MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, California -- Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, conducted
Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel, or TRAP, as part of a Marine Corps
Combat Readiness Evaluation at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine
Palms, California, Dec. 3, 2015.
TRAP’s placement in a MCCRE is meant to
evaluate Marines on essential procedures, which are performed for the specific
purpose of the recovery of personnel, equipment and/or aircraft by the insertion
of a force to the respective location.
The MCCRE team assesses the
battalion’s collective performance in a series of requisite tasks to prepare for
an upcoming deployment.
With aerial support from Marine Medium Tiltrotor
Squadron 363, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marines with
Company F, 2nd Bn., 7th Marines, inserted on the outskirts of a mock urban
environment by two MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The TRAP mission required
them to infiltrate the town and locate and recover a simulated, downed unmanned
aerial vehicle.
“If a pilot or aircraft goes down, we can be counted on
to recover the pilot or the critical components of that aircraft,” said Staff
Sgt. Evan Eldridge, a platoon sergeant with Company F. “It’s similar to a raid
scenario, where we are tasked with swiftly moving into the town, completing our
objective, and quickly extracting by whatever asset is available to us.”
After strategically moving throughout the area of operation and locating
the mock UAV, the Marines returned to the outskirts of the town to extract from
the area in the Osprey with the recovered equipment in hand.
Prior to the
TRAP evaluation, Marines with 2nd Bn., 7th Marines, completed various TRAP
drills to include a course offered by the Expeditionary Operations Training
Group, increasing their swiftness and efficiency in the difficult task.
Because of the consistent training, the Marines are becoming more
familiar with the complexities of the mission, according to Lance Cpl. Alex
Chagaris, a squad leader with Company F. The skills required to carry out this
task take practice to become proficient, and the team has been improving
greatly.
TRAP exercises, like the one conducted during the MCCRE, aim to
strengthen Marines’ combat readiness and refine the rudimentary skillset needed
to capably perform a rescue and recovery mission.