JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - Booths and Marines with bags of samples in hand lined the aisles at the Goettge Memorial Field House during the 2013 Marine South Military Exposition aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, April 10-11.
Marine South is sponsored by the Marine Corps League and is brought in for defense contractors to display and promote their latest advancements in equipment and technology.
With more than 140 different vendors from colleges and associations to defense corporations and the latest in weapon sights and packs, there was something there that most Marines could appreciate.
Many Marines and Sailors from various units came to the field house to look at what they potentially could be using in the future.
The exposition allows Marines and vendors to discuss concepts and technologies that can affect the individual Marines and Marine Corps as a whole.
“Everything here is designed to make what we do as Marines easier, be it new and improved gear or ways to save a life,” said Cpl. Marcus Miller, 6th Marine Regiment chemical biological radiological nuclear defense clerk.
Combat Medical System was one of the companies there promoting their latest advancements in lifesaving medical gear.
Mike Langley, CMS Navy and Marine Corps program director, gave demonstrations of new and improved wraps, as well as other combat lifesaving items to groups of corpsman that stopped at the booth to look at what advances the company had created.
“It is really important to get feedback from the guys who will actually use these products,” said Langley.
Many of the vendors are prior military and have an understanding of what their products are going to be up against and understand why it is so important to make quality products that best benefit the service members who will be using them, said Mark Conneway of Tactical Support Equipment.
“The whole point of the expo is for us Marines to see what is currently out there, so we can keep up to date with the latest gear to ensure mission accomplishment in this day and age, and I think that the expo did exactly that,” said Miller.