MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Bengals of Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 blew in as part of the Unit Deployment Program here Aug. 6.
Native to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., the Bengals came directly from the Rim of the Pacific exercise (RIMPAC) in Hawaii.
“The Unit Deployment Program is here to support the (1st Marine Air Wing) objectives - basically, contingency operations,” Maj. Jeremy Hall, VMFA(AW)-224 operations officer, said.
The Bengals, commanded by Lt. Col. Joseph E. Maybach, will definitely have their skills tested during their approximately six-month tour here.
“These exercises afford us opportunities that we don't typically have in Beaufort,” said Hall.
During the squadron’s stay here, the Marines of 224 will continue the operational tempo established in Hawaii and shoot off to Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal, Australia, for exercise Southern Frontier.
After a month-long trek in the land down under, 224 will come back to Iwakuni briefly before swooping into the Philippines for Amphibious Landing exercise.
Again, 224 will return to Iwakuni before heading on to Kadena in support of exercise Wolmido Fury.
All these exercises will give the Bengals plenty of training opportunities.
“(The exercises are) primarily building on the everyday training that we do anyway, and then there are some skill sets that we do that are specific to this theater,” said Hall.
“Here we're doing everything to kind of hone those skills so that if we're called into a contingency, then we can effectively operate any missions that are given to us,” added Hall.
Besides theater-specific training, the Bengals will work bilaterally with other military forces and literally get to blast their way around the pacific.
“We are going to employ, between RIMPAC and Southern Frontier, on the order of about 160,000 pounds of ordnance,” said Hall.
“The ranges that are down there are pretty, pretty awesome ranges. In a nutshell, we can do things down there we can't do anywhere in the states,” said Hall.
The ranges in Australia allow supersonic flight over land and the employment of heavy, explosive ordnance.
Because the Bengals will be unleashing bombs like candy on Halloween, 224’s ordnance Marines will be tested.
“For a lot of young guys, this is their first opportunity to drop bombs on a live range because we don't get to do it a lot in the states,” Gunnery Sgt. Jason Baxley said.
“We make a lot of money over here for training,” he added.
The operational tempo established will keep the ordnance Marines working throughout their tour here.
“Everything is live, so everything's explosive - it's no longer training, no longer talking about it, no longer going out and just one hop and then 4 hours of work, instead it's 12 to 14 hours.”
Coming to Iwakuni in support of 1st MAW is no cake-walk for the squadrons, and because the Bengals will be shuffling around like dogs on the prowl, the issues are magnified.
“I would argue that being UDP in some ways it may be more challenging (than going to Iraq or Afghanistan),” said Hall.
Hall said being in the battle creates a lot of repetition for the Marines but trekking around the Pacific forces the Marines to deal with varying aircraft issues, different mission sets and a rapidly changing weather situation that is more extreme than typically faced in Beaufort, and even Iraq and Afghanistan.
Overarching all of these challenges is the logistical aspect.
“Probably the first and largest challenge for us to overcome is just the logistical aspects of moving a contingency-based squadron all over the pacific theater without the level of priority support you would typically receive in a true contingency,” said Hall.
Normally, squadrons have much more dedicated assets necessary to complete missions; however, here the Bengals will have to share with the rest of the Pacific theater.
Considering the one of a kind tactical tiger stripe-design on the squadron’s flag plane, they seem ready for the challenge.