thedrifter
02-09-08, 10:55 AM
The Hi-Desert Star’s View: Living with the sounds of war and peace
Saturday, February 9, 2008 12:04 AM PST
With all the booming and shaking going on this week, we can’t help but turn our thoughts to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center and everything that is done there to prepare Marines for deployment abroad. We applaud the innovative people at the base and in the Department of Defense who are working to create simulated urban environments for Marines to train in before being dispatched to real-life, and very dangerous, urban environments.
As Marines and sailors continue to rotate into tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, American civilians can take comfort in the knowledge that the base in Twentynine Palms supports programs like the simulated Iraqi villages in Mojave Viper, that train the country’s men and women not only how to fight in deserts and cities, but how to negotiate and avoid battle situations as well.
And as our windows rattled this week, we reflected on what it might feel like to live in a land where the boom and shake of mortar is not only constant, but very real — not training devices, but real bombs and rockets that tear up real neighborhoods and real people. It’s what the people in the Middle East, and the Marines and sailors who deploy there, live with every day.
The men and women who train in Twentynine Palms are not only armed fighters who are waging war in the Middle East; they are also builders, police trainers, doctors and ambassadors who are waging peace and making the case for democracy there. We are thankful the base in Twentynine Palms is helping them not only learn the latest in weapons technology, but also refine their cultural exchange and adaptation skills.
Ellie
Saturday, February 9, 2008 12:04 AM PST
With all the booming and shaking going on this week, we can’t help but turn our thoughts to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center and everything that is done there to prepare Marines for deployment abroad. We applaud the innovative people at the base and in the Department of Defense who are working to create simulated urban environments for Marines to train in before being dispatched to real-life, and very dangerous, urban environments.
As Marines and sailors continue to rotate into tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, American civilians can take comfort in the knowledge that the base in Twentynine Palms supports programs like the simulated Iraqi villages in Mojave Viper, that train the country’s men and women not only how to fight in deserts and cities, but how to negotiate and avoid battle situations as well.
And as our windows rattled this week, we reflected on what it might feel like to live in a land where the boom and shake of mortar is not only constant, but very real — not training devices, but real bombs and rockets that tear up real neighborhoods and real people. It’s what the people in the Middle East, and the Marines and sailors who deploy there, live with every day.
The men and women who train in Twentynine Palms are not only armed fighters who are waging war in the Middle East; they are also builders, police trainers, doctors and ambassadors who are waging peace and making the case for democracy there. We are thankful the base in Twentynine Palms is helping them not only learn the latest in weapons technology, but also refine their cultural exchange and adaptation skills.
Ellie