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Raider Battalion Trains Line Company Infantry Marines in CQB
Published 3 years ago
Members of the Marine Raider Battalion work with the line company infantry Marines of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines to help them gain a better understanding and mastery of close quarters battle.
One of the biggest take-aways from Operation Iraqi Freedom was that conventional military forces had simply not spent enough time learning to fight in an urban environment. While the primary focus of the Marine Corps for the past years has been bolstering the rest of the Marine Corps to prepare for a fight against a peer-level force, one thing the Marine Corps will not soon forget is the lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Going into Iraq and Afghanistan, Marines simply did not know that they did not know how to fight house-to-house. 2004 to 2006 was a serious period of learning for the Marine Corps Infantry. No-longer was the focus of the fight about moving through the tree-line and establishing a patrol base. No-longer was the focus of the fight establishing a hasty ambush from cover and concealment. The fight was now centered about moving through an ever-changing 3-dimensional environment where threats could and would present themselves at every opportunity.
To prepare the Infantry Marines for continued urban operations, the Raider battalion has started working with conventional line company infantry Marines. The goal of this training is to use steel to sharpen steel. The Raiders know that one day they may be relying on these infantry Marines to maneuver in tandem with them through an urban environment. As a result, they are bringing their skills to the table, and teaching the regular infantryman tactics he needs to operate better in that environment.