Photo By Sgt. Sarah Anderson | A combat engineer with Combat Engineer Company, Combat Assault Battalion, throws a...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - An infantry battalion can devastate the enemies’ efforts, but depends on nearly every military occupational specialty to accomplish that mission.
Supporting elements like artillery, corpsmen, logistics and intelligence are necessary to dominate objectives, but one group of Marines watches their backs, protecting with destruction and construction — they are combat engineers.
Engineers are responsible for clearing the road, keeping the infantrymen safe from improvised explosive devices, mines or any obstacle in the way. They are a necessary component of infantry tactics and a vital asset for the safety of Marines on the offense.
Forty-three combat engineers traveled from Okinawa, Japan, to support 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, during their Integrated Training Exercise at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., from August to September.
The Marines of third platoon, Combat Engineer Company, Combat Assault Battalion, stationed in Okinawa, Japan, were split up among the “Island Warriors” companies to train as attachments.
Integrated Training Exercise is a battalion-level combined-arms exercise designed to prepare units for deployment. The engineers were responsible for obstacle breaching and counter mobility for the infantry Marines.
While infantrymen were conducting offensive attacks, the engineers cleared obstacles, like land mines, improvised explosive devices or berms, blocking the objectives by using Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System, an explosive linear charge shot from a rocket, which carries 108 grenades on a line and detonates over hazards, eliminating the threat.
Once the “Iron Fist” route was clear, the engineers would mark a safe path for the infantrymen to travel and take their objective.
“If we don’t do our job right, people die. It’s intense,” said Lance Cpl. Clayton Wolf, combat engineer, CEC, CAB. “I love blowing stuff up, that’s what every combat engineer says. It’s awesome.”
The engineers were also able to utilize the Mine Clearing Line Charge to breach obstacles. The MCLC is a rocket fired from an Assault Breacher Vehicle which drags 1,750 pounds of Composition 4 explosives behind it to destroy any hazard ahead.
In the event a MCLC does not detonate. The engineers are prepared to conduct a “Medal of Honor” run, where a volunteer runs to the line, sets another charge and has five minutes to clear the area before the MCLC fires again.
The MCLC can only be fired in three locations by the Marine Corps – the Combat Center, Afghanistan and training areas in Thailand, due to the space needed to safely detonate the device. This was the first time many of the combat engineers had the opportunity for fire the MCLC.
“The training you do out here you can’t really do anywhere else,” said 2nd Lt. Jonathan Bisulca platoon commander, third platoon, CEC, CAB, and native of Woodbridge, Va. “The ranges (we conduct) here are a lot more complex, it requires a lot more of them.”
The engineers switched their focus to construction when 2nd Bn., 3rd Marines, took defensive positions during the exercises. “Iron Fist” pulled out their bulldozers and concertina wire to build obstacles for potential-simulated enemy attack during the night.
Bisulca said many of the Okinawa Marines have never been to the Combat Center’s desert environment. Even though they had to adjust to the climate, they were motivated to “train and blow things up.”
“They all have an awesome attitude. They all like to go to the field. They like to do ranges. They like to train,” Bisulca said. “This is hard training and they’ve done everything they’ve been asked to do, and they’ve done it well.”
Training at the Combat Center has been integral to the combat readiness of the CAB Marines, according to Bisulca. In Japan, the Marines are able to conduct the training they need, but cannot incorporate any of the other elements of the Marine Air Ground
Task Force.
While in the desert, the group integrated aircraft, tanks and live fire ranges into the training.
“The reason it’s important is because they are Marines,” said Bisulca. “They signed up to do stuff like this. They signed up to do good training, do cool stuff and do our job as engineers, and that’s what they’ve done here.”
| Date Taken: | 10.04.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 10.04.2013 15:52 |
| Story ID: | 114785 |
| Location: | TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 171 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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