11th MEU, 3/5 Gearing Up for Deployment

Photo By Sgt. Adam Dublinske | Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. – Col. Fridrik Fridriksson, the commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, attends a command update brief during exercise Spartan Fury on April 19, 2018. The Marines were able to hone their planning process through the scenario provided by the Marine Corps Tactics and Operations Group. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Dublinske)  

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, UNITED STATES

04.27.2018

Story by Cpl. Adam Dublinske 

11th Marine Expeditionary Unit   

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. --- The concept of war never changes, however the training and planning behind the brains of operations has to change since the instruments, scenarios and tactics of kinetic and non-kinetic warfare vary in every conflict.
As a sea-based Marine Air-Ground Task Force while deployed, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit acts as a forward-deployed expeditionary crisis response force, embarking troops, vehicles, aircraft and equipment aboard naval shipping. The MEU is a flexible, self-sustaining Marine Corps unit that patrols key regions of the world aboard U.S. Navy ships, ready to resolve conflict, conduct humanitarian assistance, or combat the enemy in remote, austere environments that would otherwise be inaccessible.
In preparation for an upcoming deployment U.S. Marines with 11th MEU and 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, participated in exercise Spartan Fury to train together to enhance their planning process and co-operation at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., from April 17-27, 2018. Throughout the exercise the Marines had to work together to overcome a scenario that was provided by the Marine Corps Tactics and Operations Group, known around the Marine Corps as the ground combat center of excellence.
“Our main focus has been that we get the most out of this MCTOG exercise,” said Maj. Benjamin Schneider, the 11th MEU Air Officer. “They’re the center of excellence that we are working under in order to have this opportunity.”
MCTOG provides advanced and standardized training in Marine Air-Ground Task Force operations, combined arms training and unit readiness planning at the battalion and regimental levels. They help enhance combat preparation and performance of Ground Combat Element units in MAGTF operations.
“We’re lucky enough to be here and receive this training from this group of experts,” said Col. Fridrik Fridriksson, the commanding officer of the 11th MEU. “This is a unique type of training that makes us a better war fighting organization.”
Fridriksson went on to say that this training is great for the operations officers and chiefs of the 11th MEU as well as 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, who will go on to become the MEU’s Battalion Landing Team in September.
The 11th MEU and 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, will be working together a lot so this exercise was to help the staff work together and solve any problems that were raised then, instead of fixing them later while underway on deployment.
“This exercise is working to identify the initial business rules between ourselves and the BLT,” said Schneider, whose primary military occupation specialty is as an UH-1Y Huey pilot. “Each entity, the 11th MEU Command Element and the BLT, have their respective staffs so our goal is to have those staffs learn about each other, flush out any kind of inexperience, process or communication issues that exist, and emerge on the other side better for it.”
With so many Marines from various backgrounds they had to pull together to come up with a solution to the scenario provided to them by MCTOG.
“[The scenario] put problems in front of us that we need to solve as a team using the varying experiences each person has,” said Schneider. “We all chip in, discuss and eventually measure how those experiences combine to create the best possible solution.”
This training was conducted to help prepare the units for future exercises and operations they may encounter while deployed together.
“We are participating in this exercise because along with the enemy always evolving, our units are currently in the forming stage and are rotating people in,” said Schneider. “The goal is that this will help us identify our shortfalls so that we properly prioritize specific portions of our training going forward and focus on the things that maybe we didn’t do so well.”
Part of that training is learning to become more comfortable with the Marine Corps Planning Process, the Marine Corps doctrine that serves as the guideline for how to plan military operations.
“MCPP is framework that planning flows through so that people with those varied experiences can plug their pieces in and have a coherent and effective result emerge,” said Schneider.
Enlisted Marines and commissioned officers got a unique and valuable experience where they were able to work together to plan and solve a scenario where the command element utilized logistics and aviation assets to support the ground combat element.
“The value of coming out and doing something like this is it gets people to realize the decision making that it takes to go into a fight,” said Cpl. Jaimse Henaifesh, a MAGTF planning specialist with the 11th MEU. “It gives the junior Marines the chance to work with people in the different echelons of the Marine Corps, who may be senior or junior to them. Those Marines will also get a better understanding of their MOS and what may be expected or
required of them.”
The Marines were required to flex and adapt to a challenging exercise scenario, however the attitude and performance of the Marines enabled them to be successful.
“I’ve been really impressed,” said Schneider. “You don’t really know what your testing is going to reveal when you come out to these events, but one constant has been that everyone is going above and beyond, searching out what they could do along with what they need to do.”

• Date Taken: 04.27.2018
• Date Posted: 04.27.2018 15:38
• Story ID: 274840
• Location: TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, US