MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Marines and Sailors of Marine Special Operations Advisor Group, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, deploy in teams of approximately 11 to 14 and often find themselves in underdeveloped areas far from the facilities and services they may require in order to stay supplied or maintain their equipment. In these environments, they need a wide range of skills and knowledge to carry out their mission. One way MSOAG personnel prepare for these challenges is through the Field Expedient Repair course, the most recent conducted here May 2-6.
“The instructors teach them the ins and outs of generators, civilian cars and all-terrain vehicles,” said Cpl. Robert Sturgill, primary instructor and Motor Transport noncommissioned officer, MSOAG. “The students will become familiar with all the parts and how each part relates to the others.”
According to Sturgill, when the Marines and Sailors of MSOAG get to their assigned country, they will often get their vehicles through the American embassy or rent them on location before they move to their site of operation. One of the things the course is designed to teach is specifications of civilian vehicles so the most effective transportation for the mission can be chosen.
“In this course, we will familiarize them with the vehicles they will most likely encounter when they deploy,” said Sturgill.
The ultimate purpose of the course is to give future advisors the ability to make quick, temporary repairs to vehicles and generators, which can prove important in the environments MSOAG teams deploy to. It is part of a larger philosophy that MARSOC Marines and Sailors have to be brilliant at the basics and experts in their assigned tasks.
According to Sturgill, SOF Marines and Sailors train for worst-case scenarios, and these skills help them in situations where essential equipment is degraded or breaks. The advisor teams may not have an engineer or mechanic, so they must be able to maintain their own equipment.
The course is uniquely tailored to meet mission requirements of the advisor teams. Each period of classroom instruction is followed by a practical application. The students take apart and build front and rear axels, brakes and engines, as well as generator components. The instructors evaluate the students and build up their knowledge and skill until they are ready for the final exercise.
MSOAG’s Standards and Training section sponsors this course because it is essential that future advisors have this capability.
“Our teams deploy to remote and austere locations like Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia where the infrastructure of traditional units doesn’t exist,” said Capt. Dov Kawamoto, officer in charge, MSOAG S&T. “We give our Marines these skills to be self sufficient and operate effectively when they’re in country.”