Photo By Lance Cpl. David Hersey | A Marine with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment role-playing as a civilian liaison is...... read more read more
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QUANTICO, Va. - The quiet office was quickly re-awakened by a ring from the telephone sitting on the desk. Murmuring was quickly followed by the familiar click of the phone being hung-up as it was sat back down on its receiver. With that, Marines received the order to simulate inserting and securing an embassy in a distant land within 96 hours.
For one regiment, the call came and they were able to capitalize on the order by swiftly mobilizing on the training embassy and securing it.
Marines with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment trained in embassy reinforcement tactics Feb. 13-15 aboard Camp Upsher, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
“We’re out here to simulate reinforcing an embassy that is experiencing unrest in the surrounding areas,” said Capt. Mark Peters, the company commander for Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. “These are the kinds of missions we could possibly be assigned and it’s important we have the training to do so effectively.”
The training was part of the company’s preparations for the next rotation of the Continental U.S. Based Alert Force; a battalion-sized force that is tasked with being prepared to deploy within 96 hours, and be able to reorganize into a larger force if necessary.
“We got the call Monday and were leaving by Thursday,” said Peters. “The biggest challenge is to get all the gear needed making sure all things are in order with the Marines’ families back home before leaving.”
The Marines left from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, aboard C-130 Hercules aircraft and arrived at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where they moved to reinforce the simulated embassy.
“Coming to Quantico gives the Marines an opportunity to experience the whole process starting with being flown into somewhere unfamiliar and having to adapt to the situation. That’s not something we could have achieved if we stayed at Camp Lejeune,” said Peters. “It’s a real world type of mission. Continuously training for those missions is what makes the Marine Corps good at what we do.”
Marines from the battalion were designated as role-players acting as local civilians populating the area around the simulated embassy. While some went about their daily lives, there were groups causing unrest and seeking to create conflict, said Staff Sgt. Michael Porter, a platoon sergeant with Alpha Company.
“The scenario is a simulated uprising in the area and in response to it, the Marines of the battalion were tasked with reinforcing the embassy,” said Porter. “We don’t know why they’re upset, but since getting here we’ve been trying to figure out why and resolve the situation. There is a select group that’s using our presence and actions to stir up the local people into rioting and cause more problems.”
During the days of the training the Marines worked alongside civilian contractors playing the role of the local police to try and resolve the situation under the watchful eyes of their superiors looking for areas requiring improvement, said Porter.
“The more you do anything the more proficient you’re going to be at it,” said Porter. “Any friction points that we encounter, we can send up to the higher ups and we can work on a way to see where we went wrong and improve on that.”
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2015 20:06 |
| Story ID: | 155417 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 88 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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