CAMP FUJI, Japan — After nearly two months of preparation and planning for a live-fire exercise, Marines at Camp Fuji were ready to send some rounds downrange.

However, Mother Nature had a surprise for them, and several inches of snow fell on the camp.

“When we came out here last week, everything was green, and the snow had melted,” said Sgt. Walter Anderson, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the exercise. He wasn’t expecting another snowfall.

But the Marines held their live-fire exercise anyway.

“The weather is a good thing,” said Capt. Jonathan Parker, an operations officer who helped conduct the training. “It takes them out of their comfort zone.”

“It definitely prepares you both physically and mentally,” Lance Cpl. Malik S. King said. “Nobody else would be out here doing this but the Marines.”

Because they normally focus on supporting other units that come to Camp Fuji to train, members of the Combined Arms Training Center don’t get many opportunities to hone their own combat skills, Anderson said.

The exercise focused on showing junior Marines how to lead, maneuver and attack targets as fire teams, he said.

For some of the troops, including Lance Cpl. Rachelle Fernandez, it was their first infantry workout since graduating from Marine Combat Training, a course for Marines not in combat-arms specialties.

“At first, I was a little nervous about live-fire training in the snow,” said Fernandez, a motor transport operator. “But once you’re rushing your targets, you’re so focused you don’t even feel the cold. It’s almost like muscle memory.”

The event was a valuable learning experience for the NCOs as well, Anderson said.

It was the first time they had organized such an event for their own Marines.

“Everything you see here was set up by four NCOs,” Parker said.

Anderson said he hopes the exercise sets a positive example for the junior Marines.

“It was a good refresher for us, a good reminder of our training,” King said. “I’m now waiting to get my chance to lead.”