3/6 Marines conduct non-combatant evacuation training

News: 3/6 Marines conduct non-combatant evacuation training

2nd Marine Division

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Story by Sgt. Steve Cushman Subscribe To This Journalist

Sgt. Steve Cushman

Private First Class Tamikao Johnson provides security at the landing zone during a non-combatant evacuation operation training exercise Oct. 19. Johnson is a rifleman with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division and a Hazlehurst, Ga., native. 3/6 is in Yuma supporting the Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course taught by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron-1 located at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.

YUMA PROVING GROUNDS, YUMA, ARIZ. – A platoon of infantry Marines wait anxiously in a hangar aboard Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. Suddenly a group of pilots rush past, and begin firing up the engines on their CH-‐53E Super Stallion helicopters. The infantrymen break up into groups, load into the helicopters and are flown to a “hostile” landing zone within the city of Yuma, Oct. 19.

The mission for this scenario is to evacuate U.S. civilians and non-‐combatants from a “hostile” environment. Working with role-‐players acting as non-‐combatants, Marines from Combat Logistics Battalion-‐13 and 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion and a representative from the U.S. State Department, the Marines of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division secured the landing zone and began organizing the non-‐combatants.

“The CLB element was doing the actual processing and identifying of American citizens and NGO personnel that were deemed to be evacuated,” said SSgt Owen Wood, a platoon sergeant with Lima Company, 3/6 and an Annapolis, Md., native. ”We were securing the perimeter and doing an entry control point to make sure no bad guys got in.”

Even when the script for the training event called for some of the role-‐players to panic or when the Marines came under fire from an imaginary enemy, the Marines relied on the skills and experiences they have gained in training and executed their assigned missions.

“We got off the bird and immediately pushed out and set up a hasty 360,” said Lance Cpl. Bobby Stokes, a Lima Company Fire Team Leader and Carthage, Tenn., native.

“Then we pushed out to the permanent security points and set up our designated marksman positions. My guys did great, they reported up everything they saw (real or scripted). The communication was great.”

“It was pretty hectic at first, but once we were able to push out and establish those security points everything worked pretty well,” said Sgt. Martin Pallares, a Lima Co., squad Leader, from Houston.

In light of recent events where American citizens and non-‐governmental organizations have been working in increasingly dangerous places around the world, NEO training is increasing in relevance.

“The Marines did well,” said Wood, “especially since most of them didn’t even know what a non-combatant evacuation operation really was, before yesterday. They did well with a quick spin-‐up on training and applying the basic skills of an infantryman, which made the whole operation go pretty smoothly.

He added with a smile, “It was successful without taking any casualties.”