Amphibious assault Marines prepare for combat

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — Marines with Delta Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, honed their skills as riflemen by conducting raids and urban warfare training along with dismounted security patrols at night this week.

The Marines of Delta Company, 3rd AABn, have changed their role in their deployments and now must train to adapt and overcome the obstacles presented to them by this change, said 1st Lt. Eric Benjamin, a platoon commander with Delta Company, 3rd AABn.

They lately have been operating as infantrymen in their last deployment and will repeat that role in the upcoming one.
Delta Company conducted night security patrols as rifle platoons in preparation for their deployment to Iraq in October, said Benjamin

“We’re doing nothing with amphibious assault vehicles on our next deployment, so we’re training as a grunt platoon now because that is how we’re being utilized,” said the Davenport, Iowa, native.    

The Marines are adapting well, learning from their training and preparing to succeed in a combat environment, said Benjamin. 
“Our mission lately has been as an extra infantry company attached to any deployed infantry battalion, and we serve as an extra company for the battalion commanders to utilize to accomplish their mission as they see fit,” said Master Sgt. Donald Vick, operations chief for Delta Company.

 “This sort of training is becoming more and more useful for us, a good mixture of our operations on deployment are done at night,” added Vick, the Saginaw, Mich., native.

The Marines adapted to their new role through the series of urban warfare training, learning the basics of what an infantry company does. 

“The training that we’ve been conducting this week has been pretty simple stuff, such as security patrols and urban terrain warfare training,” said Cpl. Raymond V. Dellapenta, a Delta Company fire team leader and an Eatontown, N.J., native. “Also, I think that it has been beneficial to the younger Marines who have never deployed with this unit before or even trained the way that we are right now, which is as infantrymen.”

The Marines of Delta Company, have gained lots of experience from their exercises and systematically break down what they have done in each exercise to improve and provide themselves knowledge into the tactics they are using, added Dellapenta.