Marine Logistics Train as They Fight During Northern Strike 22-2

Photo By Staff Sgt. Dustin Stewart | U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. John Privitere, Combat Logistics Battalion 451, Orlando Fla., provides overwatch of strategically staged pallets of MRE’s and other logistical items during exercise Northern Strike 22-2, Camp Grayling, Mich., Aug 12, 2022. Northern Strike is designed to challenge over 7,400 service members with multiple forms of training that advance interoperability across multicomponent, multinational and interagency partners. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Dustin Stewart).  

GRAYLING, MI, UNITED STATES

08.13.2022

Story by Sgt. Christopher Estrada 

126th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

Throughout the history of warfare, militaries considered a variety of support elements they would need for a successful campaign. Items such as food, water, fuel and showers required active maintenance in order to contribute to the success of their nation’s battles.

For the U.S. military, many such elements are often facilitated by units such as Combat Logistics Regiment 4, U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.

“Our job is to support our battalions and our different units underneath us,” explained U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Casey Jackson, headquarters commander for Camp Ingram, a forward operating base raised for training purposes at Camp Grayling, Mich. for Northern Strike 22-2.

Camp Ingram essentially acts as the “brain” of the logistics operation at Northern Strike, working with Marine Combat Logistics Battalion 451 and elements of Marine Combat Logistics Battalion 453 to emulate what a forward Marine logistics operation would look like in a deployed environment.

“We have these individual units, these Marine Reserve units all over the U.S., and we each have our individual missions,” Jackson elaborates. “What we can do at Camp Grayling is combine that as if we were mobilized to effectively maintain logistics throughout a battle space. We mobilized in our own individual pieces and then we worked together to provide [logistics] to not only our Marines on Camp [Ingram], but hundreds of other Marines throughout Camp Grayling that are participating in the joint task force. All of this is an interworking joint task.”

Indeed, that logistical support provided by the Marines of CLR 4 and its battalions includes a breadth of mission-critical supplies which enable the modern warfighter to effectively accomplish missions. Facilitating the movement of food, water and other supplies through the use of tactical vehicles only scratches the surface of the capabilities of modern logistics. CLR 4 is capable of elevating those needs by employing the use of mobile shower facilities and kitchens, allowing their Marines to train as they fight exactly as they would in a real-world mobilization scenario.

A tennis ball drops over Camp Ingram from above the tree-line. Emulating an ordnance drop by simulated adversaries. Several Marines are removed from their day-to-day operations to denote casualties. The priority within Camp Ingram shifts to maintaining logistical support across the training area while accounting for limited man-power.

Maj. Jackson explains that real-world injections, such as the tennis ball scenario, keep her Marines postured correctly in the event of unplanned events that could affect the movement of life support for the forward units. Northern Strike offers the ability to train ready-to-deploy units on every possibility that could occur while down range.

Jackson asserted that the level of training provided by Northern Strike is ideal for training her Marines to fight in the most effective manner,

“In my professional experience [hands-on training is like] nothing else you can offer in the Marine Corps when you can physically do it. You can learn it in a classroom, you can hear it, you can walk through it, but when you physically execute it as real-world as possible, that’s when you remember it. When that muscle memory comes into play, that’s when you’re most effective if that situation happens.

• Date Taken: 08.13.2022
• Date Posted: 08.14.2022 12:36
• Story ID: 427230
• Location: GRAYLING, MI, US