CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, Japan -- U.S. Marines with Marine Corps Installations Pacific (MCIPAC ) conducted Training Exercise Frost at Camp Hansen Nov. 18.
Training Exercise Frost was executed by Marines that, on a typical day, serve as the supporting establishment in base operations. The Marines had the opportunity to hone their basic combat skills by performing patrols, room clearing and infantry tactics.
After completing recruit training, all Marines must attend the School of Infantry or Marine Combat Training. All Marines are trained first and foremost as a basic rifleman. Although many Marines operate in support roles, all Marines must remain proficient in infantry tactics. Training Exercise Frost made that possible.
“Getting Marines back to their roots is very important to us,” said Sgt. Michael Taylor, a Seneca, Illinois, native and a combat engineer with Headquarters and Support Battalion. “Knowing how to use infantry tactics and being a basic Marine is vital to the mission because it keeps them ready for the fight .”
The training aligned with the MCIPAC Commander’s mantra of being forward deployed, forward engaged - which means being ready for anything at a moment’s notice.
The Marines training were transported from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in a CH-53E Super Stallion and disembarked to Camp Hansen’s Military Operations and Urban Terrain town. The facility served as the primary location where Marines carried out patrols, room clearing exercises, and infantry tactics.
According to Taylor, they reinforced different patrol tactics to the Marines. In addition, there were a multitude of patrolling concepts implemented into the training designed to prepare Marines for an assortment of combat scenarios.
“I just hope we can do these exercises more often,” explained Cpl. Daron Lasher, an East Durham, New York, native, and a legal service specialist with Headquarters and Support Battalion. “The training made me look at things from an enemies perspective. During the room clearing exercises, I positioned myself where an enemy combatant would be, and performed ambush scenarios to challenge the Marines. I want to do more of this and bring myself out to the field to be more mission ready.”
The MCIPAC mission is to exercise command and control, oversight, and budgetary guidance over the Marine Corps’ network of Advanced Naval Bases in the Indo-Pacific in order to secure and protect our capabilities, strengthen our alliances, and expand the capabilities of forward-deployed naval expeditionary forces.