8th ESB launches unit proficiency through weapons training

Photo By Cpl. Krista James | Marines with 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group duck for cover as an M67 fragmentation grenade explodes during a training event aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 17, 2015. The training was implemented to ensure unit proficiency with Marine Corps basic weapons systems, inevitably promoting unit cohesion and proficiency among the unit, and to attain mission success in any theater of operation. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Krista James/Released)  

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES

03.17.2015

Story by Cpl. Krista James 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - “Loading grenade!” a Marine shouts. “Ready to fire, firing!” He anxiously waits for his 40 mm grenade to hit his target and eliminate the enemy. “Direct hit!” calls his squad leader. While it’s training for now, the Marine knows that one day it could be more significant.

Marines with Alpha Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group conducted an M32 grenade launcher and M67 grenade range aboard a Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, training site, March 17, 2015. The Marines began with firing 40 mm grenades from the M32 grenade launcher and followed it up with throwing two blue M69 practice grenades and one M67 fragmentation hand grenade.

“[Some of the] Marines, myself included, have never shot with the M32 grenade launcher before. Most of us are used to the M203 grenade launcher that we learned to use in our Military Occupational Specialty schools and in the fleet,” said 2nd Lt. Christopher Parr, Alpha Co. executive officer. “We just wanted to give the Marines the opportunity to get practical application and hands-on training with actual rounds.”

However, Sgt. Jesse Frye, a combat engineer and primary safety officer with the unit, has been training with the weapons system for a while.

“I’ve been trained on the [weapons system] multiple times, but this is my first time as a PSO. It’s a different aspect because you have other people’s lives at hand and you’re concerned about them. It’s not only your safety, but theirs [too],” Frye said.

Along with the M32 grenade launcher and M67 fragmentation hand grenade, the unit also trains with M240B machine guns, M249 squad automatic weapons, M2 .50-caliber machine guns, M4 carbines and M16A4 service rifles whenever they are available to ensure that the Marines stay proficient in multiple aspects of Marine Corps arsenal.

Frye said that the most important thing the Marines can take away from this is to be confident with the weapons system and working with the Marines to their right and left.

“In regards to the engineer mission, specifically as a line company, we provide general engineering from 8th ESB to the entirety of II Marine Expeditionary Force itself, so we could end up in any sort of situation supporting any sort of unit. We need to be confident in the core skills that Marines are required to do along with those engineer skills that we will be required to execute,” Parr said.

Both Frye and Parr agreed that continuing to conduct training with the Marines inevitably promotes unit cohesion and proficiency among the unit and helps maintain mission accomplishment in any theatre of operation.

“We sergeants and some corporals as PSO’s have the time to get to [know our] junior Marines,” said Frye. “Most of our junior Marines have hit the fleet within the past two months so this gives us a good handle of how they will react in [real-life] scenarios.”

“Alpha Co. is relatively small, so it’s become pretty much a family. You know everyone that’s in every individual platoon [and the company staff]. We’ve done a lot of operations and we go to the field pretty regularly, and I think that’s really where you get the opportunity to get to know the Marines and yourself through the training as well,” Parr said.

Parr said that the Marines love going out and seeing grenades detonate, and they can get back to the basics of being a Marine while having fun as well.

“This is one of those core skills that you learned in your introductory schools that allows everyone to be reminded of how Marines were depicted when they watched a movie or when they enlisted,” said Parr. “At the end of the day no matter what your MOS is, you’re still a United States Marine and you still need to be able to do what United States Marines are expected do.”

• Date Taken: 03.17.2015
• Date Posted: 03.19.2015 20:47
• Story ID: 157582
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US