thedrifter
09-12-08, 10:31 AM
Visiting Marines start 60th WTI
Story by Cpl. Michael R. Whitnel, Desert Warrior Staff
More than 800 Marines from around the Corps descended on Yuma to begin the Weapons and Tactics Instructors course here Sept. 8.
This year, about 200 fewer WTI students and supporting Marines are attending the biannual, six-week instructor training due to deployments elsewhere.
Visiting pilots, weapons systems operators, combat ground and support service Marines will attend the course until Oct. 26.
For the first two and a half weeks, students attend lectures and classes.
The second phase, known as the flight phase, begins Sept. 25. It focuses on flight and practical application of an individual's job.
Upon graduation, tstudents will return to their units and instruct their Marines on the warfare skills mastered while attending WTI, said Lt. Col. David Schlichting, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 executive officer.
This WTI will include the course's first live-fire the high-mobility artillery rocket system on the Barry M. Goldwater Range, said Schlichting.
Unlike most other courses in the Marine Corps, there's no written or traditional proctored final exam. Instead, units participate in a weeklong final exercise, during which they plan and perform a combined-arms operation within the city limits of Yuma and Brawley, Calif., said Maj. Ryan Shadle, a CH-46 instructor.
WTI is not just for pilots. The course includes Marines in intelligence, aviation ground support and flight engineer weapons and tactics fields, said Schlichting.
The WTI curriculum is constantly updated from lessons learned during current Marine Corps operations around the world, said Shadle.
MAWTS-1 also keeps in contact with other services and foreign services, which keeps the WTI training in line with the realities of joint operations, said Schlichting.
MAWTS-1 has been conducing two WTI courses per year since its creation in 1978, making this the 60th course held.
Ellie
Story by Cpl. Michael R. Whitnel, Desert Warrior Staff
More than 800 Marines from around the Corps descended on Yuma to begin the Weapons and Tactics Instructors course here Sept. 8.
This year, about 200 fewer WTI students and supporting Marines are attending the biannual, six-week instructor training due to deployments elsewhere.
Visiting pilots, weapons systems operators, combat ground and support service Marines will attend the course until Oct. 26.
For the first two and a half weeks, students attend lectures and classes.
The second phase, known as the flight phase, begins Sept. 25. It focuses on flight and practical application of an individual's job.
Upon graduation, tstudents will return to their units and instruct their Marines on the warfare skills mastered while attending WTI, said Lt. Col. David Schlichting, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 executive officer.
This WTI will include the course's first live-fire the high-mobility artillery rocket system on the Barry M. Goldwater Range, said Schlichting.
Unlike most other courses in the Marine Corps, there's no written or traditional proctored final exam. Instead, units participate in a weeklong final exercise, during which they plan and perform a combined-arms operation within the city limits of Yuma and Brawley, Calif., said Maj. Ryan Shadle, a CH-46 instructor.
WTI is not just for pilots. The course includes Marines in intelligence, aviation ground support and flight engineer weapons and tactics fields, said Schlichting.
The WTI curriculum is constantly updated from lessons learned during current Marine Corps operations around the world, said Shadle.
MAWTS-1 also keeps in contact with other services and foreign services, which keeps the WTI training in line with the realities of joint operations, said Schlichting.
MAWTS-1 has been conducing two WTI courses per year since its creation in 1978, making this the 60th course held.
Ellie