Al QUWEYRAH, Jordan -- U.S. Marines from Company E, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment finished off exercise Eager Lion 15 with a live-fire attack range around Al Quweyrah, Jordan, May 19, 2015.
Eager Lion is an annual, multinational exercise designed to build military interoperability and continue partnerships between 18 countries and NATO forces. Eager Lion 15 took place from May 5-19.
The live-fire attack range was the culmination of a rigorous two-week training schedule planned and executed by the Marines, Jordanian Armed Forces and British Army.
“We’ve focused on squad and platoon level exercises these past two weeks,” said 1st Lt. James Hurton, Co. E executive officer. “It’s a lot different than Camp Lejeune where we are restricted to already pre-built ranges. We were able to develop our own ranges, get them approved and execute them.”
The skills learned each range during Eager Lion were combined and put to use for the final event, driving the Marines to bring all their training together to complete the mission.
“The past two weeks have been leading up to this culminating event,” said Hurton. “We’re putting a heavy responsibility on non-commissioned officer leadership, specifically squad leaders and team leaders.”
Machine gun fire and simulated mortar rounds kicked off the range, with riflemen standing by to rush closer to the targets. Once the suppression was deemed acceptable, a squad would move forward under cover of smoke, traversing through barbed wire and bounding toward the targets. After the riflemen passed the barbed wire, machine gun suppression slowed and it was up to the squads to take ground and destroy their targets.
“The squads had to use supporting agents: Medium machine guns, light machine guns; they had to use the assault element,” said Hurton. “They breached the barbed wire obstacle, used the supporting agents to close, and utilized internal and external communication to close with and destroy the enemy.”
All nine squads successfully completed the assessment, wrapping up Eager Lion 15 and proving they retained their training.
“Eager Lion has been a great opportunity for Easy Co. and 2/2,” said Hurton. “We’re very grateful for the opportunity to come out to Jordan and train.”