MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- A group of role players acting as terrorists, and brandishing rifles practice attack formations and patrol techniques.
Unbeknownst to them, in a seemingly abandoned building just a few blocks away, a small team of Marines, enshrouded in manufactured shadows, watch, photograph, and record every detail of them and their actions.
This was one of many scenarios presented to Marines during the culmination patrol of a three-week long special reconnaissance training module at Combat Town and the Military Operations in Urban Terrain facility, June 21-24.
This training is just one part of the seven-month long U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, Individual Training Course. ITC is designed to prepare Marines to conduct special operations missions in support of the overseas contingency operations. Marines attend the course after they successfully complete the Assessment and Selection process.
During exercise the Marines conducted a reconnaissance patrol to a location where they spent four days operating from an observation post. There, the teams collected information to develop reports on role players during numerous scenarios ranging from terrorist activities to normal day-to-day activities.
“It takes a lot of patience,” said one sergeant taking part in the course. “You have to know what you’re doing so you can paint the big picture for the guys in the rear.”
The exercise tested Marines ability to apply skill sets learned earlier in the course to special reconnaissance operations. Those skills include mission planning, communications, photography, computer use, collecting detailed information for reports, all while maintaining security, and light and noise discipline, according to Staff Sgt. Seth Carr, an instructor for ITC.
“They learn the overall fundamentals during patrolling and report collecting early on in ITC,” Carr said. “They apply those fundamentals through the more advanced training packages.
“Fundamentally, they become more situationally aware because they understand how important it is to not get compromised and how important it is to report accurate information so they can build package information for follow-on missions,” he added.
The instructors evaluated the Marines’ ability to collect detailed information on an enemy force while simultaneously keeping their presence unknown to the surrounding area.
“The role players each have a site commander and he’s in charge of making sure the Marines have something to look at,” Carr said. “That way there is a schedule for them to report on and we know what they are doing.”
The instructors said the scenarios contained specific details for the Marines to observe and record. The Marines were evaluated based on their ability to report those details.
Ultimately, the course developed the Marines’ abilities by placing these future operators in a scenario similar to what they would experience in an actual special reconnaissance operation.
“There are guys here, including myself, who before this course had zero experience in special reconnaissance,” the sergeant said. “Now before we go down range we will know exactly what to do and what we can do.”