Events Update
Matthew S. Reid
Commanding Officer
UPDATE FROM THE COMMANDING OFFICER FROM MOHAVE VIPER
15 July, 2010 (Twentynine Palms, CA): Family and friends of 2/1 rest assured that your battalion is doing well through the first few weeks of exercise Enhanced Mojave Viper. This five week exercise is "the" major event to prepare the battalion for Afghanistan. Since arriving and training began we have all been challenged like never before; yet still set the standard for excellence. This success was despite temperatures routinely hovering around 110 degrees in the day and 90 at night.
The training is hard and relentless. The Marines and Sailors are learning everything from how to defeat improvised explosive devises to first aid and basic infantry skills like shooting machine guns and handling explosives. We are also learning non-traditional skills for infantryman such as dealing with the local Afghan population and operating in an environment against an elusive enemy. The battalion has tanks, combat engineers, amphibious assault vehicles and more attached to it to support training.
We have a few more weeks of a grueling training schedule ahead of us, but the battalion is ready for the challenge. It won't be too long and we'll be back under the shadow of the hills of Camp Horno. Time with our families and loved ones is on all of our minds. I will continue to send updates as the opportunity presents itself. In the meantime, thanks for your continuing and undying support for the battalion and its Marines and Sailors. We couldn't succeed in this training without you.
Semper Fidelis,
LtCol Matthew S. Reid
Matthew S. Reid
Commanding Officer
Update # 2 from the Commanding Officer
One final update from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. The Marines and Sailors of 2/1 have wrapped up their individual and company training and the battalion is gearing up to begin its battalion field exercise or "FEX".
Over the last two weeks the Marines and Sailors of 2/1 have distinguished themselves as true mountain warriors. Operating at elevations upwards of 10,000 feet they routinely made long and arduous cross country movements carrying their combat gear.
Adding to the stress - unlike the first week - this time the companies had to face an opposing force that was actively trying to attack and ambush them (don't worry, all blank fire). Regardless of the challenges, the companies rallied and set a fine example of Marine infantry skill and lethality.
The companies also spent a day in the high deserts of Hawthorne, Nevada conducting live fire training. They were able to fire their rifles, machine guns, mortars and build explosive charges. The ground was strewn with lava rocks and the hills were long and steep. It was still hard training, but a good chance to get off the mountain for a bit.
The week ahead promises more challenges and will undoubtedly be physically and mentally demanding. The three weeks here have been relentless, but we are all better Marines and Sailor for having endured it. When your Marines and Sailors return home they will be a little tired - but at the same time proud for the accomplishments that they achieved in the most stressful environmental and tactical environment the Marine Corps offers.
We all look forward to being home and spending time with our loved ones or just relaxing in the beautiful weather of Southern California! Thanks for standing by us and keeping the home fires burning!
Semper Fidelis,
LtCol Matthew S. Reid
Commanding Officer
2d Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment
COMMANDING OFFICER’S UPDATE FROM BRIDGEPORT
Matthew S. Reid
Commanding Officer
Greetings from MWTC! I have just a moment to send an update before I join the companies in the mountains. This week is the battalion's "mobility" training. It consists of moving cross country through the mountains for miles at a time, often in the snow and mud as the men carry their full gear and weapons. Once at their destinations they will get various classes on survival, navigation, and other mountain warfare skills.
As I type this update Fox and Golf Companies are struggling against the mountains on their first long-range cross country movements with their combat gear.
Echo and Weapons are conducting survival training and a class on stream crossings. During the stream crossings all the Marines and Sailors will have to actually cross a freezing cold river that is as deep as their chests - flowing with water from melted snow.
H&S Company is spread out between Echo, Fox, Golf, and Weapons during this week's training.
Myself, the SgtMaj, and the staff conducted the culminating event for a planning exercise by hiking cross country up to the top of rock out-cropping to get a good look at ground where the battalion will eventually train. The SgtMaj and I will soon be on our way to join the companies and do the training alongside them.
I hope all is well back at Camp Pendleton. We will all have a much better appreciation for Camp Horno upon our return.
Semper Fi,
Matthew S. Reid
LTCOL USMC
Commanding Officer
2d Battalion, 1st Marines
Santee mayor’s mission: Back the troops
Voepel leads Marine-support effort
By Michele Clock, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 1:02 a.m.
Nelvin C. Cepeda / Union-Tribune
Marine Cpl. Kyle Smit provides security during a simulation last weekend at Camp Pendleton as the mayor of Santee, Randy Voepel, and Marines met with mock Afghan leaders.
A Marine convoy rumbles down a bumpy dirt road at Camp Pendleton known as “improvised explosive device lane.” So far, it has been suspiciously quiet, and Lt. Col. Matthew Reid warns that the peace probably won’t last.
Then comes the near-deafening bang of a mock IED. Reid’s Marines quickly jump from their vehicles and start firing blanks at simulated enemies nearby.
Suddenly, a middle-aged man in khaki pants, a blue windbreaker and sneakers jumps from a Humvee, pulls out a disposable camera and snaps photos of the action.
Santee Mayor Randy Voepel is in a place few, if any, mayors go: a cutting-edge training exercise for a 1,000-Marine battalion preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.
Voepel and a small group of Santee residents are here because of an alliance formed years ago between the East County city and this Marine unit. The city is one of about 200 across the nation to pair with military units through the Los Angeles-area nonprofit America Supporting Americans. A few other local cities, including El Cajon and Solana Beach, have adopted units in the past.
Santee’s effort goes far beyond mailing care packages to troops overseas. For a city official to participate in hands-on training like the one at Camp Pendleton is rare, said Linda Patterson, founder and president of the nonprofit. “It’s kind of exceptional,” she said.
Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda - Union-Tribune
Santee Mayor Randy Voepel (center) walks with Marines training in a mock Afghan town at Camp Pendleton last weekend.
The city’s interest is fueled at least partly by Voepel’s personal experience. The three-term mayor remembers stepping off a plane in San Francisco as a 19-year-old Navy petty officer returning from Vietnam in 1970 and having protesters cuss at him and urinate on his uniform and bag. The police didn’t do anything, he said.
“I got very angry, and I told myself if I was ever in a position of money or responsibility I would never forget the 19-year-old sailor or Marine,” Voepel said.
The city adopted its first unit in 2003 after Voepel got a call suggesting the idea from staffers of former Rep. Duncan Hunter. Santee adopted another unit a year later.
When Reid’s Camp Pendleton-based 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, or the Miramar-based Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 deploy or return home, Voepel and other Santee volunteers organize parties for them. There is no set schedule for visits with troops during training exercises.
When troops are injured, the mayor visits them in the hospital and brings care packages with underwear, temporary cell phones and, in the past, little bottles of alcohol. He also has dressed as an elf at holiday parties.
“He’s quite a character,” said Bill Robb, the battalion’s family readiness officer. “I think the mayor is the focal point, but I think it’s been picked up by the whole City Council and the (Santee) Chamber of Commerce.”
Donors, volunteers, community groups, city staff and other council members contribute to the effort. Councilman John Minto, whose Marine cousin was killed in 2004 while fighting in Iraq and who has had other relatives in the military, was part of the group participating in the training last weekend. He called the decision to sponsor the units a “no-brainer.”
U.S. Marines prepare for deployment to Afghanistan
Voepel, 59, said he hasn’t sought attention or recognition for the work over the years, in part to try to protect the Marines’ privacy.
During last week’s training, Marines escorted Voepel and his group through an elaborate simulated Afghan village, introducing them to Afghan villagers and leaders and communicating with them through a translator.
It has taken time to build trust with the Marines, and it’s an ongoing task because of the rotating personnel, said Voepel, who is an insurance broker by day. Leadership at the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, changes every few years.
Sometimes Marines don’t return. The Camp Pendleton battalion has lost 28 Marines, and nearly 200 have been wounded in combat since 2003. The helicopter unit has had one injury since the city’s adoption, Voepel said.
Riding in a Humvee shortly after the mock IED explosion, Voepel reflected how much more somber the training has become over the past seven years.
“Now it’s down to business,” he said. “It’s deadly serious.”