August 18, 2008
Marines learn how to spot the bad guys

By Kevin Maurer
Associated Press

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The enemy hides among civilians on the urban battlefield, walking the same dusty streets and in the same crowded markets where Cpl. Derrick Terrell found himself during a one-year deployment in Iraq.

The Marine rifleman said he was oblivious to his surroundings, a wartime environment where basic infantry skills of shooting straight and heading out onto patrol were no longer enough. It's a potential weakness that led Terrell and hundreds of other Marines to spend time with big-game hunters and police, learning to "hunt" for targets among the human landscape.

"I wish I had this training when I was there before," Terrell said of his time last year in Iraq. "It helps take away the enemy's advantage on us. I know what I am looking for now."

Combat Hunter, a two-week program at Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton, Calif., is designed to teach Marines how to observe, profile and track potentially dangerous individuals.

The program, which started in April 2007, grew out of a concept by Gen. James Mattis, who saw the need for hunting-related skills while overseeing combat forces at Camp Pendleton in California.

Instructors teach Marines how to pay attention to small details, and problem-solving. Marines are taught to detect anomalies in the regular behavior of a village, picking out irregularities and tracking people who may be insurgents.

"All terrorists and criminals follow the same patterns," said Greg Williams, a police officer and big-game hunter who teaches the profiling portion of the program to the Marines. "We give them the ability to think like the enemy."

In the first week, Marines learn profiling techniques, including how to detect a criminal or leader of a group based solely on behavioral patterns such as how he dresses, how the villagers respond to him or where he goes in the village.

The second week focuses on tracking, as Marines learn to see "the unnatural," said Randy Merriman, a Camp Lejeune civilian instructor. They're taught to notice even minor disturbances such as a broken branch, trampled grass or litter that may indicate someone has passed through.

"We are giving them the gift of situational awareness," Williams said.

The final exam requires a six-man sniper team to track two instructors with a half-hour head start for several miles through thick pine forest and swampy terrain near Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps' main base on the East Coast.

In another exercise, four-man teams of Marines trying to identify the enemy amid a mock village complete with an open-air market, a mosque and a police station.

Peering through binoculars and using infrared sensors, the Marines watched and catalogued every detail. Terrell alternated between the scope on his rifle and his binoculars as he watched the townspeople mingle in the market, kick a soccer ball in a nearby field and rake up debris along a ditch.

The team observed the natural patterns of the villagers, and everything appeared normal. But over time, Terrell noticed a man dressed in jogging pants marking distances by counting his paces and dropping a small cup to mark the distance. A few moments later, a policeman was shot and the village erupted in panic as a sniper opened fire. Terrell quickly called in the location of the sniper, but it was too late: The police officer was "dead."

After the training, Williams praised the Marines for communicating, but stressed they failed to identify the sniper in time. Still, he acknowledged they didn't perform badly their first time out.

Capt. Michael G. Murray, commander of the training company overseeing Combat Hunter, said, "The measure of success right now is when a Marine returns from a patrol, convoy, or standing a post and is excited that he used the Combat Hunter Training."

Murray said units in Iraq are "clamoring" to sign up for Combat Hunter. "They cannot get enough," he said.

Ellie