SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii -- The Marines of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, spent last week performing training exercises at the Military Operations in Urban Terrain area aboard Schofield Barracks.For three full days, the Marines participated in instructional training movements such as patrolling through the MOUT town, clearing buildings, throwing grenades, aggressing with diminution rounds, conducting land navigation and night operations, and other urban warfare exercises.A primary focus was familiarizing the newer Marines with the basics of MOUT training and working with the more experienced Marines.“I was involved in the attack on Fallujah,” said Lance Cpl. Adam R. Morrison, squad leader, 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1/3. “The biggest advantage in that combat environment was working together.”Morrison, a Tacoma, Wash. native, said one of the reasons the MOUT training is the first field exercise the Marines are participating in since they returned from deployment to Iraq is that the skills taught throughout the evolution have a lot to do with working as a team and having to depend on each other in order for the training to be successful. “Although a lot of the Marines in the company are right out of school (School of Infantry),” said Morrison, “they have jumped right into the training and have been more than eager and motivated to learn as much as they can.”According to Pfc. Mike G. Panarello, rifleman, 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1/3, the knowledge and experiences he gained during one week in the field was more beneficial to him than all the knowledge he gained in SOI.“It is different training with the Marines that you are actually in a unit with,” he explained. “Everyone looks out for each other, and the more everyone knows, the better you work together as a team. If we have questions about anything, the senior Marines are more than willing to answer our questions. The more we know, the better we will work as a team in the future, so it is a beneficial system for everyone.”The Marines said they experienced very little downtime during the rainy three-day and three-night evolution. “The weather has been wet,” said Pfc. Josh G. Marshall, point man, 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1/3, “but we are still out here training. Since I arrived, I’ve only had a couple days to adjust before I came out to the field. I like it that way, though — because I don’t like downtime. I came here to train for Afghanistan and that’s what we’re doing.”Marshall and Panarello agree that the senior Marines possess strong leadership qualities and added the fact that when the time comes for their unit to deploy to Afghanistan, they think they will be more than prepared for any challenge that awaits them.“Of course everyone is nervous,” said the Houston, Texas native, “but that is why we are out getting ourselves prepared now. All of the newer guys look up to the senior Marines and try to take in as much knowledge as we can, because they have been to combat and that is where we are headed.”