Photo By Cpl. Garrett White | U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Craig Weston, joint fires observer with Firepower Control Team...... read more read more
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UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - Young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 account for some 65% of enlisted service members in the U.S. Marine Corps. Some of them were so eager to serve they barely made it into the low end of that age bracket.
Hailing from Cedar Park, Texas, Lance Cpl. Craig Weston joined the Marine Corps right out of high school—a day after his 18th birthday.
“I didn’t really know which branch I wanted to join at first,” Weston said. “I started talking to different recruiters, and doing my own research on the different branches. I talked to the Marine recruiters more and more and just got hooked. I was just drawn to the excitement of it all.”
Weston explained that at first he thought he wanted to be an infantry Marine, but his recruiter, from Recruiting Sub-Station Austin North, Marine Recruiting Station San Antonio, broke the bad news: there weren’t any infantry openings for that military occupational specialty (MOS) for months. Figuring he may lose interest if he decided to wait for an infantry spot, Weston decided to pursue other options.
“My recruiter started talking about other jobs, so I did my own research on them and found the MOS forward observer,” he said. “It sounded like the coolest thing in the world – being able to call in artillery and mortars – so I talked to my recruiter and found out I met the requirements for the job and that there was an opening. I took it.”
Weston shipped off to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, for training in September 2013, and graduated three months later, having earned the title Marine.
After 30 days of follow-on Marine Combat Training and his formal MOS school, Weston was ready for his first duty station assignment.
He received orders to 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.
“I was the only guy in my class to get orders to ANGLICO so I was pretty lucky,” he explained. “ANGLICO is the kind of unit that people use as a re-enlistment incentive, so the fact I was going there as my first unit was pretty cool.
As the name implies, ANGLICO specializes in controlling air support assets as well as indirect fire assets, so along with his original MOS of forward observer, he was trained to become a joint fires observer (JFO) and was put with Firepower Control Team (FCT) 11.
“An FCT is a five-man team comprised of an FCT leader who is a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC), and a FTC Chief who is an enlisted JTAC,” said Weston. “It also has two joint fires observers, one of which is a forward observer by trade, and another who is a radio operator qualified as a JFO. Last is a communications chief who is a radio operator.
“The role of a JFO is to work for a JTAC,” said Weston. “The JFO provides targeting data to the JTAC, and can do everything up to conducting (close air support), depending on his skill level. However, the JFO doesn’t have clearance to drop ordnance, where the JTAC has the approval and authority to do so.”
How much the JFO can do on his own depends on the trust between them and their JTAC and their experience level, Weston added. Ideally, a JFO could operate independently of the JTAC, only needing to radio back for clearance to drop ordnance.
Weston said the transition from civilian life to that of a qualified joint fires observer has felt quick, despite the long weeks and months of training. One of the most memorable training experiences also happened to be his first field operation with his unit.
The week long training exercise aboard Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms started with a ride in a CH-53E Super Stallion, he said. After being dropped off at an observation post in the sprawling desert training area, he and his unit spent the week calling in all manner of Marine Corps fire support assets.
“As someone who was still getting used to all the different fire support missions that ANGLICO does … it really opened my eyes to the capabilities of the Marine Corps,” said Weston.
Corporal Corey Erickson, radio operator with FCT 11, said he fondly remembers that same field operation as the first one he did with Weston when he arrived to the unit. He said he was impressed with how competent Weston was, so new to the duty.
“For someone who has been in for such a short time, he knows a lot about his job,” Erickson said. “I’ve known him for about a year and a half since he hit the unit and he has always been good. He brings a lot to the table and is an important member of our team.”
As a part of Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, this is Weston’s first deployment. With the FCT, Weston’s primary mission is to assist in the training of coalition forces within the USCENTCOM Area of Operations.
“It’s kind of nice being able to get away from the ‘real world’ for a bit,” Weston said. “Sometimes you miss being able to contact people back home right when you want to, but it’s nice to get away for a while and do your job and just work on yourself.”
Despite being thousands of miles away from home, Weston said that if he had to do it all over again he would.
“I’ve met so many cool people in the Marine Corps I wouldn’t have met otherwise, and have had so many unique experiences I wouldn’t trade it back,” He said. “I have friends who are in college right now, and I know I’ll be there some day. The Marine Corps has helped me grow into the person I have to day, and I know that I am a better person now than I was before I joined.”
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2015 09:59 |
| Story ID: | 168072 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Web Views: | 3,079 |
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