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GILA BEND, Ariz. – Effective communication can be the difference
between success and failure for the Marine Corps during any
operation. It is essential for Marines to understand how to use a
variety of assets in order to communicate anywhere, anytime.
From Aug. 23-28, 2015 ... Marines with 1st Air Naval Gunfire
Liaison Company, I Marine Expeditionary Force, teamed up with
Marines from various battalions within the 1st Marine Division
including 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Bn., 11th
Marine Regiment and 1st Reconnaissance Bn. to conduct high frequency
communication training aboard Air Force Base Gila Bend, Arizona.
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Marines with 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, I Marine Expeditionary Force work together with personnel with various units in 1st Marine Division, in the course of a period of instruction on radio waves during a high frequency communications training exercise aboard Air Force Base Gila Bend, Ariz., Aug. 24, 2015. Marines from different units within I MEF worked together to practice operating different types of communications assets in the HF circuit in order to improve their skills. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Demetrius Morgan)
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“As a whole, we have gotten away from HF [high frequency]
communications, which is one of the essential parts to comm,”
said Master Sgt. Brian Moran, communications chief with 1st
ANGLICO.
Moran added it is necessary for these
Marines to understand how to operate proficiently in the HF
circuit in order to provide the essential communications
needed for mission success. He also added that this exercise
allowed Marines who haven't worked with HF often to improve
their skillsets.
The training was two-fold. The
first priority was ensuring Marines were skilled in working
with HF communications and the other was reinforcing the
integration of multiple units to accomplish a goal.
Division Marines trained alongside the adjacent units from I
MEF to maximize the training. Although they were from
different units, Marines like Sgt. Ethaniel Rock, a
reconnaissance man with 1st Recon Bn. saw the importance of
being able to integrate with other teams during the
training.
“It is great to build cohesion between
different units and learn how other Marines handle things
like communications,” Rock said. “Being able to work with
people you don't know and work effectively is important for
us because we get attached to different units all the time.
Putting our knowledge together builds the junior Marines'
knowledge and makes them advanced communications Marines.”
Marines participated in HF communication classes taught
by more experienced personnel from both Division and MEF
during the first phase of their training. They also
conducted operation checks on all communication equipment to
ensure the programming was working properly prior to the
practical application.
Marines then started the more
difficult portion of the exercise. To test the
communications equipment and the operating skills of the
Marines, a scenario was developed to provide feedback on
these two elements.
While traveling in a vehicle
toward an objective located 50 miles from the airfield team,
Marines would stop every 5 miles to set up and establish
communication back to the team, ensuring a successful relay
of messages was accomplished, then packing up and pushing
further until reaching the final location.
“In a
combat environment, you are going to be put in situations
that aren't ideal,” Moran said. “Stopping at multiple points
with different types of terrain makes it so the Marines have
to adjust on-the-fly based on where they are.”
After
establishing communication from the 50-mile objective point
and sending a simulated battle damage assessment photo to
the distant station, the Marines progressed even further and
were successful with relaying both data messages and voice
messages to the airfield team from 81 miles away,
accomplishing the tasks required for this test.
Over
the course of the exercise, the Marines not only
successfully hit their mark during the culminating event but
they completed multiple periods of instruction, set up
communications from various terrain and even received
transmissions from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton,
California, located 350-miles away, which exceeded even
Moran's expectations.
This training provided the
Marines an opportunity to hone the necessary skills and
mindset required to be successful at operating HF voice and
data circuits.
By U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Demetrius Morgan
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
The U.S. Marines
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