thedrifter
06-20-06, 05:10 AM
Marines feeling the heat
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Jun 19, 2006
YUMA PROVING GROUND — About 500 visiting Marines scheduled for deployment to Iraq later this summer have been at this base conducting training exercises as part of their pre-deployment training cycle.
"This is the most relevant training we can get before going into theater," said Capt. Major Jason Pratt, operation officer for Marine Wing Support Squadron-273. "The training we are getting here is mirrored exactly to what is going on in Iraq right now."
Based in Beaufort, S.C., MWSS-273, is taking part in Desert Talon, a pre-deployment training exercise held in and around the Yuma area.
The exercises, conducted twice a year, are coordinated through the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadrons-1 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
"Desert Talon is our last step before we go to Iraq," Pratt said of his unit, which is being sent to the Al Asad airbase west of Baghdad for a six-month tour of duty beginning in August or September.
For the past three weeks the squadron, which is designed to support an airfield, has been living and working out of a tent city set up at the base.
"We brought almost everything in our unit," said Capt. James Cole, assistant operations officer for MWSS-273. "It's everything our squadron needs to support the units we provide support to."
About 50 tents have been erected, including a fully-equipped battalion aide station, a chapel, a motor pool, a mess hall and several living quarters.
The unit's equipment, which includes 7-ton trucks, humvees, bulldozers and a variety of generators, was shipped to Yuma.
"It took about 70 tractor-trailer truckloads," Pratt said.
Pratt said the training exercises conducted as part of Desert Talon are important because they provide the squadron with an opportunity to train in the type of missions it will be conducting while deployed in Iraq.
“We are mainly focusing on convoy and security operations,” Pratt said. “That's not something we do everyday.”
On Monday, as part of the squadron's training, one of the scenario's for which they were preparing dealt with responding to the report of an unexploded improvised explosive device.
"That's when our training kicks in," said Cole. "Not only will we send out elements of the squadron to disarm or dispose of the device, we will also send out an element to secure the area and provide protection."
Since the squadron is not a combat squadron, Cole explained that some members of the unit have been cross-trained to serve in a provisional rifle team, which provides security for the squadron on its missions.
The squadron is also being trained on how to establish a forward arming and refueling point — F.A.R.P. — something it can't get at its home base. The Yuma training also allows the squadron to conduct live-fire exercises and demolition training.
Luis Arroyo, a training exercise manager at YPG, said the squadron will be returning to its home base at the end of the week.
"They have two more days left in the exercise," Arroyo said. "After that they will be tearing down the camp and shipping it back."
James Gilbert can be reached at
jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.
Ellie
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Jun 19, 2006
YUMA PROVING GROUND — About 500 visiting Marines scheduled for deployment to Iraq later this summer have been at this base conducting training exercises as part of their pre-deployment training cycle.
"This is the most relevant training we can get before going into theater," said Capt. Major Jason Pratt, operation officer for Marine Wing Support Squadron-273. "The training we are getting here is mirrored exactly to what is going on in Iraq right now."
Based in Beaufort, S.C., MWSS-273, is taking part in Desert Talon, a pre-deployment training exercise held in and around the Yuma area.
The exercises, conducted twice a year, are coordinated through the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadrons-1 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
"Desert Talon is our last step before we go to Iraq," Pratt said of his unit, which is being sent to the Al Asad airbase west of Baghdad for a six-month tour of duty beginning in August or September.
For the past three weeks the squadron, which is designed to support an airfield, has been living and working out of a tent city set up at the base.
"We brought almost everything in our unit," said Capt. James Cole, assistant operations officer for MWSS-273. "It's everything our squadron needs to support the units we provide support to."
About 50 tents have been erected, including a fully-equipped battalion aide station, a chapel, a motor pool, a mess hall and several living quarters.
The unit's equipment, which includes 7-ton trucks, humvees, bulldozers and a variety of generators, was shipped to Yuma.
"It took about 70 tractor-trailer truckloads," Pratt said.
Pratt said the training exercises conducted as part of Desert Talon are important because they provide the squadron with an opportunity to train in the type of missions it will be conducting while deployed in Iraq.
“We are mainly focusing on convoy and security operations,” Pratt said. “That's not something we do everyday.”
On Monday, as part of the squadron's training, one of the scenario's for which they were preparing dealt with responding to the report of an unexploded improvised explosive device.
"That's when our training kicks in," said Cole. "Not only will we send out elements of the squadron to disarm or dispose of the device, we will also send out an element to secure the area and provide protection."
Since the squadron is not a combat squadron, Cole explained that some members of the unit have been cross-trained to serve in a provisional rifle team, which provides security for the squadron on its missions.
The squadron is also being trained on how to establish a forward arming and refueling point — F.A.R.P. — something it can't get at its home base. The Yuma training also allows the squadron to conduct live-fire exercises and demolition training.
Luis Arroyo, a training exercise manager at YPG, said the squadron will be returning to its home base at the end of the week.
"They have two more days left in the exercise," Arroyo said. "After that they will be tearing down the camp and shipping it back."
James Gilbert can be reached at
jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.
Ellie