MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. - More than 100 Marines with Engineer Company, Marine Wing Support Squadron 271 participated in a field exercise here May 27 through June 2.
MWSS-271’s mission is to provide aviation ground support assets to fixed-wing components of an Aviation Combat Element and Marine Air Control Groups.
The exercise was conducted to enhance the experience of junior Marines and expand their knowledge by teaching them the fundamentals of their military occupational specialty, which ensures the company is prepared to accomplish tasked missions.
“The purpose of this field training exercise it to focus our training to encompass those vital tasks that are necessary to achieve proficiency in survivability and force protection,” said Master Sgt. Kent Corbett, the engineer company operation chief with the squadron.
The Marines were tasked with demolition, providing hygiene and power needs, conducting route reconnaissance, and building timber framed shelters, HESCO bunkers and tank ditches.
Marines depend on each other to complete a mission, which builds camaraderie and strengthens unit cohesion, according to Corbett. Each individual Marine played a key role in providing key assets to support the mission. During the exercise, the water support technicians purified almost 2,500 gallons of water a day for the Marines to use for hygiene, cooking and hydration.
“Out here we are purifying water using our light weight water purifying system,” said Lance Cpl. Quentin J. Stallings, a water support technician with MWSS-271. “We pull the water from the ocean that contains non drinkable materials and we turn it into water that’s safe for drinking so the Marines can complete what they have to do.”
The water support technicians with the squadron use the Tactical Water Purification System to meet water needs. The system includes a high pressure pump, a reverse osmosis module, cartridge filtration and a raw water intake system that works together to ensure Marines have safe, usable supply of water to support their mission.
The heavy equipment operators, drafter and surveyors and heavy equipment mechanics worked to complete a HESCO bunker, a guard post and tank ditch that provides the company with defense capabilities during enemy attacks.
Lance Cpl. Marcus D. Wuori, a drafter and surveyor with MWSS-271, assisted in building the HESCO Bunker by creating a building plan for the bunker and surveying the site.
The training provided the Marines with an opportunity to actually put into practice what they have been trained in their MOS to do, according to Wuori.
“This is just training to build (the HESCO Bunker),” said Wuori. “We are going to test its defenses when we conduct both a demolition and .50-caliber machine gun ranges later in the exercise.”
As the day came to a close the Marines looked on all that they accomplished and felt great pride in the work that had been done, according to Wuori.
"The company comes out here, we work, learn and strengthen, not just the unit, but ourselves and in turn, the squadron is successful and that’s what’s it all about — strengthening the Corps, said Wuoir."