October 16, 2015 -- Marines participating in Weapons and Tactics Instructor
course 1-16 converged on Kiwanis Park in Yuma, Arizona, Friday, Oct. 16, 2015,
to take part in a non-combatant evacuation exercise.
The NEO provides the students and instructors with realistic
training that is consistent with missions performed abroad, in support of
deployed forces. The exercise presents many scenarios that include food
distribution, on-site medical care, physical security, force resupply and
extraction.
Exercises like the NEO prepare Marines to become tactically
proficient in evacuation missions and enhances their ability to succeed while
deployed to culturally-diverse locations around the world.
“WTI is a course designed to train the trainer,” said Col.
James H. Adams, commanding officer of Yuma-based Marine Aviation Weapons and
Tactics Squadron 1. “We take these individual men and women, enlisted and
officer, and get them up to speed with techniques and procedures we use on the
battlefield. We send them back to their units to be the highly trained and skilled
trainers for their units.”
For nearly three decades, MAWTS-1 has hosted WTI courses in
Yuma. The unique relationship the unit has with the community makes it one of
the most important courses in the Marine Corps.