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    MARFORCOM Marines Engage Revolutionary War History, Yorktown

    MARFORCOM Marines Engage Revolutionary War History, Yorktown

    Photo By Master Sgt. Scott McAdam | Marines with Headquarters and Service Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command,...... read more read more

    YORKTOWN, Va. – In the months of November and December, Marines and Sailors with Headquarters and Service Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command, took the opportunity to participate in a command staff ride, studying the Siege of Yorktown, a pivotal campaign in the Revolutionary War.

    According to Lt. Col. Andrew Straley, the executive officer of HQSVBN, Yorktown was specifically chosen because a lot of the lessons learned from that campaign can apply to Marine Corps warfighting doctrine today and because of its significance in the Revolutionary War.

    “It was the game-changer for the Revolutionary War,” said Straley. “This was the winning campaign for the War of Independence; it’s a great case study for the military practitioner.”

    The staff ride consisted of a day of classroom instruction covering the events leading up to the siege, as well as the operational and strategic levels of warfare from both the Allied and British. The Marines followed up the next day with a visit to the actual battle site where Robbie Smith, an interpretive park ranger with the National Park Service, presented the Marines with the more intimate details of the battle at different locations throughout the battle site.

    “I consider it a tremendous privilege to be able to talk about the history that made this country with those who are preserving it for us today,” said Smith.

    In the past, both the classroom and battlefield site visits were led by Marines and Sailors who had studied the campaign extensively, but the Marines welcomed having such a passionate and knowledgeable subject matter expert lead this visit.

    “Having that individual there at the park who could take us to specific locations and areas and focus on those aspects and who can quote (historical figures) verbatim and account for all of the events that took place during that timeframe was an added bonus,” said SSgt. Michael Maglio, ordnance information systems database analyst, HQSVBN. “Robbie (Smith) was a phenomenal attribute we had added to our staff ride.”

    The Yorktown staff ride came as a welcomed, if a little off-topic, mid-year insertion to the five-year HQSVBN Civil War PME program.
    “I wasn’t aware of the battle of Yorktown in the beginning, so learning all of the dynamics of the strategy and about how the strategy was developed and used was very informative,” said Maglio. “I have visited a couple of battle sites already, so… this has really engaged my interest at looking closer to home.”

    Four Marines, Straley, Lt. Col. Patrick Gallogly, Maj. Zeb Beasly and Maj. David McCombs, assembled the staff ride in about a 30-day period.

    “The team that put this together did a phenomenal job of putting together the curriculum, and I appreciate all of the Marines who went on it and added value to it,” said Straley. “I just hope that we scratched the surface today and sparked curiosity for further independent study.”

    Though individuals take away something different and unique, even from shared experiences, when asked, Smith said she hoped the Marines took away sense of sustained history.

    “In the continuation of the story of our country from Washington through the war of 1812, The American Civil War, World War I and World War II, they are the current generation, continuing that thread of history,” said Smith. “That’s a proud heritage and something to be grateful for.”

    The HQSVBN Marines can look forward to the next staff ride, the Overland Campaign of the Civil War, set to begin in Spring 2014.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 12.03.2013
    Date Posted: 12.05.2013 11:45
    Story ID: 117771
    Location: YORKTOWN, VA, US

    Web Views: 157
    Downloads: 2

    PUBLIC DOMAIN