Military Skills Annual Training----Camp LeJeune, N.C., 1993

Brushing up on Infantry Warfighting Skills was the purpose of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion-14 's annual training period in 1993. This Naval Reserve unit is headquartered at U.S. Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida. It's personnel are spread out among several detachments of varying size in Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico. When it came time to refresh the unit's combat skills, a major portion of the battalion reported to USMC Infantry Training School, Camp LeJeune, N.C., taking up residence at Camp Geiger. Camp Le Jeune is the home of the USMC's Second Marine Expeditionary Force, one of the two largest combat organizations in the Marine Corps. The First Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, California is the other.

On arrival at Camp LeJeune, NMCB-14's Alpha Company set up a motor pool comprised of several battalion cargo and transport vehicles previously convoyed up from Florida and USMC equipment on loan. The USMC Reserve Support Unit provided vehicles and all types of equipment to conduct training and otherwise accomodate the battalion's needs. Arrangements were made to borrow construction equipment from the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, and the 8th Engineer Battalion for use on project work. NMCB-14 detailed ammo drivers to the base magazine to support our range training and field exercise, and mechanics to the 2nd Combat Engineers shop. NMCB-14 Gunner's Mates operated our unit armory .Our cooks worked in the consolidated dining facility, and other administrative and medical personnel worked in base facilities which supported NMCB-14 while on base.

All this was the way our unit was integrated into the operations of the support network at Camp LeJeune, much like some of the integration that occurs in actual deployment situations. The Marines take care of their own and the SEABEES do too! A SEABEE unit is organized, trained and equipped to be as self-sufficient as possible in a combat area. SEABEE battalions posess the capabilities for self-defense, medical services, dental services, food service, supply, equipment repair, and of course, construction tasks while under fire! It takes a lot of hard work and hard training to maintain all the unit's capabilities and individual skills at the "mobilization ready" level. Training at Camp Le Jeune is one part of that process.

In the first week of the two-week training period, extensive classroom training in combat leadership for officers and chiefs was enhanced by a Command Post Exercise in a state-of-the-art computer- controlled wargame simulator facility. Fundamentals of individual and crew-served weapons were taught in class and then practiced on live-fire ranges. Weapons included 9mm pistol, M-16A2 rifle, M-203 grenade launcher, M-60 machine gun, M2-.50 cal heavy machine gun, 81mm mortar, AT-4 anti-armor rocket, 40mm automatic grenade launcher, and M-18 Claymore anti-personnel mines. In the second week, all these combined skills were put to the test in a three-day field exercise. After convoy to the exercise area, a defensive perimeter was established and both construction and defensive operations began in earnest. Lookouts and forward listening posts quickly reported activity in several locations which indicated surveillance by aggressor forces. The next two nights and three days were very interesting to say the least. Marine aggressors attacked and Seabees defended several times during the period. A fun time was had by all! A photo essay on the field exercise can be found in the Photo and Insignia Gallery.

Normand Dupuis
EOC USNR-(Ret.)

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