QUANTICO MARINE CORPS BASE, Va. -- After nearly 60 years at “Edson Hall” aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, where it was established, the Communications School will began its move to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., in two phases, on July 16 and Aug. 14.
With the relocation, Quantico’s school will fall under Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School command in Twentynine Palms. Currently, the Marine Corps has two communication school locations, one at Quantico, which provides basic and advanced communication training to around 250 officers each year, including second lieutenants, captains and warrant officers, and the other in Twentynine Palms for enlisted Marines. Under new command, the Communications School will be decommissioned as of Oct. 1, and Communication Training Battalion will become operational.
The restructure is part of the Marine Corps’ effort to reduce operational cost and parallel learning among officers and enlisted Marines, said Lt. Col. Mike Phillips, commanding officer at the Communications School aboard Quantico.
“Moving to Twentynine Palms will centralize all officer and enlisted communications training to one location [allowing the Corps to] gain some efficiencies in manpower and limited resources,” Phillips said.
Capt. Everett Stevenson, operations officer at the Communications School aboard Quantico, said they’re also relocating to improve the learning experience.
“We’re moving to align our curriculums with the some of the senior enlisted training that’s going on at MCCES, which will give us an opportunity to potentially cross-train officers with the enlisted,” Stevenson said.
Several Marines from Quantico will move to California to help with the assimilation. Since some roles would be duplicated at Twentynine Palms, other Marines will transfer to installations where there is a need. Given that officers and enlisted leaders work alongside each other in the fleet, Stevenson said, it’s beneficial to learn together as well.
“At some point, an officer is going to be a platoon commander who is going to have a communication chief who is a ‘gunny’ or master sergeant,” Stevenson said. “This is a great opportunity for those officers to start training with those [senior enlisted Marines] now to familiarize themselves with the capabilities of their communications chief.”
Quantico’s school offers three courses: Basic Communications Officer Course, Advanced Communications Officer Course and the Warrant Officer Communications Course. BCOC students, who are currently in session, will graduate July 2, and warrants officers will graduate Aug. 20.
Upon completion of the move, the first BCOC session in Twentynine Palms will begin Oct. 13.
Along with manpower reduction and education alignment, Stevenson said, training in Southern California’s Mojave Desert offers Marines a realistic war environment, similar to what U.S. troops have been fighting in. However, he notes that combining two organizations, while maintaining the mission and culture, is going to be their biggest challenge.
“When two organizations merge, it’s [essential] to be considerate of the needs of both pieces,” Stevenson said. “We’ve got a culture at this school [aboard Quantico] of how we want operate and train because we have fewer students, and they have a different culture because they cycle through a lot more Marines, around 3,000 a year.”
— Writer: afelton@quanticosentryonline.com