WTI Marines Conduct NEO Exercise at Kiwanis Park

Photo By Sgt. George Melendez | Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, based out of Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., apprehend a role-player in a riot control mission scenario during a non-combatant evacuation exercise at Kiwanis Park in Yuma, Ariz., Friday, Oct. 16, 2015. The Marines were tasked and evaluated on their ability to maintain control of role-players simulating hostile behavior.  

YUMA, AZ, UNITED STATES

10.16.2015

Story by Pvt. George Melendez 

Marine Corps Air Station Yuma

YUMA, Ariz. - Marines participating in Weapons and Tactics Instructor course 1-16 converged on Kiwanis Park in Yuma, Arizona, Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, to take part in a non-combatant evacuation (NEO) exercise.

The NEO provides the students and instructors with realistic training that is consistent with missions performed abroad, in support of deployed forces. The exercise presents many scenarios that include food distribution, on-site medical care, physical security, force resupply and extraction.

Exercises like the NEO prepare Marines to become tactically proficient in evacuation missions and enhances their ability to succeed while deployed to culturally-diverse locations around the world.

“WTI is a course designed to train the trainer,” said Col. James H. Adams, commanding officer of Yuma-based Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1. “We take these individual men and women, enlisted and officer, and get them up to speed with techniques and procedures we use on the battlefield. We send them back to their units to be the highly trained and skilled trainers for their units.”

For nearly three decades, MAWTS-1 has hosted WTI courses in Yuma. The unique relationship the unit has with the community makes it one of the most important courses in the Marine Corps.

• Date Taken: 10.16.2015
• Date Posted: 10.17.2015 17:42
• Story ID: 179200
• Location: YUMA, AZ, US