Warlords of 2/2 wrap up Mohave Viper training

Photo By Sgt. Dwight Henderson | Marines from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, patrol through the streets of Fatwan, a town in the middle of the Mojave Desert and was the scene of the final exercise during Mojave Viper training aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center  

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

09.16.2009

Story by Lance Cpl. Dwight Henderson 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — The town of Fatwan had become a ghost town. Most of its population driven out by insurgents, the water supply destroyed and the landscape dotted with booby traps and improvised explosive devices. As a last resort, the local government asks Marines with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, to clear the town and provide security as they work to rebuild.

This is where the Marines and Sailors of 2/2, nicknamed the "Warlords," completed the final exercise of Mojave Viper training aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Aug. 31-Sept. 3.

The exercise was a 72-hour war that tested the Marines' ability to utilize the clear, hold, build concept taught during Mojave Viper.

"I think we did a really good job executing clear, hold, build," said Lance Cpl. Marc W. Foutch, a squad leader with Company E. "Our battalion commander had us going where we needed to go and brought all the pieces together to complete the mission."

During the first day, the Marines secured critical areas in the town, including the police, militia and army compounds, and then manned entry and vehicle control points to ensure the locals could return to their homes safely.

Throughout the second and third days, Marines manned the CPs and patrolled around the clock, remaining ever vigilant to any suspicious activity.

"We got contact [engagements with the enemy] quite a bit," said Foutch, a Gouldsboro, Maine, native. "A lot of platoons and squads around us were getting contact and calling us for help."

The third and final day was aimed at rebuilding the town as Marines from 4th Civil Affairs Group, Marine Forces Reserve — who will be attached to 2/2 during a scheduled deployment to Afghanistan later this year — assessed a destroyed water treatment facility and destroyed bridge.

To make the experience as real as possible, the town of Fatwan was filled with Afghan role players, who allowed the "Warlords" to utilize culture-awareness training that will be important to the battalion's success in Afghanistan.

Capt. Scott A. Cuomo, the commanding officer of Company F, added that the role players provided a realistic scenario by making the commanders utilize different interpreters depending on which district they were operating in, simulating the variety of languages spoken in Afghanistan.

"In a one word description — invaluable," said Cuomo, when asked about the usefulness of the training. "Invaluable in so many ways because what we experienced in language barriers alone, we will experience oversees."

With the final exercise of Mojave Viper behind them, the Marines prepare to return to Camp Lejeune and await their deployment to Afghanistan later this year.

• Date Taken: 09.16.2009
• Date Posted: 09.16.2009 11:01
• Story ID: 38842
• Location: TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA, US