thedrifter
10-27-06, 04:33 PM
Coming Sunday: Marines fight terror
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Friday, October 27, 2006
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - An enemy soldier points his rifle from a third-story window, searching the shadows to pick off anyone heading his way.
An eerie calm falls over this fabricated town rising out of the pine forests. With its narrow streets, lamps, park benches, stores, bank and a church with a lighted cross, the empty settlement has the look of a Hollywood movie set - albeit one with generic names such as City Bank and Urban Clothing and Apparel.
Welcome to the Marine Corps' training ground for military operations in urban terrain. The Marines just call it "Combat Town."
It quickly lives up to its name. Shortly after the enemy soldier sticks his head out the window for a wary look around, two Humvees with mounted machine guns roar in from either end of the street and quickly set up roadblocks.
Soon, Marines from the Humvees dash toward the safe house, kicking in doors and tossing "flash bang" grenades that explode with white-hot flashes and stun anyone inside. This security platoon shoots plastic-tipped bullets - "simunitions" - at the federal contractors playing terrorists inside.
The Marine Corps has accepted a new mission to thwart terrorism. Since Februrary, the Corps has been preparing its first counter-terrorist and foreign-training units. This is the story of how the Marines, many from Virginia, are embracing their new role in the nation's global anti-terrorism effort. Read the whole story in Sunday's Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Ellie
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Friday, October 27, 2006
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - An enemy soldier points his rifle from a third-story window, searching the shadows to pick off anyone heading his way.
An eerie calm falls over this fabricated town rising out of the pine forests. With its narrow streets, lamps, park benches, stores, bank and a church with a lighted cross, the empty settlement has the look of a Hollywood movie set - albeit one with generic names such as City Bank and Urban Clothing and Apparel.
Welcome to the Marine Corps' training ground for military operations in urban terrain. The Marines just call it "Combat Town."
It quickly lives up to its name. Shortly after the enemy soldier sticks his head out the window for a wary look around, two Humvees with mounted machine guns roar in from either end of the street and quickly set up roadblocks.
Soon, Marines from the Humvees dash toward the safe house, kicking in doors and tossing "flash bang" grenades that explode with white-hot flashes and stun anyone inside. This security platoon shoots plastic-tipped bullets - "simunitions" - at the federal contractors playing terrorists inside.
The Marine Corps has accepted a new mission to thwart terrorism. Since Februrary, the Corps has been preparing its first counter-terrorist and foreign-training units. This is the story of how the Marines, many from Virginia, are embracing their new role in the nation's global anti-terrorism effort. Read the whole story in Sunday's Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Ellie