By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Recruit Scott Youngblood, Amphibious Squadron 8 Public Affairs

USS NEW YORK, At Sea (NNS) — A film crew from Discovery Channel got underway with amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) Jan. 27 to document shipboard life and training evolutions for the network’s TV series “Mighty Ships.”

Discovery Channel has featured more than 30 different ships, from freighters to luxury liners, and is now embarked with New York while participating in Certification Exercise (CERTEX) and Bold Alligator 2012. The show will depict the working relationship between the Navy and Marine Corps services.

CERTEX is the final certification for deployment for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group. Bold Alligator 2012 is the largest naval amphibious exercise in the past 10 years.

“We wanted to show how two factions of the military work seamlessly together to train and prepare for deployment,” said Chris Gargus, the film crew director of photography.

Gargus has been on several Navy vessels while filming for “Mighty Ships.”

“The enormous complexity of these fascinating vehicles coming aboard such as the ‘floating tanks’ and the massive LCACs (Landing Craft Air Cushion) and the noise they create, combined with the precision of the crew, that’s what fits the category of Mighty Ships,” said Gargus.

Even after being aboard the New York for nearly a week, it hasn’t been easy for the film crew to adjust to a shipboard lifestyle, explained Gargus.

“It’s overwhelming as a civilian coming on board a ship, trying to figure out how everything works, and who does what,” said Mark Stevenson, director and writer for this episode. “Even with two camera crews, we can only be in two places at once. Having [Sailors] help us with that is critical because otherwise we would not be able to do it.”

“Everyone has been very helpful, the efficiency of the ship’s Sailors for making things happen for the film crew has been very impressive,” continued Stevenson.

The film crew made its way through the ship’s passageways and spaces, interviewing Sailors on topics ranging from flight deck operations to Visit Board Search and Seizure procedures.

“They asked me about the different pressures during evolutions pertaining to boatswains out at sea, and directing Sailors under some of the most dangerous conditions underway,” said Boatswains Mate Chief Warrant Officer Keith Shaw. “We wanted Discovery to understand if we’re not on our ‘A’ game one hundred percent of the time, there is a potential for loss of life; we stay ready so we don’t have to get ready.”

“This episode revolves on the integration of Sailors and Marines, and how the two groups work together to complete many different tasks aboard the ship while out to sea,” said Gargus.

“We were told from the beginning there is a great rivalry between the two, everything from sports to everything else,” said Gargus. “Everyone’s got their jokes about each other. But I saw a Navy hand reach out and a Marine arm come up from a rope ladder hanging off the side of the ship and pull that man up, and at that moment, they’re both part of the same brethren, performing the same action and looking out for each other.”

New York is set to be featured in season six of “Mighty ships.” The episode is slated to air in six to eight months when New York will be well into its maiden deployment scheduled for spring 2012.

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OFF THE COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA — The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and their Navy counterparts of Amphibious Squadron 8 kicked off their final training evolution today to prepare their Marines and sailors for an upcoming deployment this spring.

Certification Exercise, commonly called CERTEX, is the third at-sea exercise for the Navy-Marine team and is intended to test their ability to rapidly plan and respond to a variety of crises during the next three weeks.

Over the weekend, approximately 2,300 Marines loaded the three amphibious assault ships of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which includes the USS Iwo Jima, USS New York and USS Gunston Hall.

The Marines worked around the clock to load the essential aircraft, vehicles and equipment that constitute a Marine Air Ground Task Force, which they will put to the test while refining their skills before heading across the Atlantic into the European and Central Command areas of operation.

The 24th MEU/PHIBRON 8 team will conduct training missions in North Carolina and Virginia in the coming days, which will include a Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel, mechanized raids, long-range aviation raids, and a response to a multiple casualty situation. These missions are based on a continuous fictitious scenario that has developed throughout the MEU’s six-month work-up cycle that has the unit operating off the coast of unstable countries who requested support from the United States.

A unique addition to this final exercise will be the integration of an unmanned aerial vehicle, which will deploy with the 24th MEU. This will be the first East Coast MEU to deploy with a UAV, which they will use to gather aerial imagery.

The 24th MEU’s CERTEX is also being included in the scenario driving Bold Alligator, the largest amphibious exercise conducted off the East Coast in 10 years.

The 24th MEU will conduct some missions in support of this larger exercise, but will mostly focus on its own mission essential tasks they are required to execute prior to deploying.

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12/7/2011 By 24th MEU Public Affairs Office, 24th MEU

USNS ARCTIC — In September 2010, Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit boarded the cargo vessel Magellan Star to reclaim it from pirates in the Gulf of Aden – the mission was a success.

In order to handle similar threats, Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit spent Dec. 4-7 training to capture vessels from enemy forces during three simulated Expanded Visit, Board, Search and Seizure, missions on the USNS Arctic.

Called VBSS for short, the mission is focused on gaining control of vessels while underway at sea that may be under control of pirates or suspected of smuggling weapons. The ‘expanded’ version of VBSS combines the ability to board a vessel simultaneously by using helicopter and boat.

Marines and Sailors of the 24th MEU’s Force Reconnaissance Platoon and Security Element, Headquarters and Service Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, have been taking part in an extensive training package to prepare and certify them to conduct VBSS missions. This exercise was the first chance the Marines were able to execute a full-scale mission onto another vessel while at sea.

The unique ability added by fast roping – basically sliding down a rope from a hovering helicopter onto the ship’s deck – gives the Marines flexibility and confuses the uncooperative personnel on the target vessel.

“Expanded VBSS masses forces and creates a dilemma to the person on board that’s trying to defend against us,” said Capt. Patrick Madden, the Force Reconnaissance platoon commander. “We come aboard, maintain an initial foothold on the vessel, seize the bridge, seize the engine room … at the end of the day our goal is to board the noncompliant vessel and make it compliant.”

In each EVBSS mission, Marines traveled from the USS Iwo Jima via helicopter and USS New York using Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) to board the USNS Arctic, which was labeled as a weapon’s smuggling ship for an insurgent faction in a fictional country. Once aboard the Marines stalked room to room with those from the helicopter clearing top to bottom, while those boarding via boats cleared bottom to top, all while under the evaluation of instructors, according to Madden.

During the missions, Marines faced a variety of scenarios including finding suspected weapons caches and hostile pirates. Role players also acted as friendly civilian crew and hostile enemy forces, the latter often hiding in the ship’s dark crevasses.

“The intent for using role players is to provide an extra training aid. They provide the Marines the human aspect of the training. Some of the guys will have guns, some of the guys will be hostile, some of the guys will be clean, they don’t know,” said Sgt. Christopher Whited, a VBSS instructor with Special Operations Training Group, the Marine Corps’ training cadre responsible for preparing a MEU for specific missions like VBSS before they deploy.

Some of the hostile role players had something extra in store for the Marines as they boarded – live paintball rounds that sting on impact and burst showing that a Marine has been shot. Such close quarters tactics were perfected prior to embarking on ship.

“They did a five week shooting package that taught them to become super proficient with their weapons,” Carpenter said. “When you’re on ship, all these lines and all these gas hoses mean something. So when you shoot, you want to hit the target.”

The VBSS force was also tested in its abilities to care for, and evacuate, casualties that were assessed in the lower decks of the ship, properly handle detainees and effectively search the ship for evidence.

As the 24th MEU prepares for its deployment next year, they are taking to heart the lessons learned from the 15th MEU and from their extensive training because the piracy threat continues throughout regions of the world they will deploy to.

“Piracy is a real-world threat,” said Capt. Robert Carpenter, the senior instructor for VBSS with the Special Operations Training Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force. “Piracy is happening more than the average American knows about.”

The VBSS training is a smaller part of Composite Training Unit Exercise, scheduled to take place Nov. 28 to Dec. 21. COMPTUEX is meant to test the 24th MEU and Amphibious Squadron 8 (PHIBRON in conducting various missions they could face while deployed. The exercise is focused on building cohesion between the 24th MEU and PHIBRON 8 in conducting amphibious operations, crisis response, and limited contingency operations while operating from the sea.
Orig Article here

http://www.marines.mil/unit/24thmeu/Pages/111207-EVBSS.aspx

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