MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — -- Eastern Afghanistan was the home of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment’s debut in the War on Terror. Thursday — the first training day in the Enhanced Mojave Viper Exercise here — America’s Battalion began its final step in returning to help grow the governance and bring stability to the region.
The exercise is the final pre-deployment training package the battalion will conduct before returning to Afghanistan for the first time in more than five years.
The battalion has kept busy since their initial deployment to Afghanistan, following up with three more to Iraq. 3/3 just recently returned from their most recent deployment a little more than four months ago.
Since then they’ve had to work through a brief, but very intense workup. Lt. Col. Jeffrey C. Holt, the commanding officer has made note of the quick turnaround and has
set tough, but he believes achievable expectations of 3/3 while here.
“I would like to get a 75 percent rating in the [mission essential task lists] that are assessed in Mojave Viper,” the Dallas native said. “That’s tough to do. It’s a very challenging assessment … but I think we can do it, because we’re a good battalion on the verge of greatness.”
To meet the goal, each Marine and sailor will have to contribute and America’s Battalion will rely on the leadership of its noncommissioned officers, NCOs like Cpl. Mitchell T. Brown.
Brown is the 3rd Squad leader of Kilo Company. The 21-year-old has been with America’s Battalion for nearly his entire Marine Corps career, which began four years ago. Brown had done a couple deployments with 3/3 and was ready to move on, wanted to try his hand at recruiting.
But Brown noticed something, a lot of the Marines he’d fought alongside on those deployments — they were getting out or moving on too. Brown decided not to, he extended his orders to stay with America’s Battalion for one more deployment. He plans on going on recruiting duty after returning from Afghanistan.
“I enjoy 3/3. I think we’re a good battalion,” Brown said. “I figured I’d stay around and help pass on what I know. If everybody that had deployed before left, then you’d just have a junior battalion — a non-seasoned battalion going out there to the fight.”
Brown understands the difference experience can make to a battalion, it’s part of the reason he believes EMV is important. He knows the instructors here (experienced Marines called “coyotes,”) can ultimately pass on knowledge that will help him and his men in the deployment.
“This is the last stepping stone before we get to country,” Brown said. “Everything we do, this is where it counts. We’re here for Afghanistan. This is the last time we can actually train to be ready.
“I’m an open-minded person. Everyone knows how to skin a cat different,” the Atmore, Ala. native said — his accent growing thicker with the expression. “The coyotes are a big help. They’re strict and tough, but they help. We do it our way, and they tell us a different way. Instead of blowing them off and keeping it our way, we’ll use ours and theirs to make the best of it.”
Brown hopes to lead his Marines in a successful deployment, which hopefully won’t be difficult with eager junior Marines like Pfc. Brian S. Pearce.
Pearce joined the Corps a little later in life. The 24-year-old said his dad had a lot to do with it, he was a Marine. But just as much as his father’s service, Pearce’s decisions — poor decisions — younger in life led him here. He was in and out of trouble and looking for guidance. He believes he’s found it in the Marine Corps.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Pearce said he didn’t find acceptance outside of his own neighborhood. The camaraderie in the Marine Corps amazes him.
“You’re doing stuff that you never learned before and you’re doing it with a group of people that you’ve never known before and for some reason you all click. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. You all click together and you get the job done.
“It’s like your football team but a lot more badass,” he said.
Of course it’s a little more complex than a football team. Instead of a gridiron it’s a battlefield. Pearce understands this, and although he said he’s, “as nervous as anyone else,” he’s eager to prove himself.
“I’m excited about deploying,” the Kilo Company squad automatic weapon gunner said. “A lot of the team leaders have already been deployed and I feel confident in what they’re going to teach me and I’ll get the job done.”
But in order to get the job done in Afghanistan, 3/3 must first get the job done here. The first training day is over, and soon, the last will be too. Then the battalion will have its first day in the Afghanistan deployment, although the commanding officer isn’t looking at it as a first day. He isn’t even looking at it as the first month. Holt refers to it as “Month 13.”
3/3 will be picking up their deployment in the region 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment and 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment have occupied for a year. He praises what the hard work of those battalions, as well as the British, has done for the region. He’s especially impressed by the showcase Nawa has become for what good security can do for the people of Afghanistan.
He wants his Marines to continue building on what’s been done there.
“Our role is to continue on the legacy of what the battalions have done,” Holt said. They’ve earned it there. We’re going to do counterinsurgency — we’ll just do it the 3/3 way.”