www.camplejeuneglobe.com
Volume 75, Edition 4
Gl be The
Serving Camp Lejeune and surrounding areas since 1944
Habitat for Humanity: 2nd MLG Marines give back to the community| 6A
10th Marines
celebrate Saint Barbara’s Day | 4A Thursday, January 30, 2014
www.lejeune.marines.mil
Photo by Staff Sgt. Steve Cushman
Capt. David Kucirka, the intelligence officer for 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, leads a group of Marines during a hike at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif. To gain an expeditionary mindset, the Marines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines and Ragnarok Co., 2nd Marine Logistics Company, conducted a 10-day field exercise, which consisted of long-range day and night foot movement through extremely rugged terrain with drastic elevation changes and tested the Marines’ endurance.
Warlords attend Mountain Exercise Staff Sgt. Steve Cushman 2nd Marine Division
E
arly morning, near freezing temperatures and enormous mountains paint the landscape as Marines mill around their neatly staged packs ready for the day’s march. The order comes to “step-off ” and the Marines begin the hike, during which they will travel from just above 8,000 feet in elevation to approximately 11,000 feet within a distance of less than three miles. This was the first training event of Mountain Exercise for the Marines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division and consisted of a hike and training exercise without troops for the
battalion and company staff at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif., where the battalion is conducting the winter training package to gain experience in cold weather and mountainous terrain operations. The Warlords of 2nd Bn., 2nd Marines, were augmented by detachments from 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment and were joined by Ragnarok Company, a composite unit sourced from 2nd Supply Battalion and other units within 2nd Marine Logistics Group. Air support was provided by the California Air National Guard, which allowed the Marines to train with each element of the Marine Air Ground Task Force.
“All of these units together, give the Marines a real sense for the MAGTF,” said Lt. Col. Joel Schmidt, the commanding officer for 2nd Bn., 2nd Marines. “The Marines are working on refining their squad through battalion level combat (standard operating procedures). The squads are working on their squad level core proficiency. Most importantly, the Marines are learning to have an expeditionary mindset.” To gain that expeditionary mindset the Marines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines and Ragnarok Co., conducted a 10-day field exercise, which consisted of long-range day and night foot movement through extremely rugged terrain with drastic elevation changes and tested the Marines’ endurance, said Schmidt.
According to the Ragnarok Co., commander, Maj. Alfredo T. Romero II, his Marines have been training in support of 2nd Bn., 2nd Marines. “We’ve been providing food, water, fuel and transportation,” said Romero. “Our Marines have been putting into practice (reception, staging, onward movement and integration), which is one of the missions the Marines of Ragnarok Co., will be doing to support 2nd Bn., 2nd Marines, during exercise Cold Response.” The Warlords and its attached units are undergoing the winter package at MCMWTC to prepare for the upcoming bilateral NATO training exercise Cold Response, which will take place in March of 2014 in Norway.
Breaking records: 2nd MLG Marine sets new standard at Machine Gunner Course Lance Cpl. Shawn Valosin 2nd Marine Logistics Group
Marines wishing to attain the machine gunner specialty must learn nomenclature on weapon systems as well as disassemble and assemble the systems over the course of a few weeks. Each week is dedicated to a specific weapon system. Marines going through the machine gunner course at the Battle Skills Training School, however, only get a day and a half to become proficient with each system. Out of all the Marines who have gone through the course, one managed to stand out above his peers, breaking disassembly and assembly records and obtaining perfect scores on written exams. Pfc. Jonny Jai Bostok, a landing support specialist with Transportation Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, said he volunteered to go through the course after seeing a Marine firing a M2 .50-caliber machine gun at the Combined Arms Exercise aboard Twentynine Palms, Calif. “I was in a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle and a Marine must have fired 1,000 rounds through the machine gun and I thought it was awesome,” said Bostok. “I knew I wanted to go through the course here so I can be a gunner on future convoys.” Instructors at the course are excited about the exemplary performance Bostok has displayed. “As a private first class he has never touched a .50-caliber machine gun, or any machine gun, and for him to come and break disassembly records in a day and a half, where in (Military Occu-
Photo by Lance Cpl. Shawn Valosin
A Marine with 2nd Marine Logistics Group fires an M2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun during a live-fire exercise portion of the Battle Skills Training School machine gunner course aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jan. 24. Marines going through the course attended daily classes about proper machine gun use and were tested on assembly and disassembly techniques, as well as firing the weapons at the end of the course. pational Specialty) school for machine guns we have a week per weapon systems is outstanding,” said Sgt. Jeffrey Gause, the head machine gun instructor at BSTS. Gause credits Bostok’s success to previous Marines who have attended the
course and brought the information and skills they learned back to their unit. “We’ve had Marines from CLB-2 come through previous courses and what (Pfc. Bostok’s performance) shows is the information is being passed down to the junior Marines, and that’s what
we want them to do after this course,” said Gause. “Whether it is taking the information from this course and going back to their shops, or going to the armory and taking out crew-served weapons and passing down information to other Marines.”