Marines take on Australian outback 

Marines and sailors from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) brought out their big guns, plenty of bug juice and bravado and took on the harsh heat of the Australian outback during sustainment training March 13-17.

With only a few days available to conduct a multitude of training missions that are necessary to enhance war-fighting skills and maintain mission readiness, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, MEU Service Support Group 11, both from Camp Pendleton, Calif., trained from sunrise to late into the night. While some slept in barracks, many slept in sleeping bags under a blanket stars or in tents set on top of tall elephant grass or rocky soil.

After occupying the range and setting up their base camp and command post, March 13, Marines rifle, weapons, engineer, amphibious assault, light armored reconnaissance and headquarters platoons from Companies A, B and C conducted training designed to hone their infantry skills in both day and nighttime environments.

During squad and platoon attacks as well as ambush exercises, the Marines fired all of the weapons in the MEU arsenal. These included M16A-4 Service Rifles, Squad Automatic Weapons, .50 caliber Machine Gun and AT4 anti-tank weapons, also known as a SMAW, Squad Fired Multi-purpose Assault Weapon.

The Marines and sailors of the 11th MEU (SOC), Camp Pendleton, Calif., came ashore from the USS Peleliu, USS Germantown and USS Ogden. The three ships are part of the Expeditionary Strike Group 3 and are on a six-month deployment through the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf. 

After the training, the Marines and sailors along with their vehicles and equipment were shuttled back to the Peleliu aboard Landing Craft Utilities to resume their deployment.