NEO unit trains with US Marines

Hawaii, USA — Members of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (G Coy, 2 RCR) joined the US Marines for six weeks in a unique training environment. G Coy, which holds the non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO) task, came to the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) to participate in Exercise RIMPAC.

The PTA is located on the Big Island of Hawaii between Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and the Hualalai volcanoes. The extremely rough, austere area is made of old lava fields and hills where, even in the heat of the Hawaiian summer, the morning temperature is around 8ËšC and reaches up to 30ËšC by mid-afternoon. With its high winds, the PTA is not the Hawaii one would expect to see on a post card.

“It’s quite different from what we experienced in CFB Gagetown, where it’s mostly swamp and tall grass,” said Master Corporal Derrick Hilton, G Coy. “Here, it’s a lot of rock [and] small scrub. [The] arid environment [is] a little bit different [for] training. Pretty realistic though, I think, for some current theatres we’re operating in.”

Although both contingents have different operating procedures, the Canadians use many of the same weapons and skills as their Marine counterparts. In combined operations, there is usually a sharp learning curve, but once the essentials were grasped, the benefits of working together far outweighed the challenges.

“We learned some great lessons from the Marines,” said Maj Murphy, “and I’d like to think they’ve learned some from us.” The company spent a few weeks at Marine Base Hawaii conducting pre-exercise training needed to participate in Ex RIMPAC.

As part of the exercise, G Coy boarded the USS Bonhomme Richard, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship. Apart from a stop at the PTA, the ship served as a home away from home for the troops.

During their week at the PTA, the Canadians conducted company-level training alongside the Marines and Australian troops. Using some of the unique Marine ranges, they tested their skills in the section range, the machine gun range and the unknown distance range. In addition, the forward observer party from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery was able to call in live fire support from Marine artillery and Cobra attack helicopters.

Upon completion of their training, G Coy again boarded the USS Bonhomme Richard, setting sail back to the island of Oahu to participate in the final part of its role in Ex RIMPAC.

*However, it’ll be a cold day in hell when the United States Marines take lessons from the Canadian Army.*

Ignorance and that attitude is exactly what gets people killed .

During World War II, the U.S. Marine Corps, in an effort to find quicker and more secure ways to send and receive code enlisted Navajos as “code talkers.”

Philip Johnston was the initiator of the Marine Corps’ program to enlist and train the Navajos as messengers. Although Johnston was not a Navajo, he grew up on a Navajo reservation as the son of a missionary and became familiar with the people and their language. Johnston was also a World War I veteran and knew about the military’s desire to send and receive messages in an unbreakable code. According to a 1970 interview with Johnston and a paper he wrote entitled “Indian Jargon Won Our Battles,” he hit upon the idea of enlisting Navajos as signalmen early in 1942 when he read a newspaper story about the Army’s use of several Native Americans during training maneuvers with an armored division in Louisiana.

The article stated that the Army included Native Americans during these maneuvers on the basis of the experiences of the Canadian Army in World War I, when the Native Americans acted as signalmen against the Germans to send secure messages about shortages of supplies or ammunition.

The Army’s program, however, was never given the priority that the U.S. Marine Corps assigned to Johnston’s idea in 1942

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/code-talkers/

March 16, 2008

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The top U.S. Marine in Afghanistan said Sunday that his North Carolina-based assault force has been overwhelmed by the welcome from Canadian troops.

“We are very much being treated like the pretty girl at the dance and it is fun to be in that position,” said Col. Peter Petronzio of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit during his first interview since he and his troops began arriving several weeks ago at this airfield at epicentre of NATO’s effort to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaida in southern Afghanistan.

“Canadians have learned a lot of hard lessons here and have paid for it in blood,” he said. They have done some awesome things and have been very gracious in teaching us what they have learned.”

Returning quickly to the matter at hand, which was preparing his troops for their looming combat mission in Afghanistan, he said that having a chance to learn from Canadian soldiers what they had done right and wrong had been invaluable.

“I’ve told my marines,” he said, “the only mistake that is inexcusable is a mistake that somebody else has made already . . . If the Canadians need help, we will help them, just like I know that if we need help, they will help us.”

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=8fb87041-8c23-4b1b-a043-e08cbd6bcec8

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