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MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII—Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) sites are specialized training environments designed to simulate the complexities of urban warfare. These facilities allow service members to train in realistic settings that simulate modern combat zones. From navigating tight alleyways to securing multi-story buildings, MOUT sites are used to prepare service members to make quick decisions and operate effectively in high-stress environments. Marine Corps Base Hawaii’s (MCBH) Pyramid Rock MOUT site, located on the Northwest side of the Marine Corps Air Station runway near Pyramid Rock Beach, achieves precisely that.
The Pyramid Rock MOUT site has recently been upgraded with new atmospherics on September 10, 2025, to create an enhanced training environment. These training set dressings are designed to immerse Marines in the realities of urban combat, ultimately strengthening unit readiness.
“Atmospherics is the generic term the Marine Corps uses to describe set dressings that make a training area or MOUT facility feel more immersive,” said Daniel Geltmacher, MCBH Range Training Area Manager. “Your house isn't just a bare room. It has tables, chairs, and items in it. That’s what we’ve done here, we’ve added realism.”
The atmospherics received include furnishings for rooms built to replicate environments Marines may encounter during real-world operations. Training areas now feature mock drug labs, bomb-making facilities, restaurants, food vendor carts, bicycles, and even an armory stocked with replica AK-pattern weapons.
As part of the Pyramid Rock MOUT upgrades, malice kits have been incorporated to further create a realistic training environment. To reinforce intelligence-driven training in a MOUT environment, instructors can seed the environment with “malice kits,” which include items such as fake passports, counterfeit currency, cell phones, and bomb-making material. These tools allow commanders to run counterinsurgency and cordon-and-search exercises that train Marines to identify and act on critical evidence.
“When Marines find the items, they should carefully collect them and turn them into the Operations and Intelligence sections of their Higher Headquarters for further analysis. This then is converted from enemy information into ‘intelligence.’ Future enemy courses of action, strengths, weaknesses and intents can then be forecasted,” said Geltmacher.
The result of these new additions is training that challenges Marines to move, fight, and think in environments that closely mirror operational reality. By replicating the environments and sensory overload of urban terrain, these new atmospherics ensure Marines are better prepared to adapt and succeed on the battlefield.
| Date Taken: | 09.25.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 10.01.2025 22:05 |
| Story ID: | 549842 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 13 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, MCBH Enhances Training with Pyramid Rock MOUT Atmospherics, by LCpl Carlos Chavez-Flores, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
