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CAMP GONSALVES, OKINAWA, Japan — Put to the test, a small group of Marines armed with a chicken and a KA-BAR proved they can step into the double-canopy Yanbaru Jungle – and survive.
Approximately 20 Marines with 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force, completed the Basic Jungle Survival Course Feb. 4 – 15 at the Jungle Warfare Training Center where they learned the basics needed to survive in a jungle environment.
"It's only a basic jungle survival course, but we give them the tools and education they need to survive in a jungle environment," said Staff Sgt. Benjamin Luna, the chief instructor for JWTC. "It's shrunk down to the basics. It's easy common sense stuff that a lot of people just ignore, but we bring it back to life. We hit the fundamentals: fire, water, shelter, survival navigations."
For the first week, the Marines received various classes and lessons on techniques needed to last in the wilderness such as testing plants for edibility and proper firewood gathering.
"Most people think that when you collect firewood, all you're doing is picking sticks off the ground," Luna said. "But we teach them things like how to split wood to get the dry wood and how to make a successful fire the first time because there is no lighter fluid or gas. No propellants at all. It's simply with a spark and a KABAR."
After the training and classes on survival, the Marines, with minimal gear, put what they learned to the test with a three-day stint in the wilds of the JWTC.
The Marines had to build their own shelters, make fires, and find food using the little gear they brought with them and whatever they scavenged.
"We were very limited in what gear we could bring out here," said Capt. Eric Williams, firepower control team leader with 5th ANGLICO. "And for whatever reason, you're not always going to have all the gear you'd want to have in a survival situation. So, basically we came out here with a poncho, canteen, KA-BAR, canteen cup and plastic bags. That was the individual issue; each team got a flint and magnesium block, and that was all we had. Everything else we had to acquire on the beach or in the woods."
Along with their limited equipment, the Marines were issued another essential part of survival – a chicken.
"We implemented one chicken per team because that's the most abundant animal you'll find in almost any country," Luna said. "We teach them how to prepare it with their bare hands and a knife. It's not fancy. They're ripping chickens heads off, and they're ripping down the feathers and skin. They learn how to clean the chicken and then cook it over an open fire or boil it in their canteen cups so they can drink the broth and get all the (nutrients) out of the chicken."
Williams said the harshest difficulties the Marines have to face in the wild are not so obvious until they are out there surviving.
"You prepare your site and you don't know if it's good enough until you go through the rain or you go through a cold night," he said. "Did you build your location in a good position? Is it away from the wind? Did you put your fire in the right position? It is trial and error."
Once living in the wild, ingenuity and creativity play a huge part in making surviving easier, which was shown in the Marines' variety of different shelters and makeshift tools, Williams said.
"We came out here with minimal gear and they were able to do a lot of different things with that," he said. "You can see from each of our camps that Marines had different ideas of how they thought you could survive."
After the second day of living in the wilderness, Williams said he could tell the Marines had "taken their training in."
"The most important aspect to take away from this training is to be resourceful," he said. "I can see the Marines did a good job of that."
With chicken in their bellies and armed with the knowledge learned from the survival course, the Marines said they have a new respect for the jungle and what it takes to survive.
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 02.23.2008 05:26 |
| Story ID: | 16629 |
| Location: | CAMP GONSALVES, JP |
| Web Views: | 105 |
| Downloads: | 84 |
This work, 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company gains basic survival skills, by Cpl Corey Blodgett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
