, 2014, to increase their unit’s overall readiness for future missions.

The training was held by 1st Marine Division Schools, whose instructors gave practical application classes on each weapon system before shooting live rounds and detonating ordnance down range.

Staff Sgt. Prince Bustos, chief mortar instructor, Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division Schools, explained why training like this is crucial to all Marines.

“This training is important because these skills that we’re showing them could save their lives on deployment,” said Bustos. “(Infantrymen) aren’t the only ones that can see action when deployed, everyone else could, too.”

With the M203 grenade launcher, the AABN Marines were able to accurately send 40mm high explosive rounds to distances of up to 350 meters.

“The M203 is usually affiliated with leadership roles,” said Sgt. Bennie Warren, 29, a field radio operator with AABN. “They give these to Marines they can trust to use this weapon system effectively and lead their Marines in battle.”

The claymore mine is a directional weapon detonated by a remote-control. Its fragments shoot out 250 meters within a 60-degree arc from the front of the weapon.

“The best thing they could take away from this is fundamentals,” said Bustos, a 33-year-old Fremont, Calif. native. “It really comes down to having brilliance in the basics.”

With these weapons systems mastered, the AABN Marines have another asset in their arsenal of military tactics.

• Date Taken: 10.21.2014
• Date Posted: 10.24.2014 13:16
• Story ID: 145989
• Location: CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US