MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER, TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -- The 8th Marine Regiment demonstrated its capabilities as the command element of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force during Integrated Training Exercise 1-16 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., Oct. 23-Nov. 15, 2015.
Formerly known as the Combined Arms Exercise, ITX is now one of the largest training exercises Marine Corps units participate in prior to deployment. Approximately 4,000 Marines and Sailors from II Marine Expeditionary Force encompassing the MAGTF participated in ITX 1-16.
“One of the goals of ITX is to bring all the elements of the MAGTF together: the command element, logistics combat element, ground combat element, and your aviation combat element,” said the Commanding Officer of 8th Marine Regiment, Col. Martin Wetterauer III. “Often, the first time we get to train as a MAGTF is out here at ITX.”
The training at ITX centered on integrating the different abilities of the MAGTF together to create an effective, well-coordinated fighting force. Units gained proficiency in that integration starting at the squad level all the way to the final culminating event which was the Battalion Assault Course.
ITX not only tested the individual units but the command and control capabilities of 8th Marine Regiment.
“The intent of ITX is to focus on 8th Marine Regiment’s core and core plus missions. For a regiment, we come out here with roughly 11 [training and readiness standards] that we train to,” Wetterauer explained.
“8th Marines is doing everything from forming a command operations center, to conducting logistics, conducting fire support planning, offensive operations, defensive operations, and conducting reconnaissance.”
An added layer of training that ITX provides is the effect of the physical environment. “For Marines coming from Lejeune, the desert environment is significantly different than the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, environment that we’ve been training in,” Wetterauer said. “[Being in Twentynine Palms] takes the Marine from the current training level he was proficient at before we left, he comes out here and we add another layer of problem to it, another layer of complexity, and now he has to go through that to be successful.”
Most importantly, ITX is serving as a training exercise for 8th Marine Regiment for when they assume the command element role of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 16.1.
“All the elements that will deploy with the SPMAGTF 16.1 Crisis Response Africa mission are out here conducting ITX. So we are now getting to practice how we will deploy in a few months,” Wetterauer said.
Following ITX, SPMAGTF-CR-AF 16.1 will move directly into their certification exercise with the majority of the command element remaining in California while forward elements will move to the east coast to simulate the geographical distances the unit will have to overcome while deployed.
“We will now move into the missions that are assigned to us as a SPMAGTF, which are embassy reinforcement, non-combatant evacuation operations and quick reaction force,” said Wetterauer.
Wetterauer reiterated that conducting operations in this format is the way ahead for the 8th Marine Regiment and the Marine Corps as whole. “The MAGTF is the basis for how the Marine Corps fights and conducts operations overseas,” Wetterauer said.