US marines conduct Exercise Chromite

The US marines with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment at Combat Town facility on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, US, have conducted Exercise Chromite at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, US.

During the drill, marines conducted combat town scenarios involving missions such as tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel, chemical weapon search and seizure, amphibious assaults and improvised explosive device recognition techniques.

2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment infantry officer2nd Lieutenant Chet Shaffer said that the exercise offers a chance to rotating unit deployment programme infantry regiments to boost their tactical and operational planning skills.

"It allowed (Marines) to get used to dealing with different units and assets and it lets a platoon commander reach out and see all the assets he has available when the actual mission comes into play," Shaffer added.

Currently, the two regiments are assigned to 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, under the unit deployment programme.

3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, platoon commander, 1st Lieutenant Michael Davidson said: "Many times in training there isn’t an opposing force, so this made it more real and we received some good feedback on what we can improve on with both our offensive and defensive tactics."

Designed to enhance warfighting capabilities, the exercise involved training scenario such as clearing and securing a mock chemical weapons facility guarded by an opposing force.

Image: US Marines conduct mission during Exercise Chromite. Photo: Photo by Lance Cpl. Matt Myers.