MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER, TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -- The 3rd Marine Regiment has been performing Integrated Training Exercise operations at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.
This is the first time 3rd Marines has been to the Combat Center for this type of exercise and the fourth regiment to conduct an ITX. Their mission is to control the east and west corridors of the training area and the personnel within them. The regiment has been acting as the regimental combat team for 19 units currently training aboard the combat center.
“The only thing better than coming out with one of your own battalions, my (amphibious assault vehicle) platoon and my direct support artillery battalion,” said Col. Tim Winand, commanding officer, 3rd Marine Regiment and officer in charge. “I have a pretty big slice of 3rd Marines proper out here. I also have elements of those units that, should we go to war, will be supporting me directly.”
Major Jeff Tennen, operations officer, 3rd Marine Regiment, said even though the units come from all over the world and are accustomed to different training environments, being a part of 3rd Marine Division brings them all together.
“There is a natural bond between all of us being 3rd Marine Division units and it’s on display right now,” Tennen said. “We already have a relationship with the Hawaii units, but it isn’t really that much harder to pull in the Japan units that are part of 3rd Marine Division to be a part of it. “
The command operations center is currently located at Camp Wilson, but as units move into the training area, a forward command post will be sent into the field to become the main link of communication between the regiment and the battalions training.
Throughout the course of the month-long ITX exercise, the regiment will move their forward COC multiple times to better equip and support units in the field as they continue their operations.
“I’ve had the ability to watch my COC,” Winand explained. “I’ve had the chance to provide a commander’s intent and watch my staff fight through friction. The training value of something like that is immeasurable, and that’s where we do the most growing. Watching small unit leaders in difficult situations figure out how to get the fire power of their squads and platoons on objective. I’ve been able to watch three company commanders from infantry battalions try to do the same thing, and now we are in the phase of the exercise where I can watch my staff plan with other elements of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, brief the plan, and come out here and execute the plan.”
The regimental headquarters training in Twentynine Palms gives the staff a different perspective than their home base in Hawaii could offer. Multiple retransmitting sites had to be set up around the combat center training areas in order for units to have radio communication with the COC over the desert’s mountainous terrain.
“What Twentynine Palms offers us is the ability to train, practice and execute a set of missions in an environment that we can’t truly get in Hawaii,” Tennen continued. “To come out to this training center and employ an infantry battalion, artillery battalion and all the assorted attachments in this desert environment, (with) the amount of space offered to us and the lack of restrictions on live fire, we really get to see what our abilities are as a regimental headquarters.”
Logistically, creating the COC was difficult. Being a Hawaii unit, the regiment had to ship most of their gear over the Pacific, using military and commercial shipping as well as air freight.
“It’s been really good for the staff to work through all of these problems,” said Maj. Robert Jones, 3rd Marines logistics officer.
“Without problems, we don’t know where we have deficiencies and where things need to be tightened up a bit. It helps the staff as a whole when we have challenges.”
Third Marine Regiment will finish training at the combat center toward the end of September. The staff will take their experiences with ITX and incorporate them into their regimental standard operating procedures.
“It’s testing all of our combat standard operating procedures and tactical SOPs,” said Master Gunnery Sgt. Troy Buss, regimental operations chief. “When we get back we will be able to rewrite new SOPs off of everything we learned from here. It just proves that we are ready to deploy as a special MAGTF, whatever our assignment is.”