October 1, 2015 -- Marines with 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion conducted a Heavy Brigade Combat Team qualification course at
Camp Lejeune, Oct. 1, 2015.
The training focused on engaging
targets with the Amphibious Assault Vehicle P7, a fully-tracked amphibious
vehicle used to transport troops from water to land during amphibious
operations.
“It’s the bread and butter of engaging the enemy and
taking ground from them; eliminating time and space and trying to locate and
close with the enemy. By doing so, we set up a support by fire with one or two
[vehicles] depending on how many targets [we have] and where they are,” said
Cpl. Jake Mclellan, a crew chief with the battalion.
The qualification is part of the
preparation for an upcoming integrated training exercise that the battalion will be participating in.
Qualifying for the HBCT helps
familiarize Marines with firing the weapon systems on the AAV P7, which include
a Mark-19 40mm automatic grenade launcher and an M2HB .50 caliber machine gun.
Mclellan said that this
qualification allows for the crew members to identify problems as they arise
and to get more comfortable and efficient working together so when performing
at the ITX they are a force in
readiness.
“This training is vital because
it really gets the sections working together as a cohesive unit,” said 1st Lt.
Andres Thompson, platoon commander for Bravo Platoon. “It builds fluidity
within them and also communication. This fine tunes [our tactics] and allows
errors to be shown and allows us to address them.”
Along with getting the sections
to work more proficiently together, Mclellan said that getting live-rounds down
range helps the Marines get a better feel of how an HBCT should operate.
“It’s extremely important that we
get live rounds down range. It’s fire and movement and you can only fire
notional rounds so much and it doesn’t make as much of an impact as actual
rounds and actual targets when you’re down range,” Mclellan said.
Rain or shine, the Marines with
2nd Assault Amphibian Bn. will continue to fulfill their mission of conducting
mechanized operations and related combat support of amphibious operations
during the upcoming ITX and other training exercises in the future.