MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – As fewer forces rotate through Afghanistan, Marines with 1st Marine Logistics Group are moving back to their expeditionary mindset and changing their manner of their training as they prepare for any kind of future operation.
Instead of training out of established forward operating bases, the Marines are setting up and conducting exercises on their own. Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 1, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st MLG, finished one of these exercises, Nov. 8.
“We are conducting field exercises to get back to the expeditionary practices of the Marine Corps,” said Sgt. Tyler J. Bear, unit movement control coordinator, CLB- 1,1st MLG. “This is not going into a FOB Marines have been in for years, it’s actually going somewhere and bringing everything you need.”
In addition to setting up their FOB, the Marines conducted combat logistics patrols in support of 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, who were simultaneously training in the field.
“We aren’t going to be in Afghanistan. The next place we are going to is not going to have established FOBs and bases,” said Bear, 27, from Aurora, Colo. “It could be landing on a beach.”
The Marines of CLB-1 know they are essential in expeditionary warfare, because they may be the most significant support provided to the ground combat element.
“The entire purpose of a CLB is to support the grunts,” said Bear. “We do our best to give them what they need, so they can go do their thing.”
The Marines on the front lines only have what they can carry on their backs and are often loaded down with body armor, ammunition, water and anything else the mission requires. The logistics Marines know that they help alleviate that load.
“They are out there in the middle of nowhere,” said Sgt. Ashniel D. Britton, a motor transportation operator with CLB-1. “You feel that purpose when you bring them the supplies they need.”
The CLB-1 Marines know the grunts are working and fighting hard, so they constantly strive to help them in any way they can.
“I feel a lot of pride working with these grunts,” said Britton about his fellow CLB-1 Marines. “I know I can task out the most junior Marines and they already know exactly what they need to do.”