CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Two Marine fire teams rushed to reinforce several others after clearing a ridge of enemy combatants, but as one Marine ran to cover, an improvised explosive device detonated at his feet and chaos erupted.
Fortunately for the squads, this combat scenario was only simulated and the IED only left the Marine dirty.
Marines and sailors with Ragnarok Company, 2nd Supply Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group participated in a basic skills course at the Battle Skills Training School, or BSTS, here Dec. 2 to 6.
The training helped prepare the service members for winter training in Bridgeport, Calif., and the upcoming NATO exercise, Cold Response 2014, in Norway.
“Once we go to Bridgeport and Norway, we’re going to be up in the mountains, so having communication between squads and fire teams is important,” said Cpl. Oscar I. Mejia, a Cleveland, Ohio, native and motor vehicle operator with the company. “[We need to be] looking out for each other because there’s a high risk for casualties – heat casualties, cold casualties and lack of air. We need to get that communication [ready] so we don’t mess up out there.”
Throughout the weeklong course, the service members learned and reviewed a number of basic skills, including patrols, combat lifesaving, land navigation and holding entry control points at a forward operating base. The Marines and sailors also conducted 48 hours of combat operations against BSTS instructors.
“When we get Marines here from outside of the [infantry] field, they’re going to know the basics of what to do if they get thrown into standing post or being on patrols [upon completing the course],” said Sgt. Jason B. Cox, an Evington, Va., native and machine gunner with BSTS. “It gets them outside of their box of working in a shop.”
Service members with the company are scheduled to participate in mental and physical training until they leave to conduct operations above the Arctic Circle.