RTLC completes FINEX, concludes course

Photo By Sgt. Luke Kuennen | Cpl. Samuel Kulenek, a student of Reconnaissance Team Leader Course (RTLC), posts security during a jungle patrol, East Range, Schofield Barracks, Oct. 17, 2017. The 8-week course trained students in a broad range of scenarios organic to reconnaissance operations and concluded Nov. 1, 2017. RTLC aims to improve independent and tactically sound decision-making, improving the readiness of forward deploying reconnaissance teams. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Luke Kuennen)  

MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, HI, UNITED STATES

11.01.2017

Story by Lance Cpl. Luke Kuennen    

Marine Corps Base Hawaii

Students of Reconnaissance Team Leader Course (RTLC) completed the training cycle Nov. 1, 2017, following the execution of the class’ finishing exercise at Marine Corps Training Area, Bellows.
RTLC is an advanced joint-service course that took students to varied geographical regions of operation such as classes at Camp Pendleton, California, desert patrol operations in Yuma, Arizona, and ended with jungle and amphibious exercises across Oahu, Hawaii. The course took advantage of the unique platform for jungle training that MCBH and the surrounding Marine Corps installations offer.
“RTLC is a way for Marines to come from the Fleet Marine Force and enhance the skills they learned in Basic Reconnaissance Course,” said Staff Sgt. Branden Mackey, the course chief of RTLC. “The teams have the opportunity to practice planning extensively, as well as brief high ranking officials in a capacity that they will not get in the Fleet.”
The course affords young, small unit reconnaissance leaders the opportunity to understand and make decisions that would normally be handed down to them, Mackey said.
“A young Marine, or even a sergeant, usually isn’t doing something like coordinating mission details with a pilot,” Mackey said. “As long as the training remains realistic and safe, we allow the students to talk through all of the contingencies and make their own decisions.”
Gunnery Sgt. Edward Bruggman, RTLC’s chief instructor, also stressed the importance of big-picture planning within the course.
“In different environments, you’re required to make different planning considerations, and you also have to be able to brief that information effectively,” Bruggman said. “What I hope the students get from this course is a better understanding of the planning process.”
The experience was unique and extremely beneficial, said Sgt. Eric Depietrantonio, a student of RTLC and the winner of the course’s outstanding leadership award.
“The instructors threw certain things at us that we weren’t really accustomed to,” Depietrantonio said. “It forced us to ensure that our planning was thorough and complete, so that if anything goes wrong, you know exactly what to do in that situation.”
The students of the course were not limited to reconnaissance Marines. Depo also stressed the benefits of training alongside Air Force special tactics officers.
“It’s a very good experience to work with different service members in different branches,”
Depietrantonio said. “To see how they conduct reconnaissance, it’s great to get another point of view.”
Most vitally, the course helps to foster growth in leadership throughout the chain of command, said Bruggman.
“I think that it’s extremely important that the reconnaissance community invests in their young leaders,” Bruggman said. “As they progress through the ranks, this will make them better team leaders, better platoon sergeants, and eventually better operations chiefs.”

• Date Taken: 11.01.2017
• Date Posted: 11.10.2017 22:07
• Story ID: 254918
• Location: MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, HI, US