Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. -- Marines with 2nd Battalion,6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, practiced their platoon attack skills July 27, 2011 and July 28, 2011, aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.
During the training, Marines shot at targets placed around a field. After certain targets fell, the Marines would then rush toward their next objective further down the field.
“It was good training,” said Pfc. Kyle Fields, a rifleman with Company F, 2/6. “I learned a lot about how to work in a support by fire situation and working together as a platoon.”
The Marines used a combination of small arms fire and machine gun fire to take down the simulated targets. Different squads would work together as a platoon in order to meet their goals.
“We went out on Wednesday and went through rehearsals, BZO’d (battle sight zeroed) our weapons if they were new and then did the platoon based attacks,” said Lance Cpl. Robert Lemoine, the squad leader for 1st squad, 3rd platoon, Co. F, 2/6. “We kept doing dry runs or having small classes in between the live fire exercises. When it’s this hot out, you have to keep busy and try to stay cool.”
Temperatures during the training exercise were above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
“The temperature can cause a lot of wear and tear on the Marines,” added Lemoine. “Everyone is slowly adjusting to the temperature. It obviously gets hot over there [in Afghanistan], so it’s good training. We got to see what the body has to endure with the temperature and how important nutrition is.”
This particular exercise was the first where the unit had to work together as a platoon during training since returning from their deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in January.
“We’ve done fire team attacks and squad attacks before as building blocks to get up to platoon attacks,” said 1st Lt. Matt Tweed, the platoon commander for Weapons Platoon, Co. F, 2/6. “It was a great chance to see how all the squads communicated with each other to accomplish the mission.
“Fox Co. has performed well. The Marines did well as a fire team, did well as a squad and well as a platoon,” continued Tweed. "We work good together and are looking forward to our next deployment to Afghanistan in the winter.”