Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Justin Boling | This repaired damage to the airfield simulates the same way that the combat engineers...... read more read more
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The Marines of Marine Wing Support Squadron 273 recently conducted Base Recovery After Attack Training commonly known to Marines as BRAAT Feb. 10 and continued throughout this week.
This training ensures combat engineers can expeditiously assess and repair an airfield.
“Rapid runway assessment and repair is vital to maintain air operations in theater,” said Master Sgt. Shawn McGuire, staff non-commissioned officer-in-charge of expeditionary airfield operations. “Without knowing what these Marines have learned we could not ensure that we would be able to support these aircraft if an airfield was attacked.”
The exercise better prepares the engineers to help MWSS-273 ensure Marine Corps aircraft and supporting elements can complete the mission of providing close-air support to ground forces.
“It takes the whole squadron to support the mission and we are just learning our piece better,” said Master Sgt. Jacob Morrow, the engineer company operations chief with MWSS-273. “This exercise is only a small taste to ensure we are prepared to interact with commands and other companies in the case of an airfield attack.”
“After completing this exercise, when we pull together with the rest of the entities that make up our wing support squadron, we will be ready for bigger exercises and operations,” Morrow continued.
The combat engineers were also trained by the communication platoon of MWSS-273 on effective radio operation and communication.
“If you can close the gaps in a Marine’s mind about how these radios work, it is one less thing for them to think about,” said Cpl. Paul Swingle, radio operation instructor for the exercise with MWSS-273.“That means these engineers can focus their efforts back on the mission at hand.
“These Marines will serve as the eyes for their commander after an airfield attack, and proper communication skills are critical to ensure a minimum operational landing strip can be planned and established,” further explained Swingle.
The Marines were also educated and evaluated on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s marking system for reporting damage to an airfield. Using the system, they can effectively communicate their assessment to higher command and plan a minimal operational runway.
“Determining damage to operational airfields after an attack is very important,” McGuire said. “After the engineers assess the damage higher commands can create a plan and the engineers can begin to repair and establish a landing strip that allows us to land aircraft using our arresting gear.”
The communication company also used this time to train and plan for how they would operate if an airfield was damaged or destroyed.
“This is training for us as well,” Swingle said. “We are trying to figure out our maximum communication capability and trying to consolidate to better support a BRAAT mission.”
The training prepared the engineers and in turn, improved the preparedness of the overall squadron.
“The combined goal of this squadron, and any Marine wing support squadron, is to ensure that our aircraft can land and operate in theater, we all have to train to ensure we can reach these goals,” Morrow said. “Just like the utilities platoon is expected to produce fresh water, combat engineers are expected to secure, setup a perimeter and ensure that any airfield stays operational.”
The BRAAT is one capability, on a long list of the missions of MWSS-273. The training of the squadron is growing to build a better and more prepared squadron ready to support and get the wings of freedom back into the fight.
| Date Taken: | 02.18.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.18.2011 20:51 |
| Story ID: | 65720 |
| Location: | BEAUFORT, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 98 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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