Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan | A North Carolina National Guard soldier from the 1-130th Attack Reconnaissance...... read more read more
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ATLANTIC, N.C. - The Atlantic Marine Corps Outlying Field was home to nearly 100 North Carolina National Guard soldiers of the 1-130th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion for joint training with U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations Command during a recent exercise here.
The small facility and airfield, tucked in the pine forests of the Eastern North Carolina seashore near the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, simulated a variety of possible tactical environments.
Their overall mission was to support MARSOC warriors training at nearby Piney Island with live fire rocket and cannon support.
"We are training as an Army unit controlled by Marine joint tactical air controllers engaging land and sea targets," said Army Lt. Col. Lee Winningham, 1-130th ARB commander.
This joint NCNG and Marine training prepares both forces for future deployments. The Marines must keep current with other services’ capabilities and the Army aviators got valuable gunnery training with their flight crews and aircraft.
"History shows you do not know who you are going to talk to; then you take off," said Winningham.
The NCNG soldiers gained valuable experiences operating in a land/sea environment with another military service.
"Most of the world's population lives near the coast," said Winningham.
The ARB sustained their own supply and logistics requirements for the training. Soldiers, equipment, fuel, food and other supplies convoyed by vehicle from the unit's readiness center in Morrisville, N.C., to their training area which simulated a real world scenario for the event.
The unit deployed to mimic a modern battlefield. An assembly area away from the air strip housed fuel, ammo and other supplies.
The forward operating base, a collection of tents, vehicles and aircraft, lined the airstrip. Piney Island was designated as the engagement area where the aviators fired live ammunition at targets identified by Marines as hostile forces.
"Simulations are great but nothing beats real world live fire," said Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Kurt Cunningham, a 1-130th ARB standardization instructor pilot.
The unit executed 24-hours operations throughout the training. Radios crackled as leaders planned and controlled missions from the tactical operations center.
Technicians repaired, fueled and maintained six AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopters along the flight line on the airfield while Marines called in requests for fire support on targets.
This was not the first meeting between these soldiers and Marines. Several of the 1-130th soldiers have served with many different Special Operations Forces in past missions, both U.S. and allied, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We have worked hard to build these relationships," said Winningham.
The goal is not so much sharing what they know after years of war but continually exercising and updating tactics, techniques and procedures.
"Everyone works joint now and it is the little differences we need to learn," said Cunningham.
| Date Taken: | 09.20.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2013 03:52 |
| Story ID: | 113960 |
| Location: | ATLANTIC, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 497 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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