Photo By Lance Cpl. Preston McDonald | A Marine with Alpha Company, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, sights in on an enemy...... read more read more
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FORT STORY, Va. - You’ve been given an objective. You must study a high-interest location and create a profile of the area. However, three unidentified figures are patrolling all the avenues. You don’t know what they are protecting, but the men are carrying weapons.
Ten Marines with 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, traveled to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia, June 15-19, 2015, to support Alpha Company, 2nd Recon Bn. in a four-day reconnaissance and surveillance operation.
The ten Marines were responsible for creating a realistic environment for the company by acting as opposition forces and playing the role of the enemy.
“Having [opposition forces] out here makes it a lot more realistic,” said Capt. Thomas Wallin, Alpha Company’s commander. “It enhances our ability to train that much better.”
Throughout the operation, the opposition forces visited different locations assigned to the recon Marines and established a pattern of activity. In turn the recon Marines gathered intelligence and were able to report the activity back to higher command.
“We put the Op-For in different uniforms and armed them with Soviet-bloc weapons,” said MSgt. Robert Gupton, the operations chief with the company. “We gave them a script on how we want them to act so the team can observe them.”
In rotations, three enemies would visit the locations and patrol the surrounding area. It was up to the recon Marines to stay undetected, all while gathering valuable information.
“The Marines can look at the Op-For and determine who the leader is, how much discipline they have and as well as what kind of patterns they might be setting around the objective,” said Gupton.
The Marines playing Op-For provide a vital role in the integrity and validity of the training exercise.
“When you have an actual threat on the ground, it will put our guys in a combat mindset,” said Sgt. Timothy Ashe, a reconnaissance man with the company.
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2015 13:55 |
| Story ID: | 168123 |
| Location: | FORT STORY, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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