Photo By Lance Cpl. Nicholas Guevara | A Marine fires a 120-mm mortar downrange during a life-fire artillery exercise as part...... read more read more
Subscribe
The sounds of explosions filled the air as smoke poured out of a 120-mm mortar’s barrel during a live-fire artillery exercise as part of Exercise Bold Alligator at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Oct. 26, 2017.
The live-fire exercise, taken part by U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, freed up battle space for follow-on operations for the allied nations at Camp Lejeune as a coalition for Bold Alligator.
“We are currently in support of the 45 Commando Royal Marines for this exercise,” said 1st. Lt. Jacob Turk, a battery executive officer with 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment. “It’s important to be able to integrate fires to the scheme of maneuver so that afterwards our infantry guys can come in and take their objectives later in the operations.”
The Marines sent live mortar rounds down range during various fire missions. The fire missions themselves were sporadic, which allowed the Marines effectively exercise their ability to operate in an environment where anything can happen at a moment’s notice.
“It’s a constant rotation of both preparing our equipment and our Marines,” said Turk. “We are all using different weapon systems so we have to all work together to complete the missions.”
The live fire exercise served as an opportunity for U.S. and British troops to share their combat capabilities and become familiar with the difference in equipment to better understand how each other operate.
“Exercises like these demonstrate what the artillery community can do as a whole while in support of friendly forces,” said Sgt. Gino Morato, a platoon Sergeant with the unit. “It helps with accurately timed fire and prepares us for any future exercises we may have with them.”
As Exercise Bold Alligator comes to an end for this year, the joint training and camaraderie will continue on, looking forward toward future coalition operations.
| Date Taken: | 10.26.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.01.2017 13:38 |
| Story ID: | 253639 |
| Location: | CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 70 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fire from the sky: Marines fire mortars as part of Exercise Bold Alligator, by LCpl Nicholas Guevara, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
