Photo By Pfc. Nicholas Baird | Lance Cpl. Joshua B. Gilmore sets his azimuth to the next point during a land...... read more read more
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CHERRY POINT, N.C. - Through razor-sharp thorns and bone-chilling water, Marine Wing Support Squadron 274’s Engineer Company, Heavy Equipment Platoon honed their skills on a course designed to test their land navigation abilities at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Jan. 13.
During the 19-point course, 20 Marines headed to the field to re-experience the basic land navigation process.
Support squadrons maintain a scalable, flexible, and rapidly deployable posture that enables Marine aviation to conduct expeditionary operations. This training keeps Marines knowledgeable in case an emergency situation was to arise during an operation.
“Our land navigation course is extremely beneficial, because it helps us refresh our knowledge on the basics of what we learned in boot camp,” said Sgt. Fredrick S. Granger, an engineer equipment operator with MWSS-274. “You never know when you will get lost on a training exercise or even a deployment.”
While deployed, support squadron Marines regularly conduct combat logistics patrols through contested areas. At any point on those convoys, they may need to rely on the navigation skills they are using during this training.
“Before this course, I didn’t remember much about land navigation,” said Lance Cpl. Brandon N. Ortiz, an engineer equipment operator with MWSS-274. “I learned a lot more about land navigation and the process of finding your point.”
After a safety brief, Marines chose their teams and began at the starting point. Shooting an azimuth to their first set of coordinates, the Marines stepped off to locate their points. For some of the Marines, this is the first time since Marine Combat Training that they have used land navigation.
Ortiz stated that land navigation training can be beneficial for the Marines in the future during training operations or deployments and it helps his platoon have a better understanding of basic navigation skills.
“This is the first time as a platoon we have held land navigation training,” said Granger. “I hope this course was a good refresher for the Marines, and they took a lot from the training.”
| Date Taken: | 01.13.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 01.20.2016 09:47 |
| Story ID: | 186527 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 110 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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