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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – U.S. Marines with
Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 15th
Marine Expeditionary Unit, participated in a raid-leaders course
here Oct. 8, 2014.
Marines with BLT 3/1 are the 15th MEU's
ground combat element and will deploy aboard the USS Essex
Amphibious Ready Group in 2015.
The raid-leaders course is intended to teach
the leaders of 3/1, tactics and fundamentals to take back to their
units. The course teaches basic shooting, breaching, raids, medical
classes and military operations in urban terrain.
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U.S. Marine Sgt. James Brooks conducts malfunction drills during a raid-leaders course aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., Oct. 8, 2014. Brooks, 24, from Cincinnati, Ohio, is an anti-tank missileman with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. Marines with 3/1 are the Battalion Landing Team with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. (U.S. Marine photo by Cpl. Steve H. Lopez)
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“It's really meant to be a train-the-trainer
environment,” said Sgt. Jason St. John, 34, the class
commander with weapons company, 3/1. “Once our raid packages
begin later on in our workup for the MEU, we can be out
there as subject-matter experts for the Marines going
through these packages with us.”
This package is
helping the Marines improve their basic shooting skills and
break bad habits they may have developed in the past. It
puts them into a combat mindset to prepare for the upcoming
deployment with the MEU.
“This is better preparing the squad
leaders and team leaders for [training] the Marines in their
unit and battalion,” said Cpl. Justin Jobin, 24, a scout
squad leader with 2nd platoon, 1st Light-Armored
Reconnaissance Battalion. “It gets their combat mindset
perfect and gets them to be more accurate than we have been
in the past years.”
During the shooting portion of
the course, the Marines practiced close-quarters combat
drills and stoppage and malfunction drills. One of the
drills required the Marines to fix malfunctions while
blind-folded.
“Essentially, one Marine is going [to
the firing line] and there are four weapons in various
stages of malfunction,” said St. John. “While blind-folded,
the Marine has to work his way through each malfunction,
clear it, and get each weapon to fire.”
The purpose
of this drill is to ensure that the Marines are able to fix
malfunctions without physically having to look down at the
weapon. This way they can keep their eyes up and focused on
the fight.
Improving proficiency in individual skills
reinforces the MEU's ability to conduct amphibious
operations, crisis response, and limited contingency
operations.
“Inside the MEU, there's going to be
different elements broken up in different ships,” St. John
said. “Whatever challenge or mission that comes underway,
there's going to be someone on deck with some type of
raid-leaders' experience [and] he'll be able to give to that
element on the ground.”
The Marines going through
this course will be better prepared for the missions coming
their way.
“These guys are working really hard,” St.
John said. “By the time we're on ship, we'll be ready to go
out and be put into any type of mission. This group is going
to be dedicated, dynamic and [be able to] go into any
situation that presents itself.”
By U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Emmanuel Ramos
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
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