Iraq-bound 2/23 has packed training schedule

[unhappycamper]

Marines from Fox Company 2/23 are lead by Gunnery Sgt. Mike Adams, left,as they march toward a mock-Iraqi village on Jan. 28 at Camp Pendleton.


Iraq-bound 2/23 has packed training schedule
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Feb 15, 2009 13:04:55 EST

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — When the Corps hands you lemons, a good CO won’t settle for lemonade — he’ll bake a lemon soufflé.

Two months before 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, was officially activated for its spring deployment to Iraq, the Reserve unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Joseph A. Cabell, launched an ambitious — albeit compressed — training regimen to prepare his Marines for the counterinsurgency mission that awaits them in the desert. It’s beginning to pay off

“We’re trying to cram 270 days of training into 90,” said Cabell, who oversees a battalion of 1,100 plus nearly 200 Marines with attached units, from his temporary command post on Camp Horno in January.

Beginning in October, Cabell had most of the battalion blanket Camp Pendleton’s ranges and spread out to other sites and schools for individual courses and small-unit level training. The clock was ticking, he thought, and there would be little time to rest.

One by one, the reservists began to knock off their pre-deployment requirements, from gas chamber and egress training to qualifications on new weapons and lasers. They delved into Arabic language and culture training.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/02/marine_reservetraining_021509w/%2e