MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C -- Camp Lejeune, N.C. – Marines are trained for combat and ready for worldwide deployment at a moment's notice. Recently, Marines and Sailors with 3d Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division conducted a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation (MCCRE) to test the unit's ability to plan, coordinate, and execute complex missions in preparation for upcoming deployments.
The two-week long MCCRE was not only an opportunity for training, but an evaluation conducted by the regiment to test the unit’s ability to execute its core competencies. Typically, each MCCRE an infantry regiment conducts incorporates basic fundamentals of warfighting, to include raids, defensive and offensive operations, and aerial inserts.
"We identify various events based on the training and readiness manual," explained Maj. Joshua Foster, a Houston, Texas native and the operations officer of 2d Marine Regiment. "After that, we schedule those events to be evaluated in the MCCRE."
The 2d Marine Regiment is exploring different ways to evaluate Marines and Sailors to ensure they are prepared for real-life contingencies.This iteration of a MCCRE included humanitarian and disaster relief and noncombatant evacuation operation exercises.
“The humanitarian aid aspect of this training was very different from anything I had ever done in the past,” said Cpl. Robert Mitchell, an Ocean City, Maryland native and rifleman with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment.
“As an infantryman, we respond to chaos with even more chaos as necessary to the enemy. Instead of using force to accomplish the mission, humanitarian aid response required us to use a lot more selective reasoning and de-escalation techniques to help noncombatants in need of assistance.”
The 2d Marine Regiment, an infantry regiment within 2d Marine Division, is continuously learning and enhancing professional competence in each Marine and Sailor for the next complex, uncertain fight. The division as a whole is prepared and will continue to sharpen its skills to support global operations as a quick-response force.