EOTG earns prestigious Chesty Puller award

Photo By Cpl. Fatmeh Saad | Smoke grenades thrown by course instructors envelop Marines with Golf Company and Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, in thick, green smoke during a non-lethal weapons training exercise aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 25, 2015. The Marines participated in a two-week NLW course that teaches various riot-control methods. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Fatmeh Saad/Released)  

CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

03.30.2015

Story by Cpl. Michelle Reif 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - There are few Marines in history as celebrated and venerated as Lt. Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller. During his service to the Marine Corps, 1918-1955, Puller earned an astonishing five Navy Cross Medals. To this day, Puller’s very name symbolizes the honor, courage and commitment of the ideal Marine. To be bestowed an award in honor of the great Chesty Puller is an enormous compliment, one that the Marines of Expeditionary Operations Training Group have rightfully earned.

The commanding general of the Second Marine Expeditionary Force, Major Gen. William Beydler, is scheduled to present the Chesty Puller award to EOTG April 2, 2015, aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The mission of EOTG is to ensure Marine Expeditionary Units, and other deploying units, are trained and certified to standard for deployment. They are completing this mission with exceptional results and a high degree of mission readiness.

“The Marines of EOTG not only achieve, but exceed the expectations time and again,” said Lt. Col. Winston S. Tierney, the assistant officer in charge for II MEF EOTG.

Tierney explained that the Marines of EOTG are constantly working to ensure deploying units are trained to the highest standard.

“I think a lot of people don’t really know about the work that we do until they are in a pre-deployment training pipeline where they experience it,” Tierney said.

EOTG teaches more than 25 special skills courses including helicopter rope suspension techniques, non-lethal weapons employment, urban sniper training and many more.

Another major accomplishment of EOTG is their effort to standardize training across the three MEF EOTGs. They have worked tirelessly to create a baseline for training and produce a common set of expectations and criteria.

“Each [Marine], staff and organization will certainly put their own take on things, but, at minimum, when a commander is out there somewhere else in the world and hears that he’s getting a unit that’s been trained by EOTG, he will be able to know there are certain foundational things that he can expect from those guys,” Tierney said.

This standardization, explained Tierney, will result in a more efficient EOTG training package, better trained instructors, better trained units and a higher state of mission readiness.

“Come on out, spend some time with us and you will see the tempo that these guys are pushed to,” said Tierney. “It is pretty exceptional and yet they rise to the challenge every single day and they do an extraordinary job. That is why, I believe, that we won the Chesty Puller award.”

• Date Taken: 03.30.2015
• Date Posted: 03.30.2015 14:51
• Story ID: 158577
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, US