VAZIANI TRAINING BASE, Georgia -- Any operation, whether in a combat zone or in a training environment, requires a place where all commands can be given and distributed. Marines with 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, set up a portable command operation center here July 13, to support the exercises for Immediate Response 2008.
Assembling the system is no easy task, according to Samuel Peters, a field service technician civilian contractor who maintains the equipment in the COC, but these Leathernecks have done it so many times, they’ve turned it into an art form. It took 10 Marines and two civilian contractors just under an hour to put it together.
“It’s a mobile command center with the latest technology that utilizes all of the Marines’ proprietary equipment into one system,” said Peters.
The COC will give the Marines and the Georgians the opportunity to control all operations from one central location.
“It’s a way for them to combine all their systems, so they have one way to do all their planning, communication and data storage right at their fingertips,” said Peters. “Basically, it gives the Marines an easier and safer way to complete their mission.”
Inside the COC is a multimedia center with a large screen, called a smart board, and a projector that allows any one of the six workstations to project what they have on their computer screen at any time.
“Individuals from each section sitting at these tables are integrated so they can send information to and from one another with the click of a mouse instead of having to pass word from one Marine to the next,” said Sgt. T. J. Williams, a 3/25 Marine and the COC non-commissioned officer in charge. “It cuts out all the middle men.”
The COC is most helpful in real combat situations, according to Peters. It is a way for the commanders and section heads to be in the loop while real-time communications is happening between the units, whether they are in a fire-fight, or in a training scenario.
Long-range radio transmissions are made possible by what Williams calls “the ant farm,” which is where all the radios, antennas and all the communications equipment outside the COC are located.
“They are at separate locations so that if the enemy triangulates your position, your brass, section heads and essential personnel remain safe so they can continue planning and get the information to and from one another without having to make phone calls from one shop to the next,” said Williams. “They can all participate in one room and look at the smart board. Whenever someone has something needing to be put out, he can just click a button, and everyone can see the information.”
The portability of the COC tents is important in case a unit has to move from one location to the next in a short period of time.
IR08 is an exercise in which the Marines and Sailors of 3/25 and elements from the U. S. Army Southern European Task Force and the 21st Theatre Sustainment Command train with the Georgian Ministry of Defense to improve joint, combined capabilities, understanding and strengthen regional cooperation.