How Marines Train for an Enemy Like North Korea

Tanks, F/A-18s, artillery, armored vehicles, and MV-22 tiltrotor Ospreys: Just another day of live-fire training at the Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif. PM was there to observe?at close range?the climax of the second-ever Integrated Training Exercise (ITX), a training event meant to prepare 800 Marines for deployment.

Unlike earlier training exercises, the Marines' imaginary enemies at the ITX are not insurgent infantry with rocket propelled grenades and roadside bombs. Instead, late last year the training personnel here set up a scenario in which Marines oppose battle tanks, mechanized infantry, and antiaircraft missiles.

America's most probable military opponents?rogue states, unsteady regimes, and proxies for other world powers?have arsenals of 20th-century weapons that pose a real risk to U.S. troops. Because their equipment and training are real threats, but do not quite measure up to the United States' capability, defense professionals call them near-peer competitors. The list includes Iran, China, and North Korea. Out on the mock battlefield in California, we watched elements of Third Battalion, Third Marines (3/3) try to drive these kinds of enemies out of a desert valley called Gays Pass.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/how-marines-train-for-an-enemy-like-north-korea?src=rss

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