MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- A small detachment of Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based Marines returned from Australia recently after supporting Southern Frontier 2003.
The 3d Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division unit, which is currently on an extended Unit Deployment Program in Okinawa, Japan, supported the second phase of the Marine Aircraft Group 12 exercise.
During their stay at Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, Australia, the 19 Marines and one Sailor detachment provided critical support to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 pilots as they conducted air-to-ground core competency training and close air support over the Delamere Range Facility.
Captain Geoffrey T. Tetterton, AV-8B pilot and detachment officer-in-charge, said his Marines provided air liaison to land forces and for the terminal control of aircraft while working as the Tactical Air Control Party.
With their 81 mm mortar high explosive and illumination rounds, the TACP Marines suppressed designated targets while F/A-18D Hornet pilots flew in for coordinated attacks.
"We mark the targets with illumination rounds so the pilots can easily find where they need to drop their bombs," said Lance Cpl. Robert S. Smith, 3d Bn., 8th Marines, fire direction control coordinator. "At the same time we suppress notional enemy anti-air defense batteries on the ground so they don't shoot the jets as they fly over."
In between multiple CAS missions each day, Tetterton said his Marines "have gotten in a lot of their own training."
"It is very important for us to keep our proficiency up as a mortar team," said Staff Sgt. Alterreck K. Rainey, 3d Bn., 8th Marines, section leader, especially since there are not many places in the Western Pacific that this type of training can be done.
"We can do true combined arms here which is really great," said Tetterton. "At a lot of the places we train the pilots can simulate close air support, but we can't do it for real. Because of Australia's wide open spaces it is one of the few places we can do true CAS."
Australia's ranges also offered both the pilots and ground support Marines the opportunity to work with high explosive bombs, something that gave both parties involved a greater feeling of realism.
"All the rounds go off differently, and they all have a different effect on the target" said Smith. "It is more realistic when you see the real thing, because if you have never seen a 500 or 1,000-pound bomb explode, you don't know how you are going to react."
Similar training can be done with simulation rounds, added Tetterton, "but there is a greater feeling of satisfaction knowing it is the real thing. It also gives you a better idea of what the bomb can do and how it will affect the enemy."
Corporal Curtis R. O'Neal, 3d Bn., 8th Marines, forward observer, said this exercise "has been a great opportunity to work with the air wing. It has given everyone involved the opportunity to see the whole picture instead of only knowing what happens on their end."
The detachment was replaced by 1st Bn., 25th Marines, and is currently supporting Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 212 during the third phase of Southern Frontier 2003.