St. Patrick's Day - Navy Dispatch

6 • www.navydispatch.com • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011
Career & Education
Pendleton instructors train Combat Center Marines to reach new heights
by Cpl. M. C. Nerl
Marines can fight in every
clime and place, but sometimes
they have to climb to get there.
Fortunately for Combat Center
Marines, they have a worldrenowned
rock climbing locale
just a rock’s throw from the main
gate in Joshua Tree National
Park, in Joshua Tree, Calif.
Forty warriors of 2nd Battalion,
7th Marine Regiment, took
advantage of this proximity and
near-perfect weather to strengthen
their vertical climbing skills
during a month-long Assault
Climbers Course at the national
park Tuesday.
The three-stage course began
Jan. 11 at 25 Area, Camp Vado
del Rio within Marine Corps
Base Camp Pendleton and is
currently in its second stage in
Joshua Tree. Those who survive
Joshua Tree will return to Camp
Pendleton’s Range 133 to take
on steep earth, cliff assaults, and
urban climbing techniques. Those
who make it to the crest will
graduate with either a Tactical
Rope Suspension Team or Lead
Climber certification during a
ceremony Feb. 11 at Marine
Corps Base Camp Pendleton,
Calif.
Marines began the first stage
Jan. 11 at Camp Pendleton, after
highly experienced instructors
with the Special Operations
Training Group, placed the
students in teams, or TRSTs. In
their teams, Marines were taught
all aspects of assault climbing
in extreme terrain, from tying
knots to scaling cliff faces as a
lead climber. They also learned
to rappel, use climbing anchors
and apply belays correctly, said
Gunnery Sgt. Eric N. Johnson,
the staff noncommissioned officer
in charge of the assault climbers
section, with SOTG.
“We began teaching them
every knot to tie, and for the first
two weeks it was just them tying
the 14 knots and learning the 11
rope systems.”
Johnson said the first two
weeks are a mental challenge.
“Right now we’re in our fourth
week of training.” Unfortunately,
half of the original 40 students
dropped out, figuratively, that is.
That is consistent with average
attrition rates, he said.
Although Marines may be able
to master the rope and climbing
techniques at ground level, doing
so atop the steep slopes of a giant,
slippery rock at Joshua Tree can
be too daunting a task.
“The first two weeks is
especially a mental challenge,”
said Johnson. “It gets hard
physically, but still that’s all
mental. It can be easy for [the
students] to lose their nerve
and not think they can make a
climb.”
Those Marines who make it
past the second week typically
get over any fear of heights
quickly, said Johnson. This will
pay off during the unit’s next
deployment this summer when
they become Battalion Landing
Team 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines,
the ground combat element for
the 31st Marine Expeditionary
Unit, based out of Marine Corps
Base, Okinawa, Japan.
Second Lt. Keefe Murtaugh,
the 1st platoon commander of
Company F, and a Chicago
native, said the course is a tough
test, but will pay off greatly when
they execute their mission as
BLT 2/7.
“A lot of the Marines sent here
will be on the boat company,”
said Murtaugh. “That mission,
which will include raids, will
require Marines to lead the way
when tasked with cliff assaults.
“Sometimes when assaulting
a beach, there will be cliffs we’ll
have to scale,” said Murtaugh.
Having a handful of Marines with
climbing skills who can provide security
at the top for the rest, will greatly increase
the odds of the mission’s success, he
said. Twenty-three days into the course,
Murtaugh said, the mental and physical
strain on the students is obvious.
“Most of us have little or no
experience when it comes to climbing.
A lot of the Marines are fairly fresh
from [the School of Infantry] and this
doesn’t apply to anything they’ve
experienced in the Marine Corps,” said
Murtaugh.
“All our hands are getting torn up,”
he said. “One thing we’ve been taught
is the fist-jam – to make a fist inside the
rock. Murtaugh said it works, but it is
hard. “Yeah it hurts, but the alternative
of falling is much worse.”
Lance Cpl. Corey Murphy, a rifleman
with Company F, from Tucson, Ariz., said
he expects to make it to the next stage and
eventually graduate, but said he quickly
discovered scaling the face of a cliff was
going to be harder than he thought.
“Just looking up at the side of the
rocks, you’d think there’d be all kinds
of places to plant your feet or grab with
your hands. But when you’re up there in
a tight spot, you just want to second guess
everything,” said Murphy. “Of course
the instructors taught us how to climb in
combat boots and how to place protection
to stop you from hitting the ground,” he
said. “But when you’re up there, it’s a
whole different story.”
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Lance Cpl. Corey Murphy, a rifleman with
Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment,
shimmies his way up a crevice in Joshua Tree
National Park in Joshua Tree, Calif., Feb. 1,
2011. The Marines have been working with
Special Operations Training Group assault
climber instructors, from Marine Corps Base
Camp Pendleton, Calif., in the park. USMC
photo by Cpl. M. C. Nerl.
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