PDA

View Full Version : Number of Marines is growing in what always has been a 'Navy' town.



thedrifter
06-24-07, 06:07 AM
Published - June, 24, 2007
Number of Marines is growing in what always has been a 'Navy' town.

Troy Moon
tmoon@pnj.com
The few and the proud?

Well, Marines in Pensacola are still very, very proud.

But they're not so few anymore.

The Pensacola Naval Air Station's single largest command is Marine Aviation Training Support Group-21. The command has grown from 2,596 Marines in 2003 to more than 3,870 now and includes nearly 8,000 Marines during the course of a year.

What's going on? Isn't this a Navy town?

Yes and no, said Col. Christopher "Caveman'' Holzworth, outgoing commanding officer of MATSG-21.

"Pensacola has always been seen as a Navy town,'' he said. "But really, it's a Naval town."

"The Navy has shrunk their shore-base infrastructure, while our requirement has increased. We've become the largest command on this base and a predominate presence in the Pensacola area.''

MATSG-21 also controls Marines assigned to other Gulf Coast bases, including in Panama City and Meridian, Miss.

The great majority at Pensacola NAS are enlisted men and women between 18 and 24 years old, most of whom will end up in Iraq, Afghanistan or another international hot spot within a year. They're training in 137 aviation specialties, from piloting to mechanics.

Most of the staff members training the young Marines for war already have been in combat.

MATSG-21 has 828 permanent staff members, with about 750 in the Pensacola Bay Area, said Lt. Col. David Glassman, the command's executive officer. Of the 828, 530 have had one or more combat tours in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

"You take what you've learned in the real world and bring it back here,'' said outgoing training officer Capt. Russell Norris, who served in Iraq from August 2005 though April 2006. "And there's a lot of combat experience here.''

Holzworth said training is the key to making sure that the Marines will be ready for the battlefield.

In a farewell address to some of his Marines just over a week ago, Holzworth stressed the importance of that training.

"Marines, how are we doing today? It's another great day to train in the Marine Corps, train to be leaders in the Marine Corps, to train in our warfare specialty that we are going to apply with leadership ... on the battlefield. And at the end of the day, our world, our nation, will be a safer place. At the end of the day, someone's going to die, right?''

Holzworth's goal is training that increases enemy casualties while reducing Marine casualties.

"They're going directly into combat,'' Holzworth said. "We have to figure out ways to be better prepared, to make them better prepared for the expectations that they will face in combat. We owe it to these Marines, these families. We've got to do that one extra thing that makes the difference between a Marine making a successful contribution where everyone lives. And I entertain all things to uplift training. All things.''

One of the more successful training additions that Holzworth has implemented is the Enhanced Training Program, through which Marines learn skills outside their specialty while at MATSG-21.

Once they are sent out to battlefield commands, Marines are required to have general proficiency in myriad skills -- from shipboard fire fighting to martial arts training to driving military vehicles. The additional training and certification for those skills used to occur once the Marines arrived at their permanent commands.

Holzworth said the Enhanced Training Program, which teaches teach those skills while at MATSG-21, saves time and money in the long run.

"If we waited, those jobs would have to be captured by the commander at the next level,'' he said. "And the end result is, we're sending you a better-prepared Marine that can make an accelerated contribution right away. We don't wait to train at the next level. We train them here.''

In the past two years, about 13,000 Marines have received additional training and certifications -- other than their specialty training -- that would normally be taught at the next level.

"I sent 1,800 Marines to shipboard fire-fighting school last year,'' Holzworth said. "At 24 man-hours for the certification, and 1,800 Marines, do the math. That's a lot of man-hours returned that (tactical commanders) can use to get better prepared for what's next on their agenda. And what's next is Iraq or the Horn of Africa or the 800 other places we deploy Marines.''

Holzworth's Marine bosses credit the Enhanced Training Program with boosting Marine Corps proficiency.

Major Gen. George J. Flynn, commanding general of the U.S. Marine Corps Training and Education Command, visited MATSG-21 in April. A week later, he wrote a short letter about the visit to other top Marine Corps officers.

"Caveman is doing some really great things for Aviation and the Corps,'' Flynn wrote. "His Enhanced Training Program is money and time in the bank for the operating forces, and we need to get the word out on how much he is doing for us. He is literally saving us a few million and a significant amount of man-years.''

The young enlistees agreed.

"We are getting a lot of experience here,'' said Lance Cpl. Jamie Mayer, 19. "We are always training and learning new things. And it's all going to help us when we get to (our next assignment).''

Although Holzworth is proud of the training, he is also proud of the Marines' increased involvement in numerous community events and fundraisers.

Just last week, a walkway at the Lacey A. Collier Sensory Complex, a center for profoundly disabled children, was named Holzworth Way because the local Marines put so much time and effort into landscaping and irrigation work at the facility.

Holzworth's friend, longtime Pensacola car dealer Ted Ciano, said the Marines never have been a better friend to Pensacola -- and, for that, he credits Holzworth.

"We take him to speaking engagements, Rotary clubs and things like that because he's just an inspiring type of guy and never says no,'' Ciano said. "And if it has anything to do with helping children, he'll definitely have his Marines be part of it. He gets excited and truly gets involved. Under his leadership, the Marines have raised a lot of money for this community.''

Holzworth said it's just part of being a Marine.

"There is no better friend in our community than a Marine who is coaching Little League, or serving as a Brownie Scout leader, or helping out at a children's charity event,'' he said. "We nurture that urge to give back to the community.

"And there is no better community, no more benevolent community to train warriors, to train Marines, than the Greater Pensacola Area and the Panhandle of Florida. This is why I go to war. To preserve the quality of life that everyone here enjoys.'

Ellie