thedrifter
09-08-03, 09:50 AM
Beyond the beach <br />
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U.S. Marines are shaping their training to prepare for a new type of military role. <br />
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By RUTH FINCH <br />
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Date published: 8/31/2003
thedrifter
09-08-03, 09:50 AM
After dinner was a time of relaxation. Some continued to work into the night on laptop computers or chat with their commanders about the next day's activities, but many used the evening to unwind.
Some went directly to their tents and fell asleep. Others drank coffee and chatted. The showers ran only in the evening, and many Marines took advantage of them.
Though the training regimen is exhausting, those Marines who have recently returned from the battle fronts in Iraq or Afghanistan say they couldn't be successful without it.
First Lt. Christopher Isola, a platoon commander with the 22nd MEU, spent the spring in Iraq with the 5th Marine Regiment ferreting out and destroying stashes of weapons and explosives. He said he used his training every day.
"We got to use our demolition expertise to carry out a job that I think was very important," Isola said. "I think that was important because now there are that much fewer weapons for the follow-on forces to get killed by."
Many members of the 22nd MEU, including Isola, volunteered to re-deploy with the unit before they had even come home from Iraq. Many joined the unit just before the trip to A.P. Hill.
The unit also included a few reservists who were activated to join the MEU, and the entire medical team is from the Navy.
With so many new faces, the unit needed some time at A.P. Hill to establish cohesion, said Cpl. Brandon Schulte, who also served in Iraq.
"We need to be out here in the woods to build up loyalty," he said. "We need to know each other as brothers. It helps out a lot. We become more than co-workers or friends. We're a lot closer than that."
Schulte said that as the war on terror continues, the MEU will be well-qualified to fight it because of the training time at A.P. Hill and the experiences of individual Marines in Iraq.
"I don't think anybody really hopes to see anything like what we saw in Iraq," Schulte said. "But if we do, we have lots of good training and experience."
To reach RUTH FINCH: 540/374-5418 rfinch@freelancestar.com
Date published: 8/31/2003
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2003/082003/08312003/1078858
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: