Photo By Sgt. Emmanuel Necoechea | U.S. Marine Sgt. Levi Mann, a vehicle commander with Headquarters and Support Company,...... read more read more
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“If you properly train a guy to see better at night, it definitely gives him a huge advantage over an enemy element that doesn’t have night vision devices.” said U.S. Marine Chief Warrant Officer 5 Keith Marine, the gunner for 1st Marine Division. “And if he’s better trained than our peer competitors who also have the capabilities, then he’s going to be able to identify, recognize, and engage that individual faster than what he can.”
In pursuit of that better training, Marines with Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and 1st Marine Division conducted a Night Vision Device Ground Operator Training Course at the Marine Aviation Training Systems Site on Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, California, Sept. 16-20.
“1st Marine Division made a requirement in early 2017 for all infantry units to conduct night live-fire training up through the platoon level, with the goal of getting to the company level,” said Marine. “We’ve noticed some operational gaps in the past and we can’t surrender the night time to the enemy.”
The week-long course, normally given to just Marine aviators, is part of an initiative to create a standardized curriculum for night vision devices for Marines who are part of the ground combat element of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force. Marines with 1st MarDiv are the first to receive the curriculum.
“The course was meant to give them some sort of standardized training,” said U.S. Navy Lt. James Salassi, an operational physiologist with MAG-39. “Something that we had seen as of late is that the ground combat element currently doesn't have anything that is equivalent to the aviation combat element in terms of, ‘How do I use this? How do I operationally check this, and how do I focus this night vision device to the gold standard?’ So this course was born out of that, and was meant to fulfill the need of standardized training,”
The night labs are mainly used by aviation units, but Marine is pushing to change that. Infantry units have expressed a deep interest in refining night vision skills, and the Marine Corps needs to take advantage of every opportunity to own the night and become better warfighters, according to Marine. In addition to using this training to become more proficient with their night vision devices, infantry Marines utilizing the Navy’s operational physiologists could increase their survivability.
“We have to take advantage of every advantage and training opportunity that we can, to ensure the next time we go fight at night, we own it,” Marine said.
Operational physiologists use the principles of physics, biology and engineering to support Navy and Marine Corps operations. They benefit the Marine Corps immensely by enhancing the performance of the warfighter while using the various types of gear and equipment they use while conducting operations.
“Currently there is nobody else in the Marine Corps who is able to provide this kind of training,” said Salassi. “We have the assets. We have other operational physiologists, but 1st Marine Division is really leading the way with this kind of training.”
| Date Taken: | 09.24.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 09.26.2019 21:13 |
| Story ID: | 343484 |
| Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 73 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, MAG-39, 1st Marine Division set standard for night vision training, by Cpl Alison Dostie, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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