Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Jesus Sepulveda Torres | Anthony Torche, the assistant site manager at the Infantry Immersion Trainer, speaks...... read more read more
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As the superior installation for warfighters, Marine Corps Base Hawaii is not a single base for training. Several sites are operated and maintained by the installation, compromising of several bases and properties throughout Oahu. One such location is Marine Corps Training Area Bellows (MCTAB), located on the Eastern edge of Oahu, in Waimanalo. Bellows includes scenic beaches, lush forest terrain and one of the most technologically advanced training areas in the U.S. Marine Corps.
To keep training flowing and to share its capabilities, the MCBH Training Support Center sponsored a tour of MCTAB for chiefs and officers in charge of operations and training for their respective commands, Sept. 6, 2018. With the battlefield continuously changing, so must the ways U.S. Marines train and fight.
“Bellows is a large expansion of land encompassing various types of combat scenario possibilities,” said Anthony Torche, the assistant site manager at the Infantry Immersion Trainer (IMT) located on MCTAB. “We assist units and commanders with providing the tools to sharpen their procedures and training.”
Within MCTAB, there are three urban facilities with convoy routes, beaches to conduct amphibious exercises, tropical forests to patrol on and landing zones for air field operations.
Gunnery Sgt. Donny Hill, the operations chief for Marine Aircraft Group 24, attended the tour with his peers and saw the training for the first time.
“The visit to MCTAB opened my eyes to the capabilities that are offered,” he said. “As the chain goes, the U.S. Marine Corps is the last one to receive new technology and equipment, so to have a state of the art facility like the one at MCTAB is critical to meeting the basic training standards and more.”
Hill was impressed by the realism of the sites, noting that the facility staff recreated a real-world environment encompassing things such smells, visuals and sounds.
“From the markets on the streets, to the classrooms at the school, the individual buildings’ rooms, the details were very similar to that of a foreign land,” Hill said. “Every effect put on the Marines ensures a more heightened sense to what they would do in a hostile engagement and how they would act around civilians.”
Hill said it was first time actually seeing the area and plans to conduct future additional training for the Marines in his unit.
“We help provide role player interactions with different groups of people from distinct nations in a combat environment where they can be hostile or friendly,” Torche said. “To add the realism to the training, battlefield effects are introduced into the scenario such as sound, smell and simulated wounds.”
He said when U.S. Service members enter the facilities, they encounter overhead speakers playing loud explosions from rocket propelled grenades, improvised explosive devices and gunfire. To get as close to combat as possible, the IMT sets various smells across the area and has make-up artists to make realistic wounds.
“Bellows is a universal training ground that’s open to all services and we highly encourage commanders to come observe others through our advanced observation center,” Torche said. “Throughout the training area we have dozens of cameras recording in real time to assist unit leaders during their after action reports. As long as there is a clear communication between what the unit wants to do, we’ll make it happen and they’ll leave here wanting to come back.”
| Date Taken: | 09.06.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 09.10.2018 18:15 |
| Story ID: | 291915 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS TRAINING AREA BELLOWS, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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