Marines from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., board a CH-53E Super Stallion for an exercise at the Central Training Area on Okinawa, Dec. 7, 2022. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
CENTRAL TRAINING AREA, Okinawa — Twilight came early beneath jungle canopy as two gargantuan CH-53E Super Stallions rattled overhead and onto a nearby landing zone during an exercise here Wednesday.
From the bush, 150 Marines of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment from Camp Lejeune, N.C., laden with weaponry and supplies, filed aboard the heavy-lift helicopters for a 10-minute ride into the jungle near a simulated urban training site called combat town.
The training scenario tasked Alpha Company with reclaiming the town and a nearby dam that supplies hydroelectric power. The exercise tested the “stand-in force” concept laid out by Commandant Gen. David Berger in his Force Design 2030 as a means of fighting on islands in the Western Pacific.
“We're a force-design battalion for the Marine Corps,” battalion commander Lt. Col. Aaron Awtry told Stars and Stripes before boarding a Super Stallion. “We're conducting experiments based on what the Marine Corps is looking to make changes in its force structure.”
Marines from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., fly in a CH-53E Super Stallion during an exercise at the Central Training Area on Okinawa, Dec. 7, 2022. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
A Marine from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., prepares for an exercise at the Central Training Area on Okinawa, Dec. 7, 2022. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
Marines from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., prepare for an exercise at the Central Training Area on Okinawa, Dec. 7, 2022. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
The North Carolina Marines are playing the title role over 10 days at dozens of sites across Okinawa and at the Marines’ Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji southwest of Tokyo.
A stand-in force, according to Berger’s Force Design 2030, is a tactical unit operating within range of an adversary’s long-range, precision weapons to inflict casualties, open the door for larger, joint forces, and generally undermine enemy operations.
“The force structure is a big deal,” Awtry said. “I've got different ranks in my squad leaders and platoon sergeants than most Marines do. The way our companies are organized and the additional capabilities we have in the battalion that other battalions don't normally have, small [unmanned aerial systems]; and then some of our targeting and intelligence are a little bit different, so that's new, and how we incorporate those into our operations is somewhat unique.”
Other Marine and Navy units in the exercise played an adversarial role against the 800-man 1st Battalion, including large-scale force-on-force combat, amphibious assault and sea denial, according to a Nov. 30 email from 2nd Lt. William McCadden, spokesman for 3rd Marine Division.
Marines from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., prepare for an exercise at the Central Training Area on Okinawa, Dec. 7, 2022. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
A Marine from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., prepares for an exercise at the Central Training Area on Okinawa, Dec. 7, 2022. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)
On the outskirts of combat town, within the Central Training Area on Okinawa, the Marines split into three, 60-man platoons and moved through the jungle toward their objectives.
First and 3rd Platoons simultaneously flanked the town from the east and west, seized it and a command-and-control node while 2nd Platoon maneuvered to the west side of dam and captured it.
“The mock takeover is templated as if the host nation’s town and dam were seized by an occupational force and now we're infiltrating them, securing the dam and turning it back over to friendly forces,” 2nd Platoon commander 1st Lt. Michael Carreiro said moments before boarding a Super Stallion with his troops.
The exercise, which wraps Dec. 15, is the culminating event of the battalion’s six months on Okinawa. They’ll take what they learned home with them to Camp Lejeune in February.
“This is a demonstration of our capabilities and our commitment to conduct operations in support of our allies out here in the Indo-Pacific region,” Awtry said. “We've done exercises with all our partners since we've been on here, so just again, an example of our commitment to operate. We practice it, so we expect to be good at it when it happens.”
