Marines evaluate combat readiness

Photo By Lance Cpl. David Hersey | Marines with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division provide security from a second-story window during a simulated assault on a combat town aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Dec. 4, 2014. While clearing buildings the Marines had to remain conscious of attacks from neighboring buildings and post security to avoid any surprise attacks. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David N. Hersey/Released)  

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES

12.04.2014

Story by Lance Cpl. David Hersey 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina – The Marine is tense, his breath steady even as the adrenaline pumps through his veins. His eyes are trained on the building across the street as he waits for the enemy to step into his line of sight.

Marines with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division conducted a simulated, motorized assault on a combat town aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Dec. 4.

The unit was participating in a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation during that week, and the assault was one of the larger operations in the exercise, according to Master Sgt. George D. Brown, the assistant operations chief for 6th Marine Regiment, and one of the evaluators.

“They’ve been doing squad-level exercises all week and now they have to work together at the company level to neutralize the enemy and secure the town,” said Brown, a Waverly, Tennessee, native. “They have to use combined arms, such as rifles and machine guns effectively to successfully carry out the assault.”

Moving in teams, the squads cleared the town building by building, engaging the Marines of 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, who acted as the opposition forces. The Marines on both sides of the conflict were outfitted with the multiple integrated laser engagement systems, a series of sensors that respond to a signal sent when a rifle is fired to mark the victim as either inured or dead. These systems help make the training more intense and provide a more accurate representation of a realistic battlefield.

The Marines remained positive with the results and the effectiveness of the training itself, according to Lance Cpl. Andrew S. Martinez, a rifleman with the company.

“The constant training gets it down to muscle memory,” said Martinez, a Kennesaw, Georgia, native. “After we’re finished, the evaluators will tell us where we excelled and where we need to keep working to improve. That means the next time we train we’ll know where our deficiencies are and be able to fix them to make us even more effective.”

The competition, along with the stress from training with living adversaries, added a new layer to the training, making it even more effective, according to First Lieutenant Matthias B. Donelan, the officer in charge of the combat town and a tank officer with the Regiment.

“It’s my personal opinion that this kind of training is one of the best,” said Donelan. “To have two forces of Marines competing against each other in a force-on-force exercise gives them a live, thinking enemy that is capable of adapting to the situation and forces them to do the same. This ensures both sides are equally trained.”

• Date Taken: 12.04.2014
• Date Posted: 12.10.2014 09:46
• Story ID: 149922
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US
• Hometown: KENNESAW, GA, US
• Hometown: WAVERLY, TN, US