Well, sort of... The Marines are coming into town for "Realistic Urban Training," where they will conduct an exercise:
U.S. Marines will conduct reconnaissance and surveillance, then raid a mock terrorist cell during a special training exercise in Chatham Nov. 1-3.
The "Realistic Urban Training," or RUT, exercise is designed to duplicate the kind of situations Marines often encounter in the field, said Capt. Kelly Fushour, public affairs officer for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
"Any time we can do training off base, it's a good thing," she said." It's training we can't replicate on base."
According to Frushour, about 100 Marines will take part in the three-day Chatham exercise, which is being conducted with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Role players" posing as Al Queda terrorists are scheduled to arrive Thursday, Nov. 1, and will be "inserted" in a house in town. [link]
Works for me! Any support and assistance our citizens can give to the training of our armed forces should be offered unstintingly - and maybe we'll have some part in hunting those murderous barbarians down and sending them on to the "72 Virginians" who are waiting for them!
When I was down in DC at the Marine Museum they were talking about this...I guess they set it up in NC somewhere (near LeJeune) and it was a great experience for the Marines...and the people of the town. There's one in Ohio and upstate NY as well. I think they have one in Cali near Pendleton as well.
Posted by: Raven | October 24, 2007 at 09:01 PM