Battle Skills Training School trains Cherry Point Marines

Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Devin Nichols | Marines with Engineer Operation Company, Marine Wing Support Squadron 274, out of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., breach a room aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Feb. 27, 2013, during a week-long training period at the Battle Skills Training School. Servicemembers with the company learned how to breach and clear rooms, and then later that day performed practical applications on simulated rooms.  

CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

03.01.2013

Story by Lance Cpl. Devin Nichols 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - The Marines arrive at the door. They have no idea what is inside.

A handful of Marines get into position, raise their rifles and prepare for the worst. The last Marine kicks the door in, and the group rushes in hard and fast.

Approximately 70 Marines with Engineer Operation Company, Marine Wing Support Squadron 274, out of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., received a week of training at Battle Skills Training School here, starting Feb. 25.

“We like working with them because they are like sponges … they take everything in,” said Sgt. Jacob W. Dofner, a McClelland, Iowa, native and an instructor with BSTS, 2nd Marine Logistics Group. “You see them Monday soaking up all this knowledge, and then on Friday they look like different (people).”

The course at BSTS is not the initial combat training for Marines but acts as a refresher. The Marines familiarized themselves with entering an unknown room and searching it for dangers.

“It gets them back on their feet and back into the combat mindset,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua R. Macer, an Alzada, Mont., native and combat engineer platoon sergeant for Engineer Operation Co.

The Marines trained for approximately 60 hours improving combat skills like assembling and disassembling machine guns, conducting patrols and improvised explosive device awareness.

“(They) have to start from the basic building blocks and work (their) way up,” said Dofner. “Every Marine is a rifleman. Hopefully we did something to help them prepare for any situation.”

Instructors then guided the Marines through scenarios step-by-step until they were comfortable doing it on their own.

“I didn’t have a lot of the (knowledge) that we are getting here,” said Cpl. Joshua W. Brewer, a Fremont, Ind., native and combat engineer with Engineer Operation Co. “I liked using the big machine guns. You can never get enough training when doing these types of things.”

Most of the instructors are infantrymen and take a lot of pride in sharing knowledge with servicemembers in other military occupational specialties, said Dofner.

“It is a good feeling to train Marines,” said Dofner. “When you’re helping or remediating, regardless if it’s a private first class that has been in for a year or a staff noncommissioned officer that’s been in for 10 years, it’s always a great feeling.”

• Date Taken: 03.01.2013
• Date Posted: 03.01.2013 14:04
• Story ID: 102775
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, US