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Show Michael choenfeld 1 u u t 2009 that. As Marine infantrymen, you always try to train for the unexpected. Even bef re that, we did some things, like CQB or close quarter battle training. We did mountain training and whatnot. So there were some qualifications. As we started doing training with 1st Marine Division, we really focused more on typical infantry tactics, doing large maneuver warfare. The general Marine level, your lower infantry echelons, I'm not sure if they really understood that, what we were doing. I think for the most part guys were like, why are we out here? We don't need to be out here, sort of thing. But there's a lot of coordination that has to go on at the officer level. Although the Marines might be very skillful with their shooting and their maneuvers, you've got to train your officer corps to make those decisions, too, and be able to maneuver. Really, that's what we transitioned into. We did some lower level training with the enlisted Marines, but then we'd have these big exercises where we'd go out for lengthy periods of time. We also had the opportunity to get a lot of our NCOs through some schools like infantry platoon sergeants course, and squad leaders course, so we were able to build up that core. Looking back now and thinking about going into combat, I don't think anybody's really ready to go into combat, but I think you do your best based on the knowledge you have. Really, Desert Storm was not an extended combat, so even though, like my platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Ivers, had combat experience, it was a relatively short period of time. The officer corps, other than maybe a few in the lieutenant colonel, colonel ranks, maybe some of the generals from Vietnam, you really didn't have a lot of experience at the battalion commander level and below with combat experience. So you took what knowledge you learned from others, through sea(?) stories, as we call them, and try to apply that to your training and evaluate, hey, are we doing what we need 22 |
