MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- “This exercise is geared toward training for the current situation in Iraq. This will literally prepare us for life in Iraq.”
Sgt. Nicholas V. Gonzales, air support net operator with Marine Air Support Squadron-1, spoke these words on a sandy hill in an entrenched tent full of maps at Exercise Desert Talon June 10, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
“This is one of the jobs in the Marine Corps where you need hands on training,” said Gonzales. “If you don’t actually get out there and do this you fall behind.”
The Marines at MASS-1 communicate between the ground forces and aircraft flying above. They constantly receive intelligence about locations of the enemy and troop movement, and contact the pilots to ensure bombs on dropped on target.
“The ground really has no idea what’s going on in the battlefield,” said Lance Cpl. Chance Hensley among a pile of maps. Hensley is also an air support net operator with MASS-1. “There couldn’t be a Marine air ground task force with out us. Could you imagine 40 different ground units trying to call aircraft support? Nobody would know who is where.”
Once aircraft take off from the landing strip, the Marines at MASS-1 control it. They have to keep track of everything that goes on the battlefield, and at Desert Talon they face the same situations they will in Iraq.
“Marines die if we don’t do our job correctly,” said Gonzales with an understanding of the reality of his job. “It’s not an option; we have to get out and do exercises like Desert Talon.”
Gonzales’ sense of seriousness is shared throughout MASS-1.
“Our commanding officer always tells us about the warrior switch,” said Lance Cpl. Philip Rummells, an airconditioning technician with MASS-1 who is preparing to go to Iraq in July. “The way he puts it, when you’re back in garrison, you’re in a more relaxed mood. Once we’re on that plane headed to Iraq we have to flip that switch on and realize we are going to a place where you can kill and be killed. It’s go time, and you need to know that and have a whole new mindset.”
This is Rummells second time attending Desert Talon, and he said this year’s set up is a lot more like the way it will be in Iraq.
“Yesterday, we shot a .50 cal, 240 Golf, M-16 and a 9 mm,” said Lance Cpl. Austin Wagner, a generator mechanic who is going with Rummells to Iraq in July. “It was good familiarization training for the weapons systems we all might use over there. This is my first time at Desert Talon and it’s a great experience. Seeing how everything works out in the heat and sand will help prepare me for my deployment.”