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Friday, February 14, 2014 Vol. 49, No. 6 Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C.
More TA funds for Marines See Page 3
“The noise you hear is the sound of freedom.” 2 n Entertainment 3 n News Briefs 3 n Weather n Around The Corps 10 n Change of Command 15
Dealing with separation on V-day Page 6
DOD complaint system safeguards education Page 8
Washington’s birthday, President’s Day Page 12
Fightertown command change of
See Page 15 Cpl. John Wilkes
MAG-31 CPX proves ACE capability
Sgt. Marcy Sanchez
Comm/Media Relations Chief
The capability to operate expeditiously is a forte of the middleweight fighting force that is the Marine Corps. The size of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force varies but must be prepared to be in command. To be prepared for the task, Marine Aircraft Group 31 executed a Command Post Exercise (CPX) to test their capabilities of operating from expeditionary sites to confirm they are capable of being the Aviation Command Element of a MAGTF aboard Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Feb. 3-7.
The exercise was conducted concurrent with the Marine Division Tactics Course with various elements of Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1, Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 and Marine Wing Communications Squadron 28. One of the key roles in the exercise was communications. To assist with communications, MAG-31 employed the Support Wide Area Network satellite permitting portable communications throughout the Command Operations Center. “Ninety percent of the gear in here is communications, we’re providing internet both classified and unclassified with all our gear
going into a SWAN which reaches back to Cherry Point,” said Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Jarr, MAG-31’s S-6 Chief. “The basis of the Marine Corps is accountability, if you don’t have the [communications] to conduct the accountability, whether its aircraft or personnel, that information is useless.” Although communications was vital to the exercise, time was also a factor of the effectiveness of the exercise. “The goal is to set up in 48 hours,” said Jarr, a native of Muscatine, Iowa. “This is the first time MAG-31 has done an exercise like this, taksee
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Major O.J. Weiss (lower left), the operations officer for Marine Aircraft Group 31, demonstrates the effectiveness of the communication system at a remote site to Lt. Col. Nicholas Neimer (left), commanding officer of MAG-31 Headquarters squadron, and Lt. Col. Joseph Reedy (right), the executive officer of MAG-31 Headquarters Squadron, during MAG-31’s Command Post Exercise (CPX) aboard Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Feb. 7. The exercise was executed concurrent with Marine Division Tactics Course in order to test the capabilities of the group to conduct aviation operations from expeditionary sites and exercise tactical command and control.
Col. William R. Lieblein, The Marine Aircraft Group 31 commanding officer, places a Marine Avation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One patch on the shoulder of a graduate of the Marine Division Tactics Course during a graduation ceremony at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Officer’s Club Feb. 7.
Air Station Pilots conquer MDTC Cpl. Timothy Norris Staff Writer
Several Marine F/A-18 Hornet pilots graduated from the Marine Corps’ premier aviation combat training, Marine Division Tactics Course (MDTC), at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Officers’ Club, Feb. 7. The advanced air-to-air and self-escort strike tactics course is equivalent to the Navy’s Top Gun program and has a rigorous training schedule where pilots learn both in the classroom and in the sky. The arduous course is offered twice a year, once on the west coast and once on the east coast. Col. Bradford Gering, the commanding officer of Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One participated in the training over the Atlantic as an adversary.
“A great thing about the core subjects at MDTC is that it makes our next fight an unfair one,” he said. “By focusing on the enemy, studying them, their equipment, technology, training and rehearsing what our next conflict could be like.” The training is continuous and intense for the students which were comprised of pilots from various units along the Eastern seaboard. The training went from theory in classroom to practical application with the F/A18 Hornet against aircraft the pilots may have never fought against before, including the F-5N Tiger II and F-16 fighting Falcon. “It was challenging because we trained day in and day out for a month straight,” said Capt. Michael McMahon, a Marine Fighter Attack Squadron see
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