A training ground as beautiful as the front lines are hellish
Tue 03 Nov 2009
Marines head out on patrol during training exercises at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. The mountainous terrain prepares Marines for Afghanistan's cold, snowy winters, rugged landscape where communication is difficult and high altitudes where breathing is labored and the trajectory of bullets is difficult to gauge.
Reporting from Bridgeport, Calif.-- For thousands of U.S. Marines, the road to Afghanistan goes through an isolated training facility here in the Eastern Sierra where they share the rugged Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest with civilian hunters, backpackers and skiers.
On a recent weekend, several hundred Marines were on an overnight march to test their land navigation, communication and outdoor survival skills. As they returned to base camp Sunday morning, hunters dressed in orange vests were driving their four-wheel-drive vehicles up the mountain in hopes of bagging deer.
The two groups exchanged courteous waves: one using the mountains to train for war, the other for weekend recreation.
Col. Norman Cooling, an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran who runs the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center here, notes with some amusement an oddity in the Pentagon's agreement with the U.S. Forest Service: Civilian hunters can use live ammunition but Marines, except in designated ranges, are restricted to blanks.
In the last year, 13,541 Marines, sailors and foreign troops have trained at Bridgeport, an increase of 238% over the previous year. More increases are expected.
On a recent weekend, several hundred Marines were on an overnight march to test their land navigation, communication and outdoor survival skills. As they returned to base camp Sunday morning, hunters dressed in orange vests were driving their four-wheel-drive vehicles up the mountain in hopes of bagging deer.
The two groups exchanged courteous waves: one using the mountains to train for war, the other for weekend recreation.
Col. Norman Cooling, an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran who runs the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center here, notes with some amusement an oddity in the Pentagon's agreement with the U.S. Forest Service: Civilian hunters can use live ammunition but Marines, except in designated ranges, are restricted to blanks.
In the last year, 13,541 Marines, sailors and foreign troops have trained at Bridgeport, an increase of 238% over the previous year. More increases are expected.
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