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Just a reminder:

Military Lurkers:

As several others have said,

This CANTEEN is FOR our Veterans; moreover, THIS CANTEEN IS FOR OUR TROOPS!

Quoting Tonk:

Feel free to e-mail me at seaside611@hotmail.com your ideas about what you would like to see in the Canteen.

A reminder to Canteen Crew NOT to post any responses they get UNLESS the person asked them to.

Today's FEEBLE attempt at humor:

A very thirsty man goes into a bar.

As he waits to get the bartender's attention, a regular sitting next to him calls out, "I'll have another waterloo."

The bartender gives the regular a tall ice cold drink and asks the newcomer what he would like. The thirsty man points to the man next to him and says, "I guess I'll have what he's having, a waterloo."

So the bartender brings the newcomer a tall ice cold drink. The man takes a long deep drink and calls out, "HEY! This isn't any good. It tastes just like water!"

The regular bar patron sitting next to him says, "It is water. That's all I drink," He turns to the bartender and says, "Right Lou?"

PFC Justin Kidder, TOW gunner, Weapons Platoon, 3/7, takes aim during the mechanized assault course Nov. 5 as part of CAX 2-03. Marines from 1st Tanks, 3/11 and D Co., 3rd AAVs joined 3/7 for the mechanized assault. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Brent Walker

Mech assault course hones combined-arms skills
Submitted by: MCAGCC
Story Identification Number: 20021118164512
Story by Cpl. Kristen Bennett

MCAGCC, Twentynine Palms, Calif.(November 15, 2002) -- Marines from 1st Tank Battalion; 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines; and Third Battalion, 11th Marines here demonstrated their combat skills at a mechanized-assault course during Combined-Arms Exercise-2-03.

"This exercise today is designed to give us a chance to practice synchronizing and putting together all the firepower we have from ground forces, indirect-fire artillery and from aviation," said Capt. David Banning, commanding officer, A Company, 1st Tanks. "It's going on all at the same place at the same time so we can close the objective, get the infantry in there and allow them to do their job."

Short of actual combat, this exercise was the most realistic thing the Marines have had the opportunity to participate in. All the training was performed with live ammunition including bombs and artillery shells.

"All the ordnance out here is live, so there's a lot of danger just in executing the exercise without enemy forces," said Banning. "We get to practice all the planning and coordination that is necessary in wartime here to make sure everything runs safely."

Aside from extra planning and coordination during the exercise, the Marines also took part in classes weeks before the exercise that covered many protective measures taken to keep everyone safe during training.

"The whole CAX program does a very good job of making sure we're prepared to execute this safely," said Banning. "We sat through about a week of classes covering the safety perimeters as far as how close we can be to the ordnance and bombs when they explode."

The Marines trained for this exercise, starting off at a small scale with infantry squads participating in live-fire attacks and building up to platoon- and company-level attacks.

"The CAX program starts with a crawl, walk, run approach," said Banning. "This is about the midway point of the whole thing."

"The point of this exercise is to get us more efficient and ready for combat," said PFC Justin May, tank driver, 1st Tanks. "We have to be ready so when the commander tells us to do something, it's automatic. That takes a lot of training."

First Lt. Mark Smith, executive officer, A Company, 1st Tanks, agreed that the exercise was beneficial in training combat-proficient Marines.

"The whole course allows us to work on continuing actions, the things we should always be doing like maintenance on the tanks and night security," said Smith. "It brings the whole combined-arms team together, making a miniature [Marine Air Ground Task Force]."

"We have jets, helicopters and, of course, the indirect side with artillery and all the maneuver pieces," said Banning. "This is a very good representative slice of a mini MAGTF."