Shaffer
01-22-03, 08:08 AM
While they wait, they are doing all they can to prepare for the kind of challenge that might face them in the event of a ground assault on Iraq. Marine units are expected to be used as rapid-reaction forces capable of quickly seizing and holding an objective.
So, at an abandoned Air Force base in the Mojave Desert, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines is training for the kind of urban warfare the unit might encounter in Iraq. The Marines' ability to quickly move through an urban area and to secure buildings will be critical to their success and their safety.
The exercise is only a simulation and the bullets are blanks, but the intensity and timing of the final training make it alarmingly real — especially when the electronic sensors react to an enemy hit and a training officer gives them a "mortality check."
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/marine_unit_030121.html
So, at an abandoned Air Force base in the Mojave Desert, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines is training for the kind of urban warfare the unit might encounter in Iraq. The Marines' ability to quickly move through an urban area and to secure buildings will be critical to their success and their safety.
The exercise is only a simulation and the bullets are blanks, but the intensity and timing of the final training make it alarmingly real — especially when the electronic sensors react to an enemy hit and a training officer gives them a "mortality check."
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/marine_unit_030121.html