Combat engineers practice stealth in patrolling exercise

[thedrifter]

Combat engineers practice stealth in patrolling exercise

Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification Number: 200454205039
Story by Cpl. Ryan Walker



CENTRAL TRAINING AREA, Okinawa, Japan (April 15, 2004) -- Silent as night and moving carefully through the shadows of the jungle, a squad of Marines sneaked past their enemy deep within the Central Training Area.

Their ability to reach their objective undetected may mean the difference between mission success and failure.

Seventeen Marines from Combat Engineer Company, Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, honed their patrolling skills during training exercises here April 13-15.

?We have a lot of new Marines in our company,? said Cpl. Timothy J. Harrison, squad leader. ?We?re doing this to teach them the skills they need to know.?

The squads began each day at their patrol base where they coordinated their missions. Each morning they received intelligence briefs from their platoon commander regarding their mission and slipped through the dense vegetation on a predetermined route to their objective.

?As an engineer we breech obstacles to allow field Marines to make it through the obstacles and accomplish their mission,? said Lance Cpl. Joshua I. Frazier.

In order to breech an obstacle, the engineers need to gather intelligence about the enemy and structure they need to demolish. To do this, they patrol in squads of four or five Marines, to gather reconnaissance on their objective.

?In our missions we gather information on a breeching site, mine field, or bridge we need to destroy,? Harrison said. ?If we?re going to do demolitions we?ll patrol to the site, evaluate it, and set up explosives to destroy it.?

Since the combat engineers are a support element to infantry Marines, their biggest concern while on patrol is to avoid contact with the enemy. To make it to the objective without enemy contact, noise discipline and hand and arm signals are skills necessary to minimize unnatural sounds that may alert the enemy.

?You can only learn these skills by going out and doing it,? Harrison said. ?We use hand and arm signals all the time during patrols.?

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to overcome during the training evolution however was the double-canopy jungle with its steep and slippery hills.

?The terrain was our biggest challenge, it?s much more difficult than back in the States,? Harrison said. ?This taught us something new because we haven?t done this in a jungle environment.?

After spending three days in the field patrolling in their small teams, the Marines developed the skills necessary to survive and accomplish their mission in a jungle environment.

?The most impressive thing I?ve seen out of my Marines was their willingness to learn,? Harrison said. ?If they?re willing to learn, I can teach them anything.?

Though new to the jungle, patrolling is a skill these Marines mastered in the urban environment of Iraq during their deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

?In Iraq each town was a danger area, you had to look up, down, and to your sides,? Frazier said. ?Even though the terrain wasn?t rough it was a more dangerous situation.?



CENTRAL TRAINING AREA, Okinawa, Japan - Lance Cpl. Joshua I. Frazier, combat engineer, makes sure his squad patrols to their objective without enemy contact. The combat engineers with Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, conducted patrolling exercises in the Central Training Area April 13-15. Photo by: Cpl. Ryan Walker

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...E?opendocument

Ellie