Photo By Lance Cpl. Joel Soriano | AU.S. Marines CH-53 Super Stallion assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics...... read more read more
Subscribe
Marines from multiple units across the Marine Corps conducted the third iteration of Assault Support Tactics as part of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course 2-18 throughout various locations over Marine Corps Installations West., April 20.
AST-3 specifically focused on non-combatant evacuation operations, giving WTI students another opportunity to work directly with the ground combat element and assist them in completing a Marine Air Ground Task Force centered mission set.
“We got on birds around 1630 and headed out to the evacuation site,” said Private First Class Tyler Marshall, a Marine with the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines security element. “The goal is to secure the perimeter, extract the necessary personnel and have all our guys off the ground before 2200.”
The iteration started with pilots offloading infantry Marines who then set a perimeter around a designated area.
“Right now we are conducting landing zone security in correlation with AST-3,” said Sgt. Garry Dodd III, an AST-3 supervisor. “We have role players functioning as local nationals portraying different levels of hostility our troops will face when they are conducting operations like this.”
The mission took place at several different locations allowing Marines to experience crowd control and non-combatant techniques at various escalation levels.
“There are multiple units spread out across three different locations within Twentynine Palms and several locations back in Yuma,” said Dodd. “Each location is dealing with different types of environments ranging from extremely cooperative American citizens, to legitimate hostile role players.”
WTI students were forced to conduct landings in unfamiliar territory, on-loading and off-loading procedures and various extraction drills throughout the iteration.
“The coordination of the air and ground working together is a valuable training piece within WTI,” said Sgt. Ryan Creamer, a role player for AST-3. “It’s huge to see the security piece working with the people actually communicating with the aircraft from the ground to actually fulfill a successful extract.”
Marines from the GCE and ACE received valuable training from AST-3 that they are otherwise not exposed to on a regular basis.
“The best way for us to operate and fight together is to train together,” said Creamer. “That’s exactly what AST-3 accomplished today.
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.27.2018 12:11 |
| Story ID: | 274672 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, WTI 2-18 conducts AST-3, integrates ACE and GCE, by SSgt David Bickel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
