March 11, 2010 - 5:26 PM
by: Rick Leventhal
After pounding targets in the California desert Wednesday until almost midnight, Marines with the Marines' 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion spent Thursday morning cleaning and reloading before heading north deeper into the Air Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms. By midday the massive 155mm Howitzer cannons were firing again, softening targets for three-companies-worth of tanks and LAV-25s to finish off.
Air support came in the form of Cobra Attack Helicopter gunships, raining missiles, cannon fire and TOW rockets on the desert floor while fixed wings dropped real 500-pound bombs on burned-out hulks of old tanks, vehicles and other designated targets.
"Pretty successful" is how the battalion commander summed up the overnight assault, admitting there were some timing issues with artillery that needed to be addressed.
Lt. Col. Scott Leonard seemed more pleased after the daytime ops, saying his Marines made great time and reached all their objectives, navigating remote sections of rugged terrain for the first time with maps and GPS.
Sunday they'll move to a Forward Operating Base at 29 Palms and begin integrating with hundreds of Afghani actors living in a mock-up of a village nearby, learning how to interact with locals while searching for potential threats from insurgents within the community.
The commander says his men take the training very seriously, knowing full well when they get to Afghanistan, the targets and dangers will be real.
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