Target acquired: 1/3 participates in JFO

Photo By Sgt. Matthew Kirk | Cpl. William Alexander, an anti-tank missleman assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, looks through a vector defense advanced GPS receiver during Joint Fires Observer Course aboard Marine Corps Base Hawaii on March 29, 2017. The JFO course prepares Marines for deployments by teaching them to coordinate, observe and utilize close air support. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Matthew Kirk)  

MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, HI, UNITED STATES

03.29.2017

Story by Lance Cpl. Matthew Kirk 

Marine Corps Base Hawaii

Marines assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, participated in Supporting Arms Virtual Training aboard Marine Corps Base Hawaii on March 29, 2017.
The Marines conducted the training to better understand the fundamentals of Joint Terminal Attack Controllers and close air support.
“We are learning how to accurately locate a target then pass that information to a Forward Air Control or JTAC,” said Capt. Ross Geske, an unmanned aircraft commander. “At that point, they can develop a tactical brief or medical evacuation and then call for rotary wing aircraft or fixed wing aircraft to attack that target.”
The training teaches Marines how to plot coordinates to find a target and destroy it, all through a virtual simulation.
“These Marines have a ground based job with no aviation experience but they’re learning a lot,” Geske said. “I think this is a lot easier to learn [hands on] versus going through a PowerPoint.”
The training helps leaders observe and utilize fires in a dynamic but effective way, said 2nd Lt. Leonard Dunovant, an infantry officer with the battalion.
“The Marine Corps’ ability to close with the enemy in a violent, aggressive, professional and extremely disciplined manner is what makes us so deadly,” Dunovant said. “That only happens when courses like the Joint Fires Observers provides unit leaders down to the lowest level with the critical skills necessary to employ integrated close air support at a highly accurate and effective level.”
The JFO course prepares Marines for deployments by enabling them to coordinate, observe and utilize close air support. Dunovant said integration pieces that prepare a battle space and enables the unit to close with the enemy is what a unit needs to do during a deployment.
“The coordination of fires is a beautiful thing,” Dunovant said. “It creates a symphony of destruction on an enemy objective and only happens when [the Marines] are able to accurately employ the fires allotted to you.”
Cpl. Ryan Block, a machine gunner with the battalion, said this training also benefits down to the most junior non-commissioned officer allowing them to coordinate fires from close air support without having to go through a second entity or higher echelon command.
“It’s practical within the platoon level,” Block said. “If we ever find ourselves in this situation, we don’t need to find someone capable of bringing close air support because I can take care of it.”
Block said that this training puts into perspective that regardless of their job, in combat, they’re going to be doing more than their specified job.
“The Marine Corps’ mission is to enclose with the enemy and we do that best by striking first with our longest reaching aspect,” Dunovant said. “This course accomplished that and I’m pretty excited about it.”

• Date Taken: 03.29.2017
• Date Posted: 03.31.2017 16:39
• Story ID: 228810
• Location: MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, HI, US