Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Tyler Hlavac | The vehicle used by mock insurgents from Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine...... read more read more
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SHIROKYI LAN, Ukraine – Twenty-seven Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment took their hunt for insurgents off-road as they spent the day chasing down mock bad guys through the dusty back roads and thick plains of the Shirokyi Lan Training Area June 15 as part of the final exercise scheduled for the battalion during exercise Sea Breeze 2011.
During the exercise, the Weapons Company Marines mounted vehicles and formed mobile assault platoons, whose primary goal would be to travel down both main and back roads, looking for mock insurgents and providing support to infantrymen from Company L, who were conducting foot patrols from various patrol bases across the training area.
Prior to their mission, each vehicle commander gathered around the convoy leader and received information on the routes, objectives and possible enemy forces for the mission. After the brief, the Marines grabbed their flak jackets and rifles and mounted their vehicles.
The Marines spent the first several minutes of the mission in silence, with only the sounds of occasional radio chatter and water containers, packs and empty meals, ready-to-eat sliding around in the back of the vehicle. The Marines scanned the area for insurgents and improvised explosive devices, as similar patrols conducted in the area earlier had been ambushed.
The Shirokyi Lan Training Area, like many parts of Ukraine, is very rural, composed mostly of farmland, grassy plains, dusty back roads and occasional herds of cattle; bearing a strong resemblance to parts of the American Midwest.
The terrain provided the Marines much freedom of movement but occasionally groups of trees or large clumps of grassy vegetation provided potential cover for enemy forces or hiding spots for improved explosive devices, with the Marines constantly being reminded by their leaders to ‘keeps their heads on a swivel.’
After a short time, the convoy encountered a group of Marine role-players who claimed to be local residents out on a hunting trip. Skeptical, the Marines investigated the area and quizzed the locals about their activities, but with little evidence of hostile intent, pushed on with their patrol.
The Marines reached the end of the route and turned around and began to head back to base when the group they encountered earlier sprung their trap.
The group launched their attack with an IED and then followed with small arms fire. Realizing they were outmatched, the enemy fighters took off. The Marines immediately halted their vehicles, dismounted and chased the fighters on foot, with tall grass, culverts and heavy gear slowing them down. Several vehicles in the convoy sharply turned off-road and drove down the field in hot pursuit of the fighters, occasionally firing bursts of rounds from their mounted squad automatic weapons and 240B machine guns.
“I wasn’t expecting them to take off like that,” said Lance Cpl. David Rutherford, a Bethel, Mo., native who served as a vehicle gunner during the patrol. “It was a challenge to keep the gun on [shoot at] them with the adrenalin rush going on.”
The Marines quickly took down the shooters and chased down and collared the more ‘enthusiastic’ role-players who, running at full speed, managed to put some distance between themselves and the Marines.
With the fighters detained the Marines resumed the route back to base where they encountered another IED placed in trees by the insurgents. Luckily the timing was off and the convoy managed to escape the blast.
On the road again, the Marines traveled back to base uneventfully most of the way back to base and with the gate in sight, encountered one last surprise ambush from the insurgents, within minutes from the base gate.
“The last one [ambush] caught us by surprise,” said Cpl. Patrick Pickering, a vehicle commander and Lebanon, Mo., native. “I was like what the hell, and immediately started pushing out dismounts. It was a real good ambush.”
The ambush was over as quick as it began, as dismounted Marines with cover from vehicle gunners wiped out the few enemy forces. Afterwards, the Marines pushed on to the base and finished their mission, with some more training experience under the belts.
“Working in a new place, with new terrain, was a good challenge for us,” said Staff Sgt. Zach Smith, the convoy commander and a Springfield, Mo., native. “Having IEDs, casevacs [casualty evacuations], ambushes…it got everyone thinking as the convoy had to break up and accomplish different parts of the mission. We encountered a little bit of everything but managed to work through it all.”
Sea Breeze is an annual combined air, land and maritime exercise with the goals of enhancing amphibious operations, improving multinational maritime capabilities and fostering trust and cooperation among participating nations.
This year’s exercise includes participants from the United States, Ukraine, Macedonia, Moldova and Georgia and incorporates amphibious operations, maritime interdiction, improvised explosive device and convoy operations and other platoon level training. Marine Forces Europe, based out of Stuttgart, Germany, is the lead U.S. Marine Corps service component for the exercise.
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 06.22.2011 17:08 |
| Story ID: | 72558 |
| Location: | ODESSA, UA |
| Web Views: | 125 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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