thedrifter
04-04-07, 08:55 AM
Facility links Corps training
CHRISSY VICK
DAILY NEWS STAFF
They call it "Nisr min Al-Bahr." As nicknames go, it doesn't roll off the tongue.
But that didn't matter Tuesday at Camp Lejeune, where Marine Corps officials unveiled the new $15 million mobile Military Operations in Urban Terrain facility, which is based upon an actual city in Afghanistan.
The Nisr min Al-Bahr, which means "Eagles from the Sea," took 19 months to build and offers troops the most realistic training facility on the East Coast, Marine officials said.
"There is nothing else that we have here at Camp Lejeune that accurately reflects the nature of a Middle Eastern village culturally, architecturally and with layout," said Col. Brant Bailey, assistant chief of staff for training and operations for Marine Corps Installations East. "We have no other way to show the Marines what it's going to be like."
Tuesday's ribbon-cutting was followed by a tour of the 29-acre training site that boasts 71 buildings up to three stories tall, 100 automated targets, two tunnel complexes and battlefield effects simulators.
The mobile MOUT includes a farm, factory, police station, TV station, mosque, hospital, school and even apartments. Even though the design is based on a city in Afghanistan, the training is for troops headed to Iraq.
"We try to take a town in the Middle East, this one is in Afghanistan, and try to replicate that and stay true to the Middle Eastern design," said James Schleining, director of range development.
Buildings are constructed from 8-foot by 40-foot shipping containers joined together. They are mobile, offering troops the ability to rearrange the layout as necessary.
Automated targets depict civilians and insurgents, while live role players will be contracted to roam the streets as locals, Iraqi soldiers and insurgents. Automated targets are controlled by a handheld wireless computer, and some even run up to a vehicle simulating a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
Speakers sound the call to prayer and other city sounds, while machine-gun fire and even IEDs can be heard throughout the facility.
Training is scheduled to begin at the mobile MOUT in May.
"This is the most important thing we're going to do - train our Marines for combat," said Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson, head of Marine Corps Installations East. "This is second to none. They don't have this out on the West Coast at Camp Pendleton (Calif.)."
Five buildings within the complex are lined with ballistic rubber and equipped for live fire while the roads are convoy-capable. The facility is the first that will allow companies and even battalions to train together, doing multiple operations.
"Marines are going to be able to come in here and shoot live rounds because of the absorbent materials on the walls," said Lt. Gen. James Amos, adding that the facility is only 8 miles from Combat Town and right next to the permanent MOUT.
"The whole idea was to link them all together, to get in the vehicles and convoy to the next," he said.
Allied Container Systems of Pleasant Hill, Calif. designed, delivered and installed the buildings in the complex.
"The steel behind the rubber actually stops the bullet," said Matt Horsfall, project manager with the company. "But the rubber keeps the bullet from ricocheting and fragmenting back out, so it's much safer."
Bailey said training continues to improve each year and is vital for Marines going into combat.
"It's really important for us to replicate it for the Marine before he encounters it," Bailey said. "When you're faced with life-and-death crisis situations, you fall back on your training. Training is your bedrock."
Ellie
CHRISSY VICK
DAILY NEWS STAFF
They call it "Nisr min Al-Bahr." As nicknames go, it doesn't roll off the tongue.
But that didn't matter Tuesday at Camp Lejeune, where Marine Corps officials unveiled the new $15 million mobile Military Operations in Urban Terrain facility, which is based upon an actual city in Afghanistan.
The Nisr min Al-Bahr, which means "Eagles from the Sea," took 19 months to build and offers troops the most realistic training facility on the East Coast, Marine officials said.
"There is nothing else that we have here at Camp Lejeune that accurately reflects the nature of a Middle Eastern village culturally, architecturally and with layout," said Col. Brant Bailey, assistant chief of staff for training and operations for Marine Corps Installations East. "We have no other way to show the Marines what it's going to be like."
Tuesday's ribbon-cutting was followed by a tour of the 29-acre training site that boasts 71 buildings up to three stories tall, 100 automated targets, two tunnel complexes and battlefield effects simulators.
The mobile MOUT includes a farm, factory, police station, TV station, mosque, hospital, school and even apartments. Even though the design is based on a city in Afghanistan, the training is for troops headed to Iraq.
"We try to take a town in the Middle East, this one is in Afghanistan, and try to replicate that and stay true to the Middle Eastern design," said James Schleining, director of range development.
Buildings are constructed from 8-foot by 40-foot shipping containers joined together. They are mobile, offering troops the ability to rearrange the layout as necessary.
Automated targets depict civilians and insurgents, while live role players will be contracted to roam the streets as locals, Iraqi soldiers and insurgents. Automated targets are controlled by a handheld wireless computer, and some even run up to a vehicle simulating a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
Speakers sound the call to prayer and other city sounds, while machine-gun fire and even IEDs can be heard throughout the facility.
Training is scheduled to begin at the mobile MOUT in May.
"This is the most important thing we're going to do - train our Marines for combat," said Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson, head of Marine Corps Installations East. "This is second to none. They don't have this out on the West Coast at Camp Pendleton (Calif.)."
Five buildings within the complex are lined with ballistic rubber and equipped for live fire while the roads are convoy-capable. The facility is the first that will allow companies and even battalions to train together, doing multiple operations.
"Marines are going to be able to come in here and shoot live rounds because of the absorbent materials on the walls," said Lt. Gen. James Amos, adding that the facility is only 8 miles from Combat Town and right next to the permanent MOUT.
"The whole idea was to link them all together, to get in the vehicles and convoy to the next," he said.
Allied Container Systems of Pleasant Hill, Calif. designed, delivered and installed the buildings in the complex.
"The steel behind the rubber actually stops the bullet," said Matt Horsfall, project manager with the company. "But the rubber keeps the bullet from ricocheting and fragmenting back out, so it's much safer."
Bailey said training continues to improve each year and is vital for Marines going into combat.
"It's really important for us to replicate it for the Marine before he encounters it," Bailey said. "When you're faced with life-and-death crisis situations, you fall back on your training. Training is your bedrock."
Ellie