The Marines of Company F, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, held their final field training exercise for African Lion 2011 at Cap Draa May 24.
This final exercise consisted of firing eight tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire command missiles, combining fire with Anti-Tank 4, 84 mm single use rockets and finished up with simulated bounding live-fire and maneuver alongside Light Armored Vehicles.
“This was the best training we’ve had so far,” said Sgt. Alan Carson, a scout chief with Company F. “We got to combine LAV’s with the small arms.”
The majority of the LAV crews waited in a staging area a few kilometers away from the LAV that launched the TOW missiles. The crews rested and waited until all eight missiles were fired before moving up to the range.
After a dusty ride to the range, the Marines of Company F dismounted and prepared to fire several AT4 shoulder-fired single-use rockets alongside suppressing fire from the vehicles.
The Marines walked forward to the firing line, well away from their vehicles to ensure the back blast from the rocket wouldn’t harm any Marines or their equipment. The Marine with the rocket prepared to fire the AT4 as fellow Marines suppressed targets with a hail of bullets. The Marine and the range officers called out “Rocket” just before the blast of the rocket shook the range and the nearby Marines disappeared in a cloud of dust.
Each team of Marines fired the rockets until all of them were expended and the exercise moved into its final phase.
The final phase involved a bounding exercise with live rounds and the massive 25 mm bushmaster chaingun onboard their LAVs. The Marines simulated covering each other as if they were moving forward by taking turns firing their weapons, while others held their fire.
Next, they squeezed six Marines into the back of the armored transports, weapons in condition three, magazines loaded but no round in the chamber.
The bumpy ride up to the next firing line took only moments and once the firing began the Marines hopped out and lined up alongside their vehicle, the 25 mm bushmaster chaingun thumping in bursts of three as the Marines began firing as if they were bounding forward. One group of Marines fired, then the next, providing cover fire for each other.
As the final exercise came to an end, the Marines were busy cleaning up ammo cans and getting ready to head back to the Logistics Support Area after being in the field for seven days.
“It feels good knowing this is the final exercise, knowing there is a hot shower at the end,” said Lance Cpl. Rimer Joseph.
Exercise African Lion is an annual, bilateral U.S.-Moroccan exercise that brings together more than 2,000 U.S. service members and 900 members of the Royal Moroccan armed forces. African Lion is the largest exercise within U.S. Africa Command and is designed to promote interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation’s military tactics, techniques and procedures.