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SASR 2nd LAR Marines conduct training | 3A
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Honoring tHe fallen
photo by Sgt. Scott Achtemeier
Maj. gen. Mark A. Clark, commanding general of u.S. Marine Corps Forces Special operations Command, embraces the family of one of MARSoC’s fallen Marines, during ‘Honor the Fallen,’ a one-of-a-kind event, April 25, at the MARSoC headquarters.
MARSoC for Life, taking care of their own Ceremony recognizes families’ sacrifices, honors fallen CApt. bARRy MoRRiS MARsoc Public Affairs
u.s. marine corps forces special operations command marines and sailors are renowned for their ability to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. the fact that marsoc takes care of their own, in life and in death, is a major contributor to their audacity and mission accomplishment. With this in mind, marsoc, in conjunction with the marsoc foundation, marine corps
community services and raising raiders carried out numerous events to recognize and garner support for all marsoc marines, sailors, civilian marines as well as their families. the first event was ‘honor the fallen’, a one-of-a-kind ceremony at the marsoc headquarters to honor all marines, sailors and civilian marines lost at home and abroad since marsoc’s inception. “the unconquerable spirit, spiritus invictus,
words that mean something to many, words that mean everything to a few. today is about remembering and honoring those who embraced and lived those words with the utmost passion here at marsoc,” said maj. Gen. mark a. clark, commanding general of marsoc, during the ceremony. “honor the fallen is about honoring and reflecting upon the memory and life of all of our fallen marsoc personnel. all of whom made remarkable
contributions while serving our great nation, protecting our freedom and liberties,” said Kristin smith, the family readiness officer for marsoc headquarters. “We are remembering and honoring all of our fallen with the respect they so much deserve.” the intent of the ceremony was also to fortify the relationship between marsoc and the families of all of its fallen marines, sailors and civilian marines. “the individual sacrifices our marines, sailors
and civilian marines and their families have made is extremely important for marsoc to recognize. as equally important, is recognizing the sacrifices the families have made in supporting their marine or sailor over the course of their service to the navy and marine corps, and especially their coping with the loss of a loved one,” said the director of marsoc’s Preservation of the forces and family program. during the ceremony, a final roll call of the names
of 45 marines, sailors and civilians was called out, with no reply. a set of identification tags commemorating each individual was carried out by marines and sailors as the names of the fallen were read and the bell rang. marines and sailors paused, took a knee and gently hung the fallen’s identification tags on the honor the fallen memorial, and rendered a salute before departing. the ceremony concluded with the see MARSoC 4A
Marines, Spanish Army train infantry skills together CApt. dAvid dAvid
special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force crisis Response
marines with specialPurpose marine airGround task force crisis response and soldiers from the spanish army combined together for bilateral training april 28 through may 1 at cabo noval Barracks, asturias, spain. a platoon of marines from Kilo company, 3rd Battalion, 8th marine regiment – which is the ground combat element for sP-maGtf crisis response – spent four days training with a platoon from their spanish counterparts with the light
infantry Battalion. this training was planned to sustain both units’ infantry skills while also developing the relationships necessary for future engagements. the event began when the Gce marines inserted into a helicopter landing zone via mV-22B osprey. once on the ground, they consolidated with the spanish forces and proceeded to conduct a bilateral reinforcement of a simulated embassy compound. the training was designed to mirror one type of operation which sPmaGtf crisis response may be tasked with. they conduct regular training such as this to hone their capabilities in the event rapid response support is
needed to non-combatant evacuation operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel, theater security cooperation or other missions as directed. “this mission gave us the opportunity to practice many of the skills that we may need if we have to respond to a crisis in africa,” said 2nd lt. david Gaffney, Kilo co. platoon commander. “from inserting by osprey, to quickly reinforcing an embassy while working with host nation partners, this gave us a lot of practice.” training included patrolling, room-clearing, foreign weapons familiarization and martial arts
instruction. also, since sP-maGtf crisis response operates out of moron air Base, spain, this training provided the marines with a chance to integrate themselves with their spanish hosts. “it gave them a new outlook on how other nations do things – style of patrolling, fire movement, everything – to see where their proficiencies are and where our proficiencies are,” said Gaffney. the partnered training culminated in a live-fire platoon assault. the marines provided blocking forces for the spanish platoon which then assaulted the designated objective. Building familiarity between international partners was
photo by Lance Cpl. Alexander Hill
Marines of Special-purpose Marine Air-ground taskForceCrisisResponsedemonstratetechniques from the Marine Corps Martial Arts program to the Spanish Army Light infantry battalion during bilateral training in Asturias, Spain, May 1. critical to the success between the two platoons. “for the junior marines, it was good for them to be able to train with the soldiers from another country,” said Gaffney.
“the spanish have been the greatest hosts i’ve ever seen. the spanish soldiers were professional and a lot of fun to work with and we look forward to working with them in the future.”