For many, they began their first deployment just two months ago. Now, for the first time, they are seeing the landscape of Afghanistan as they have come to know it from story and rumor. The Marines of Communications Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, have made their way to Patrol Base Alcatraz, and their first order of business is rapidly establishing communications for the battalion.
They walk through sand, fine and powdered like hot chocolate mix, and look up at mountains belonging on post cards as they work under the heavy afternoon sun.
For the junior Marines in the section, this is their true test. Working throughout the day and well into the night, some sleep only a few hours in preparation for the next day. They keep the pace for several days, until fields of antennae dot the landscape where the Marines have made a home.
“I came here and found out how little I knew,” said Lance Cpl. William Murray, a radio operator from Mount Holly, N.J. “In the first few months I’ve learned so much more through hands-on experience. The senior guys passed down a lot of knowledge we needed, (and) taught us how to avoid making certain mistakes they had made in the past.”
By working in adverse conditions, junior Marines, like Murray, were challenged to learn quickly, and become self sufficient, explained the Rancocas Valley High School graduate, “things are now going pretty smooth, and I’ve gotten to the point where I can start teaching myself.”
It is often through firsthand experience where true learning takes place, although they have trained extensively and prepared for these scenarios.
“At [military occupational specialty school] they learn to walk, then during predeployment training they begin to jog, but it’s not until they deploy that they begin to run,” said Sgt. Jaime Shanks, the platoon sergeant for Comm. Plt.. “They’re the future; we teach them everything we know, because when we leave here, they’re it.”
Marines in the communications field are responsible not only for establishing radio contact with coalition forces, but satellite communications, internet capable troop tracking assets and maintaining all electronic equipment within the battalion, explained Staff Sgt. Carl Davidson, the communications maintenance chief.
Even with the heavy pressure placed on his junior Marines’ shoulders, Davidson added “the newer Marines are definitely learning, they’re picking up quick and on the fly.”
In addition, many of the junior Marines will be attached to infantry companies for combat operations and will be responsible for fulfilling that role on their own.
“A lot of the new guys going forward are being taught how to do it all, to be self sufficient and know their job and that of the Marine above them.” said Shanks, a Madison, N.H. native. “Most communications Marines nowadays learn the newer side of radio, but don’t know how to operate in the field – how to set up communications equipment quickly, like you would do in major operations.”
In order to learn how to best handle their newfound responsibilities, the more junior Marines are turning to those like Shanks, now on his third deployment, for guidance.
“We teach them how to do the job more efficiently,” said Shanks. “They ask a lot of questions and know a lot of knowledge. If they want to try something new, we let them.”
Nearing the end of their first week at Patrol Base Alcatraz, Marines of Comm. Plt., have settled into a more consistent, albeit far-from-easy routine. They still work around the clock, but for the more junior personnel, the finer points of their craft are coming a little easier.
Editor’s note: First Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, is currently assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division (Forward), which heads Task Force Leatherneck. The task force serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghanistan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling the ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.