Practicing in deadly earnest

[thedrifter]

Practicing in deadly earnest




Marines work on convoy tactics in preparation for return to Iraq

By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 6, 2003


CAMP PENDLETON ? Red and blue water balloons served as grenades and blanks as bullets as the Marines yesterday went through convoy training in preparation for their spring deployment to Iraq.

If you thought it'd be tough for the Marines to take this mock attack seriously, you'd be wrong.

"The Marines are not under any illusions," said Capt. Reggie Gibbs, a 1st Marine Expeditionary Force operations officer. "They know it is dangerous out there. Most casualties die during convoy operations. They know that what they learn here could save their lives."

The first class to graduate from "Convoy Operations Training" learned to identify booby traps on roadsides, counter sniper attacks and identify potential ambush points.

An as yet undetermined number of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force personnel, including some from Camp Pendleton, are going to Iraq early next year to relieve Army forces. They'll be part of an estimated 20,000 Marines being deployed for seven months to help with pacification efforts.

As many Marines in the 1st Expeditionary Force as possible will take the class before being deployed, Camp Pendleton officials said.

"What we teach the Marines is how not to be a soft target," Gibbs said. "We instill a combat mind-set. We talk about how they are going to be attacked and what they are going to do."

The Marines demonstrated their new skills by staging a response to an ambush under the watchful of eye of Master Sgt. Steven Snow.

Things did not go off without a hitch.

The troops didn't punch through fast enough after a lead vehicle was disabled and didn't immediately identify the source of the fire on them.

"We had some mistakes," said Snow, who said that the convoy course was designed specifically with operations in Iraq in mind. "But if mistakes are to be made, here is the place to make them and not in Iraq. I think this training is going to save people."

So does Lance Cpl. Jennifer Valliere, 20, who expects to be deployed.

"This training gives you confidence that you'll know what to do if you get fired on in a convoy situation," he said. "The training has helped me understand what I am supposed to do. Even the Marines who have already been in Iraq got something out of this training."



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Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com





PEGGY PEATTIE / Union-Tribune
Marines from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force tried to spot the "enemy" through a cloud of smoke during convoy training at Camp Pendleton. Yesterday's exercise, the culmination of a week of training, involved 174 personnel and a 12-vehicle convoy.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...1m6convoy.html


Sempers,

Roger