MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- Nine high-level leaders and key personnel from 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, along with one Marine from 3rd Marine Regiment (REIN), recently returned to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, after an 11-day tour of Afghanistan. Their whirlwind tour was designed to give the command a first-hand view of what the battalion can expect during their upcoming deployment to that country in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.The Marines, who traveled straight to Afghanistan at the conclusion of 1/3’s six-week predeployment training exercise in California, finally got back on Hawaiian soil in time to take part in the Marine Corps’ 230th Birthday Ball ceremony, Nov. 10, in Honolulu and to celebrate the occasion with their fellow Lava Dogs.But on Monday, it was back to business as 1/3 completed an after-action report and conducted a briefing on their trip to Afghanistan.“The purpose of the site survey we conducted was to get a chance to go over there and see the ground, to meet with 2/3 (2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment), and to get the opportunity to take a look at how they are conducting operations,” said 1/3 Commanding Officer Lt. Col. James Bierman, a Virginia native. “The primary purpose of the trip was to coordinate with 2/3 on how to conduct the actual relief and the transfer of battle space.”According to 1/3’s sergeant major, Sgt. Maj. Michael Berg, the site survey conducted during the visit was invaluable.“To be able to get our feet on the ground in Afghanistan and be able to visit each FOB (forward operating base) that we’ll be working out of was very important,” said the Plymouth, N.H. native. “We’re going to be doing a ‘relief in place’ of one of our brother battalions, so we wanted to get out there and take a look at what areas of responsibility they’ve got out there and what we’ll be taking over.“Getting to talk to the Marines out there, taking digital photos and bringing all that information back here where we can sit down with the battalion and put on a good brief and give them a first-hand report, like, ‘Hey, this is where you’re going to be living, these are the areas where you’re going to be working out of, and these are the mountain ranges we’re going to be patrolling,’ is extremely beneficial.”Company Commander Capt. Eric Thompson, Weapons Company, 1/3, said he couldn’t agree more.“It was a very enlightening experience,” said the San Diego native. “It was my first time in country. The mood and climate I sensed was mostly positive towards Americans and the Marines. The Afghan people would smile and wave to us as we went by, and the towns we saw all seemed favorable to our presence.“For the battalion as a whole, we got to see how we’re conducting interoperability with the U.S. Army, to see the communications links, and to go over the approval process to get missions or aircraft support approved. I was also able to access how fire is being delivered by artillery, aircraft and mortars as well as to access how non-kinetic forces, meaning information operations, are being dealt with in Afghanistan right now.”Thompson also said that the site survey was particularly important to him from a company commander perspective.“For me, the most important thing to take away from the trip was to be able to access the roads and the absolute heinous driving conditions over there that we’re going to be dealing with,” remarked Thompson. “Also, since we will be largely foot mobile, it was important to see the terrain first hand and to understand how brutal it actually is over there and how difficult it can be to close with and destroy the enemy in those conditions.”According to Bierman, the situation is made even more difficult due to the diversity of the bad guys.“It’s not just the ACM (Anti-Coalition Militia) that we’re having to deal with,” commented Bierman. “There’s a lot of criminal activity out there, valley to valley, and the enemy situation is diverse. Still, one of the key things I want to emphasize is that we are winning this war. We saw with our own eyes the continued positive development of the Afghan Army and Afghan police. The attitude of the Afghan people towards us seems very positive.”For his part, Master Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Craig, 1/3 operations chief, said the war in Afghanistan is unlike anything most of the Marines have ever experienced before.“It’s tricky in Afghanistan,” said the Buffalo, N.Y. native. “You might go weeks with nothing and all of a sudden, ‘BOOM!’ We have got to start sharp and never be complacent. No matter how smooth a patrol might seem, we need to be on alert at all times, because attacks can happen in an instant. We will be on top of our ‘A’ game, I can promise you that.”Despite the dangers inherent in combat, Craig said the Marines are making a positive difference in the lives of the Afghan people.“I spoke with many Afghans during the trip, and what struck me most is how similar they are to us,” reflected Craig. “They just want to be able to take care of their families, to provide for their children, and to make a better life for themselves. They want to see their kids get an education and go on to do better things, just like any parent in the U.S. But, because of what they’d been through under the last regime, all of that was impossible for them. It was all about just surviving. Now, because of our presence, hope is starting to come back to these people.”