POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA, Hawaii -- Marines with 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, headquarters battery, operations platoon, fire-direction control section strolled down a strip of lava rock. These “Inglorious Warriors” were reacting to improvised explosive devices on Saturday when suddenly...
“Taco Bell!” Lance Cpl. Romeo D. Templeton yelled the indicator for detecting an IED.
Boom! Two Marines get injured. Immediately, the squad reacted to the training IED at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island April 11. They needed to neutralize the enemy to safely reach the casualties. They got to them a few moments later, stopped the bleeding and began moving them to safety by fireman carry.
With casualty evacuation on the way and the area secure, the Inglorious Warriors did almost everything right to prevent further loss and correctly react to the simulated IED attack.
This was just one of the scenarios the Marines faced while on the IED trails, serving a small taste of what a real attack may be like in Afghanistan.
Once the exercise concluded, Staff Sgt. Geoffrey Zamjahn, platoon sergeant and operations chief, stressed the importance of IED training.
“So how did we like that training gents?” he said.
The squad members resounded with multiple “yuts,” “kills” and “good to go's."
“There’s an old saying that goes, ‘nobody really cares about training until they feel the weight of that first body bag,’” Zamjahn said. “What are you going to do when you see your buddy with a lacerated stomach, bleeding out with rounds coming down range?”
“You can never be prepared for something like that, but you can train enough to get into the mindset, so that you know what actions to take when it does happen. That’s why training like this is important and needs to be taken seriously.”
With a deployment slated for the second quarter of 2011, the squad took their training in stride.
“It’s a good starting point and opportunity for the section to see how important it is for us to be out there,” said Cpl. Blake E. Harley, battalion training noncommissioned officer and Arlee, Mont. native. “To get our heads spinning, [practicing] those basic rifleman skills and [getting] in a combat mindset is crucial.”
“This training is among those I’ve taken most importantly since I’ve been in the Marine Corps, especially since becoming a noncommissioned officer [since last deployment] and being responsible for the welfare of Marines.”
“We don’t know everything that’s going to happen or all the right answers but getting out there and repeating it gets us closer to figuring it all out.”
The FDCS is far from done as they’re scheduled to train at PTA until May 9. Some of the training includes table three, night convoy operations and battery and battalion phases of artillery.