CAMP SCHWAB, Okinawa, Japan -- April 12-16, the last training week before the Landing Force, participating in Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training 2010, will start its embarkation on ship and set sail to their first CARAT exercise.
Since early March, the LF has trained as an infantry unit, completed jungle warfare training and planned exercises with four different countries in preparation of its participation in CARAT-2010. Before they assembled here, the LF had never worked together as a unit. Now, they are planning a multi national exercise while conducting training as a unit for the first time.
“We have pulled from over 33 different sites across the globe,” said 1st Lt. Christopher Troken, operations officer, Command Element, LF CARAT-2010. “From Japan to Hawaii, to everywhere in the continental United States. It’s fantastic to finally be together as a unit. Putting faces to names and personalities to faces – its great to finally be able to work in the same office.”
The main unit providing Marines for the LF is 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines Regiment, a United States Marine Corps Reserve unit based out of Chicago. The force also includes Marines from Marine Forces Pacific, Marine Forces Reserve, 4th Assault Amphibious Battalion and 4th Combat Engineer Battalion.
Initial planning started in Sept. of 2009 and has continued since with planning conferences with participating countries. The LF is scheduled to conduct training with Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and South Korea. In each country, exercises are tailored to the nationals size and capabilities and include amphibious assault operations, urban warfare, jungle warfare and small unit training operations. This year, the LF’s visit to Cambodia will be one of only two times that the Marine Corps has ever trained with their armed forces.
“It’s a huge opportunity for the Marines participating,” said Maj. Charles Hawthorne, landing force commander, LF CARAT-2010. “Building relationships with the countries we are going to is the primary mission. It’s awesome to be ale to sit down with someone from a foreign force and learn from them and teach them. Thats the best way to build relationships.”
This exercise is a theater security operation in the Southeast Asian Pacific and helps maintain the relationships with Southeast Asian countries. It helps strengthen skills at every level and allows the participating forces to have a better understanding of how each other completes their mission. This is necessary if they were ever to work together in a real world scenario.
With the embark date drawing near, the Marines of the LF continue to train and prepare themselves for their upcoming bi-lateral exercise. This week, Company A, LF CARAT-2010 will conduct a final training exercise which includes AAV integration, Military Operation in Urban Environment (MOUT) and combat town exercises.
The LF builds unit camaraderie with each finished training exercise and will continue to cohere as a unit through out their participation in the CARAT-2010 exercise.
“As Marines we’re going to these different countries to represent the Marine Corps and America and to make and build relationships,” Hawthorne said. “There is so much of a cultural aspect with this exercise and we have to be aware of that when we go and train with them. We will show them the kind of professionals we are and learn from them – because they are professionals.”