 - continued - |
||||
Live Fire and Field Operations At Fort Magsaysay’s Fernandez Hill, the U.S. Marines took full advantage of the unique training environment, honing their skills through a variety of live-fire exercises and field operations. "Virtually everything about this area is new to our Marines, and it’s important that we experience these different scenarios in order to perfect our jobs," said USMC Capt. David Mayhan. The goal of this part of the exercise was to execute squad movement while firing on multiple targets. "The great thing about this is that we got to see how much we’ve progressed in our training," observed USMC Cpl. Joshua Cunningham. "We’ve never faced this type of terrain before, so we had to adapt as we went along."
After sweeping the hillsides and overwhelming all the simulated enemy positions with an onslaught of M16A2, M203, and Squad Automatic Weapon fire, a cease-fire smoke grenade was thrown, signaling the end of the daylight exercise. The U.S. Marines, however, weren’t finished yet, according to Capt. Mayhan. "We specialize in night attack," he explained. "We use Night Vision Goggles instead of illumination rounds to gain the biggest advantage over the enemy. We’re able to fire on [the enemy] without giving away our position." As the outline of the mountainside filled with the light glow of the rising moon, the Marines disappeared into the landscape, tackling the terrain and multiple objectives once more. Later, the U.S. Marines shared stories and made friends with their Philippine Marine counterparts. "The Philippine Marines have been incredible. They train with us during their down time, because they want to, and that says a lot about them," noted USMC Sgt. Paul Crawford. |
||||
|
