SALINAS, Peru -- "He who wishes peace, should prepare for war; he who desires victory, should carefully train his soldiers.”
The above quote is universally attributed to Publius Favius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman military writer during the 4th century.
Centuries later, those words inspired the motto for the 24th Marine Regiment, “si vis pacem, para bellum” – if you want peace, prepare for war.
Living up to their motto, the Marines of Special Marine Air Ground Task Force 24 (SPMAGTF 24), comprised mainly of Marines from the 24th Marine Regiment, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., conducted an Amphibious Assault with Peruvian Marines on the desolate, Spartan beaches of Salinas, as part of Partnership of the Americas 2008.
The motto, if you want peace prepare for war, is an ‘in your face’ way of stating a universal truth and parallels the venerable Marine Corps motto of being “the most ready when the nation is the least ready”.
For most of the 500 plus Marines, this assault, the largest of its kind conducted on a regimental level, was the first time they have conducted an amphibious assault and for many the first time on ship.
“It’s been a long time since Marines have even done amphibious operations at this level,” said Maj Bill Sablan, Assistant Operations Officer, SPMAGTF 24. “With everything that’s been going on over the last seven years [the Long War] we’ve gotten away from our core capabilities…this allows them to see where the Marine Corps started.”
LtCol. Russell Scott, SPMAGTF 24 Operations Officer, parallels Sablan’s sentiments. “Ninety percent of the Marines of the SPMAGTF 24 are combat veterans from operations in Iraq, but most have never been on a ship much less an amphibious assault."
There is another aspect as to why we train with our allies.
“Training scenarios and bilateral exchanges address key aspects of multinational and combined operations such as technology standardization and common operating procedures that are vital to improving interoperability throughout Latin America," said Col Brent Dunahoe, Commanding Officer, SPMAGTF 24. “Only by working, communicating, knowing each other’s processes and procedures, can we hope to have the relationships we need in the event of a crisis requiring a multinational effort.”
Underscoring a commitment to understand each other's operating procedures, the U.S. Marines in Peru exchanged squads embedding them into each other’s assault forces reinforcing a requirement to understand processes between the allied nations while conducting combined operations.
"Living aboard a Peruvian ship and working hand in hand with the Peruvian Marines was a once in a life time experience," said 2ndLt Michael Becker, officer in charge of the embedded squad of Marines aboard the BAP Paita. "Having the chance to conduct an amphibious assault with, and helping them grow as a Corps while we also got a chance to practice amphibious assaults mitigated the challenges our own Marine Corps currently faces."
The SPMAGTF, comprised mainly of Marines from the 24th Marine Regiment, has the support of detachments from 3rd Force Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Anti-Terrorism Battalion, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Intelligence Support Battalion, 6th Communications Battalion, Marine Corps Systems Command and Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 764.
From Apr 18th until June 22nd, SPMAGTF 24 is in the US Southcom Area of Operations to conduct operations and exercises with Partner Nation military forces. The operations are looking to train a multinational force trained in combined naval operations with the objective of raising the level of joint operations, as well as seeking mutual confidence, cooperation and friendship.
It also looks to contribute to the regional stability via interaction, the exchange of professional experiences when it comes to planning, defense, combat doctrine, crisis management, logistics, communications and other themes of mutual interest.
The Marines of the SPMAGTF 24 are now combat hardened veterans with the experiences expected of Marines -- trained in Amphibious Assaults.
“This is why we are here to train with our Peruvian allies, ‘Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum.’ If you want peace we have to prepare for war,” Dunahoe said.
POA is an annual U.S. Marine Corps Forces South multi-national exercise in support of the Theater Security Cooperation Plan and UNITAS, a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored, multi-national naval exercise executed by U. S. Naval Forces Southern Command. POA 08 focuses on interoperability and theater security cooperation events, at sea and on shore. U.S. maritime forces work jointly
With partner nation governmental forces throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America to develop the relationships needed to ensure maritime security in the region.