Back in familiar territory, Marines hone access skills at Pendleton training
course
By Carlos Bongioanni,
Stars and Stripes
Carlos Bongioanni / Stars and Stripes
Camp Pendleton Marines demonstrate a technique for gaining entrance to a multi-storied
building. One Marine, gripping the end of a long pole that three others support, runs up a
wall to enter through a window. |
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Their helicopter hovering above a
two-story building, five Marines slid down a rope to the rooftop below.
Their mission: Retrieve a hostage who terrorists held captive inside
the building.
Though it was a simulated rescue, the exercise — free rappelling
from a helicopter — reflected tactical warfare the U.S. military could use in
Afghanistan.
“This is the type of warfare we’re increasingly fighting
now,” said Sgt. Thomas Quinn, Camp Pendleton’s Helicopter Rope Suspension
Training course chief instructor.
Pendleton’s 1st Marine Division Schools program offers the
course at its Military Operations in Urban Terrain village. The fake village has about 30
empty buildings where Marines practice urban combat skills.
“Going into these buildings here could represent the destroyed
buildings Marines might see in Afghanistan,” said Quinn. “Marines are always
aware that their skills may be needed at any time.”
Fast-roping from helicopters allows troops to quickly enter and exit
areas where helicopters cannot land. The tactic is useful not only for hostage-rescue
efforts, but also for conducting raids, destroying objectives and gathering intelligence.
The hit-and-run technique is very different from traditional fighting
in which opposing forces slug it out on the battlefield, said Quinn.
It’s the type of warfare President Bush said would be necessary
to win the war against terrorism.
It’s also the type of engagement that saves lives and cuts down
on “collateral damage,” Quinn said.
During the exercise, Marines armed with M-16s trained as though they
were taking fire from “aggressors.”
After hitting the narrow rooftop, they quickly entered the building
to clear the enemy and retrieve the hostage. Bringing the hostage to the roof, they took
strategic positions and waited for the helicopter’s return.
The five Marines and the rescued hostage attached themselves to a
rope dangling from the helicopter that carried them to safety.
In real-life rescues, Marines must execute the mission with absolute
precision and in as little time as possible.
U.S. military special forces conducting similar operations in
Afghanistan know very little about the area’s layout, Quinn said.
Despite the dangers and uncertainties involved in such missions,
Marines are generally “motivated and ready to go,” he said.
“Your training and muscle memory come into play. …
It’s definitely an adrenaline rush,” he said, referring to when one gets into
the “zone” and drops out of a helicopter.
Quinn preaches about successfully completing the mission, but he also
tells of the October 1993 Somalia “fiasco,” when Army Rangers dropped into the
capital, Mogadishu, to capture warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid.
When the Army Black Hawk helicopters came in, they caused rotor
downwash, creating a cloud of dirt, which caused a brown out and blinded the Rangers.
“They couldn’t see anything and became disoriented,”
Quinn said. And the time it took the Rangers to reorient themselves to their surroundings
gave their foes enough time to set up an ambush.
The Rangers lost the element of surprise. They lost their edge, Quinn
said.
And as a result, a 90-minute mission lasted 17 harrowing hours; 18
Rangers died and 84 were wounded.
The Marine Corps built the $10 million West Coast MOUT facility in
1993 and began using it a year later.
The helicopter fast-rope training and the urban combat training held
there “is a big deal now,” said Maj. Byron Harper, the director of
Pendleton’s Division Schools program.
Harper said the courses draw a cadre of select individuals from
various units who then take what they learn and pass it on to the rest of the troops.
The same day the helicopter fast-rope training occurred, 200 1st
Division Marines waited their turn to resume training at the MOUT village.
“This is the highlight of our Marine Corps training, by
far,” said Cpl. Chris Van Landingham. “It’s really intense, because you get
hit from all sides when you walk through town.”
The urban combat skills Marines learn at the village are much
different from the training they receive in other environments such as jungle warfare
training, said Sgt. Chad Blue.
“Out in the jungle it definitely, after a time, gets monotonous.
You do the same thing day in and day out.”
In the jungle, Marines could patrol for days without seeing the
enemy, but with the urban training, “you can’t go two feet without someone
shooting at you,” added Van Landingham.”
Both Marines said firing their weapons with blanks or paint rounds
while they conduct building-to-building combat is “an adrenaline rush that can’t
be matched.”
It’s why they joined the Marine Corps, they said. It brings the
kid out of them.
“Hopefully, we will not have to utilize this training in real
life,” said Van Landingham. “But we’re trained to do it. If we need to, we
will.”
Quinn noted that the young Marines he is training sense the gravity
of current events in Afghanistan and the war against terrorism.
“They sense that the training they’re receiving could turn
into something that will happen in reality,” he said.
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