MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Marines stationed here participated in various team-based maneuvers Tuesday at the rifle range here to help familiarize themselves with their weapons and each other.
Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment finished the rifle range last week, and started working on shorter distances, between seven and 50 meters, Monday and Tuesday. The company also held a platoon competition Tuesday, and to make things more interesting the winning platoon was exempt from police calling the range grounds for the rest of the week.
"It's good cause they're changing up the normal training routine," said Cpl. Jimmy Hawkins, squad leader, Charlie Company, 1/3. "We are still training, but it's fun at the same time. It helps keep morale up, and it helps keep us motivated."
Charlie Company received new Marines from the Schools of Infantry, and the new Marines received their first exercises in the Fleet.
"We want to get our [new Marines] up to speed and help familiarize them with exercises like this one to help them fit in with the older Marines," said 1st Lt. Tim Kronjaeger, commander, Weapons Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3. "To help with this, while one platoon is up front shooting in the competition, we have some of our senior Marines by the bleachers giving classes to the younger Marines."
The classes ranged from combat life saving, crew served weapons and gear classes, to Arabic language classes.
Several of the Marines learned to speak Arabic extremely well when they were over in Iraq, Kronjaeger said. The older Marines have plenty of knowledge, but some of them are getting out of the Corps.
Most of the senior Marines like to do the classes because they’re able to pass on their knowledge to a younger generation.
As the competition continued through the afternoon, the platoons raced to get the fastest time and the most points while applying the fundamentals they learned.
The Marines had to run about 50 meters before coming to the first pallet where they had to fire a controlled pair, two separate shots in two separate sight pictures. They then moved closer to another pallet and fired a hammered pair, two shots in a close interval, followed by a single shot to the target's head in a failure-to-stop drill, within a one minute time limit.
"We came up with the one minute time limit from the [executive officer] and the [company gunnery sergeant] who ran the course first," Kronjaeger said. "Including reloading in the middle, they did it in 45 seconds."
The training is beneficial for new Marines, and gave older Marines a chance to get back into the swing of things.
"Monday was really the first day of training with the new Marines, and it was awesome," Hawkins said. "They were really motivated to do the training, and it gave the older Marines a chance to build back some muscle memory."
Throughout the training, Marines, old and young alike, learned how each other reacted and how to come together as platoons.
"This is the first [view] we got of the new Marines, and they still have to settle in their places,” Hawkins said. “Our training moves a lot faster than other units, but with the training, they will settle in."
Marines echoed his satisfaction as the last platoon tried their hand on the course, while the others prepared for the night portion of their training.
"The competition was awesome," said Lance Cpl. Jesus Torres, team leader, 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3.
"It gave the new Marines a chance to practice shooting with the weapons,” he added. “The competition also brought motivation to the table and worked the platoons as a whole."