Marine Corps Base Quantico -- The humvee rumbles at 40 mph over sandy hills, passing palm trees, scraggly bushes, and the occasional shalwar kameez-clad figure. A heavy, nervy silence fills the vehicle. Up top, the gunner swivels in slow arcs, scanning the horizon.
Suddenly, there’s a round of gunfire and the vehicle ahead topples to its side and erupts in flames. As if in slow motion, the humvee rolls by the fiery wreck.
“Six is out. We need to turn around,” barks the vehicle commander.
The humvee circles and returns to the smoking crash.
“Six, are you OK? Is anyone alive?”
In the blink of an eye, the ruined vehicle disappears, leaving only empty desert.
This was a demonstration of the Virtual Combat Convoy Trainer, a training simulator housed in trailers at Camp Upshur on Marine Corps Base Quantico’s West Side. The driver, vehicle commander, back-seaters, and gunner in the humvee were part of a group of Marine Corps Association & Foundation members and guests who toured Marine Corps Base Quantico on Oct. 2.
The group was given a command brief at Officer Candidate School before visiting Camp Upshur. In the afternoon, they toured The Basic School, viewed a Marine Corps Martial Arts Program demo, and visited Marine Helicopter Squadron-1.
“The purpose of our tour is to engage with veteran and retired Marines and Friends of the Corps who want to know more about our mission and want to learn more about the training of today’s Marines,” Stacey Churchill, Director of Operations for the Marine Corps Association & Foundation, said. “I hope our guests were inspired by today’s Marines and the intentional and thoughtful way in which they are trained. For those veteran and retired Marines in the group, I hope they were able to reconnect with the Corps, take pride in their heritage, and know that their Marine Corps is in great hands.”
Scott Armitage, field service representative, introduced the visitors to the purpose of the Virtual Combat Convoy Trainer.
“Marines have to develop non-visual verbal communication skills in a combat situation,” he said. “This lets them practice how to work together in a team. They all say ‘it’s easy’ … until they do it.”
Anoop Prakash, a veteran Marine who is now Managing Director for Harley Davidson in Toronto, Canada, was the driver in one of the simulation bays.
“It was a high stimulus environment,” he said. “It really forces you to improve your [situational awareness]. You’re on high alert.”
Robert Eckert, Regional Director for Ameriprise Financial from Alexandria, Va., was the spare gunner in one of the simulators. He said he had a blast but also gained an understanding of the crucial necessity of effective communication for Marines in combat convoys.
“It was all fun and games for us,” he said. “But you see how having one bad person in the vehicle could be the difference between life and death.”
The group also demoed the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer at Camp Upshur, where they tested three guns currently used by the Marines in combat: the M240G, the M249 SAW, and the M2 .50 CAL.
Sergeant Christopher Scoblic instructed the group on proper use of the weapons and briefed them on ISMT. He said that 17,000 people use the simulator annually, including active duty and reserve Marines, civilians, and members of the other armed forces.
“We use this for weapons familiarization,” he explained. “It saves time and ammo if Marines can get the basics down here first.”
In Friday’s simulated scenario, the tour group members were positioned on a hill and tasked with taking out three armored vehicles and the vehicle occupants.
“I found it exhilarating,” said Thomas Wright, a Merril Lynch director from Clearwater, Fl. “But I couldn’t tell whether I was scoring or not. And in this scenario, we all walked away. That doesn’t always happen in real life.”
Wright was in the Army from 1972 to 1975. His son graduated from TBS in 2001.
Anoop Prakash left the Marine Corps in 1999. He wanted to come back to Quantico to see where he did his training.
“To see the training advanced so much from when I was here is just great,” he said. “But at its core, it hasn’t changed. Being here brings back a lot of emotion, but in a positive way. Being in the Marines was the greatest thing I ever did.”
— Writer: auphausconner@quanticosentryonline.com