Thursday, June 01, 2006
The Towers
The last few days were busy as we kicked off an operation to build several observation towers along a small paved road that is the major thoroughfare in 1st Battalion’s area of operations. The engineers, of the 9th Engineer Support Battalion from Okinawa, worked diligently and completed the project in under half the amount of time they had advertised. The enemy stayed fairly quiet, but he did lob a couple of mortars and take a few potshots at the engineers, which didn’t slow them down a bit. I have to admit they impressed me, and moved “Group” engineers up a notch in my estimation.
A bit of explanation – I spent three years, from 1998 to 2001, as an enlisted combat engineer in a reserve unit in Virginia. We were part of the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, which in turn fell under the 4th Marine Division. Combat engineers have one of the most diverse missions in the Marine Corps. They exist in three distinct units.
First is the Combat Engineer Battalion (CEB) that falls under a Marine Division. These guys are frequently called “Division” engineers, and are the ones that respond when the infantry calls, “Engineers up!” They do most of the breaching and fortification in support of frontline combat units. In 4th CEB, we spent considerable time working on patrolling and other infantry skills, because in time of war we would be called on to not just keep up with the grunts, but often go ahead of them when they needed our skills to breach obstacles. Division engineers are usually well respected by the grunts, they are probably the only other group of Marines that a grunt will grudgingly admit might be as tough as he is. The engineer platoon that was attached to my infantry battalion last year was as tough and hardworking a group of Marines as anyone else in the battalion.
Next is the Engineer Support Battalion (ESB), which is part of the Marine Logistics Group (MLG). Hence my use of the term “Group” engineers. They focus more on construction tasks, and usually conduct the bulk of the vertical and horizontal construction in support of Marine ground units. They are not considered a frontline combat unit, which has always put them below the Division engineers in my opinion.
Finally, there is the Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS). They perform general engineering tasks, such as construction, in support of the Marine Air Wings. To be honest, I know very little about the MWSS engineers, having never really been around them. For that matter, I know very little about the Marine Air Wings, since I have been down in the weeds my entire time in the Marine Corps. The Wing is considered by most grunts to be the “land of milk and honey”, where the chow is always hot and the life is easy. Of course, it’s not really true, many of the Marines in the Air Wing work insane hours trying to keep the aircraft flying, but that’s how we view them.
As a grunt, I am typically biased against “pogues” (sometimes spelled as an acronym, POG). A pogue is any Marine that does not hold an infantry-related military occupational specialty (MOS). That’s not to say I believe a pogue is any less of a Marine than I am, but they just aren’t grunts. It’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t lived the life of a grunt. Of course, the neat lines of MOS tend to fade a bit out in the Fleet, as you can usually find Marines in non-infantry specialties that perform many of the same tasks and more. Division engineers and my fellow ANGLICO Marines are both excellent examples of non-infantry Marines that I don’t consider pogues. Group engineers do not fall in that category.
However, as I mentioned before, the engineers of 9th ESB put on an impressive display of determination as they finished constructing the towers, and from now on I will be a little less contemptuous of the Group engineers.
They’re still pogues… ¶ Thursday, June 01, 2006
The last few days were busy as we kicked off an operation to build several observation towers along a small paved road that is the major thoroughfare in 1st Battalion’s area of operations. The engineers, of the 9th Engineer Support Battalion from Okinawa, worked diligently and completed the project in under half the amount of time they had advertised. The enemy stayed fairly quiet, but he did lob a couple of mortars and take a few potshots at the engineers, which didn’t slow them down a bit. I have to admit they impressed me, and moved “Group” engineers up a notch in my estimation.
A bit of explanation – I spent three years, from 1998 to 2001, as an enlisted combat engineer in a reserve unit in Virginia. We were part of the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, which in turn fell under the 4th Marine Division. Combat engineers have one of the most diverse missions in the Marine Corps. They exist in three distinct units.
First is the Combat Engineer Battalion (CEB) that falls under a Marine Division. These guys are frequently called “Division” engineers, and are the ones that respond when the infantry calls, “Engineers up!” They do most of the breaching and fortification in support of frontline combat units. In 4th CEB, we spent considerable time working on patrolling and other infantry skills, because in time of war we would be called on to not just keep up with the grunts, but often go ahead of them when they needed our skills to breach obstacles. Division engineers are usually well respected by the grunts, they are probably the only other group of Marines that a grunt will grudgingly admit might be as tough as he is. The engineer platoon that was attached to my infantry battalion last year was as tough and hardworking a group of Marines as anyone else in the battalion.
Next is the Engineer Support Battalion (ESB), which is part of the Marine Logistics Group (MLG). Hence my use of the term “Group” engineers. They focus more on construction tasks, and usually conduct the bulk of the vertical and horizontal construction in support of Marine ground units. They are not considered a frontline combat unit, which has always put them below the Division engineers in my opinion.
Finally, there is the Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS). They perform general engineering tasks, such as construction, in support of the Marine Air Wings. To be honest, I know very little about the MWSS engineers, having never really been around them. For that matter, I know very little about the Marine Air Wings, since I have been down in the weeds my entire time in the Marine Corps. The Wing is considered by most grunts to be the “land of milk and honey”, where the chow is always hot and the life is easy. Of course, it’s not really true, many of the Marines in the Air Wing work insane hours trying to keep the aircraft flying, but that’s how we view them.
As a grunt, I am typically biased against “pogues” (sometimes spelled as an acronym, POG). A pogue is any Marine that does not hold an infantry-related military occupational specialty (MOS). That’s not to say I believe a pogue is any less of a Marine than I am, but they just aren’t grunts. It’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t lived the life of a grunt. Of course, the neat lines of MOS tend to fade a bit out in the Fleet, as you can usually find Marines in non-infantry specialties that perform many of the same tasks and more. Division engineers and my fellow ANGLICO Marines are both excellent examples of non-infantry Marines that I don’t consider pogues. Group engineers do not fall in that category.
However, as I mentioned before, the engineers of 9th ESB put on an impressive display of determination as they finished constructing the towers, and from now on I will be a little less contemptuous of the Group engineers.
They’re still pogues… ¶ Thursday, June 01, 2006
