thedrifter
05-05-07, 08:11 AM
Published: May 05, 2007 01:15 am
Enid Marine gets taste of desert warfare
By Jeff Mullin, Senior Writer
A group of U.S. Marine reservists recently got a taste of desert warfare when they took part in Operation African Lion ’07, a joint training exercise for the U.S. and Moroccan military units held in the Moroccan desert.
For one of those reservists, Lance Cpl. Jacob Stewart, 21, of Enid, the trip overseas was his first.
“It was interesting,” Stewart said of his experience. “I was quite im-pressed with Morocco, that they had quite a bit of development. I was actually surprised, I was expecting mostly dirt huts.”
Stewart and 17 members of his Broken Arrow-based unit, part of 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, spent nearly two weeks last month working closely with units from the Moroccan army.
“It’s mostly diplomatic,” Stewart said. “It’s not really in-depth training. Basically you show them your weapons, they show you their weapons and you get to talk with them. It’s basically to build good relations.”
The Moroccans were impressed by the Marines and their firepower. The Broken Arrow reserve unit is equipped with tank-killing, wire-guided TOW missiles fired from the backs of Humvees. Stewart is part of a four-man TOW team.
“They were impressed,” Stewart said. “I think our equipment and training is better than theirs. They were very interested in what we thought about them.”
By the same token, the Marines came away with a measure of respect for the Moroccan troops.
“They were actually pretty professional,” said Stewart. “They are pretty proficient. They hit most all of their targets.”
Which wasn’t, Stewart said, always the case with the Marines. Part of the exercise involved firing at plywood outlines of tanks that were smaller than life-size, but were built to a smaller scale to try and simulate being a greater distance away than they actually were. That gave the Marines some problems, since TOW missile gunners have only seconds to guide the missile into the target.
“By the time the smoke cleared and you could see your target, it was already about halfway there,” said Stewart. “We fired 11 the first day and we only hit three of our targets. They were all saying we were bad shots.”
The next day the targets were large piles of rocks the size of tanks, and the Marines fared better.
“We hit every last target,” Stewart said. “We kind of redeemed our name there.”
For the last exercise, the Mor-occans wanted to create some drama, so they put three cans of diesel fuel behind each target.
“They wanted to make an impression,” said Stewart. “It made a big fireball.”
The Marines also spent time doing desert training in preparation for a possible deployment to Iraq. Stewart’s unit is scheduled to go to Iraq in December 2008.
Security surrounding the Marines was tightened after suicide bombers blew themselves up in Casablanca just days before the Americans arrived. Buses carrying the Marines were escorted by Moroccan police vehicles with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
“Every village we went through, everyone would come out to see what was going on and see the Americans,” Stewart said.
The Marines got a bit of a jolt when, in one village, a child’s soccer ball rolled under the wheels of one of the buses and was run over.
“It made a big pop,” said Stewart, laughing. “Everybody on the bus jumped. The people in the village standing by started running. They thought it was a suicide bomber or something.”
Ellie
Enid Marine gets taste of desert warfare
By Jeff Mullin, Senior Writer
A group of U.S. Marine reservists recently got a taste of desert warfare when they took part in Operation African Lion ’07, a joint training exercise for the U.S. and Moroccan military units held in the Moroccan desert.
For one of those reservists, Lance Cpl. Jacob Stewart, 21, of Enid, the trip overseas was his first.
“It was interesting,” Stewart said of his experience. “I was quite im-pressed with Morocco, that they had quite a bit of development. I was actually surprised, I was expecting mostly dirt huts.”
Stewart and 17 members of his Broken Arrow-based unit, part of 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, spent nearly two weeks last month working closely with units from the Moroccan army.
“It’s mostly diplomatic,” Stewart said. “It’s not really in-depth training. Basically you show them your weapons, they show you their weapons and you get to talk with them. It’s basically to build good relations.”
The Moroccans were impressed by the Marines and their firepower. The Broken Arrow reserve unit is equipped with tank-killing, wire-guided TOW missiles fired from the backs of Humvees. Stewart is part of a four-man TOW team.
“They were impressed,” Stewart said. “I think our equipment and training is better than theirs. They were very interested in what we thought about them.”
By the same token, the Marines came away with a measure of respect for the Moroccan troops.
“They were actually pretty professional,” said Stewart. “They are pretty proficient. They hit most all of their targets.”
Which wasn’t, Stewart said, always the case with the Marines. Part of the exercise involved firing at plywood outlines of tanks that were smaller than life-size, but were built to a smaller scale to try and simulate being a greater distance away than they actually were. That gave the Marines some problems, since TOW missile gunners have only seconds to guide the missile into the target.
“By the time the smoke cleared and you could see your target, it was already about halfway there,” said Stewart. “We fired 11 the first day and we only hit three of our targets. They were all saying we were bad shots.”
The next day the targets were large piles of rocks the size of tanks, and the Marines fared better.
“We hit every last target,” Stewart said. “We kind of redeemed our name there.”
For the last exercise, the Mor-occans wanted to create some drama, so they put three cans of diesel fuel behind each target.
“They wanted to make an impression,” said Stewart. “It made a big fireball.”
The Marines also spent time doing desert training in preparation for a possible deployment to Iraq. Stewart’s unit is scheduled to go to Iraq in December 2008.
Security surrounding the Marines was tightened after suicide bombers blew themselves up in Casablanca just days before the Americans arrived. Buses carrying the Marines were escorted by Moroccan police vehicles with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
“Every village we went through, everyone would come out to see what was going on and see the Americans,” Stewart said.
The Marines got a bit of a jolt when, in one village, a child’s soccer ball rolled under the wheels of one of the buses and was run over.
“It made a big pop,” said Stewart, laughing. “Everybody on the bus jumped. The people in the village standing by started running. They thought it was a suicide bomber or something.”
Ellie