(Via Milinet)

Marine Times
Published: 07-17-00
Category: HEADLINE
Page: 18

Recon Battalion Restored To Core Battlefield Functions

By Gidget Fuentes

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Here, at Camp Margarita, history has a
way of
repeating itself, most recently during the June reactivation of
1st
Reconnaissance Battalion.

The move restores a battalion to the 1st Marine Division, eight
years after
the post-Gulf War Corps planned to eliminate recon battalions as
a downsizing
measure.

Pushed by the commandant's mandate to "fix recon," top Marine
Corps officials
wanted a recon battalion, instead of a recon company, at each of
the Corps'
three divisions.

So the 1st Recon Company became the 1st Recon Battalion on June
8, several
days after a redesignated 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion -- a
combination of
the 3rd Recon Company and the 5th Force Recon Battalion --
officially stood
up June 2 on Okinawa, Japan.

In addition to a new structure, 1st Recon also has changed its
philosophy,
roles and missions.

Lt. Col. Michael J. Paulovich, battalion commander, credits Maj.
Gen. Gregory
Newbold, commander of the 1st Marine Division, with returning
the recon
battalion to its core battlefield functions of maneuver,
intelligence and
fires.

"He really emphasizes the aspect of why you need a recon force
-- for
scouting," Paulovich said. "His idea is that you have to have
people to go to
the front to maneuver."

The focus of 1st Recon Battalion -- Marine Recon's time-tested
motto is
"swift, silent, deadly" -- is to get back to battlefield
functions of
patrolling and scouting.

"Patrolling," said Paulovich, "is our bread-and-butter."

Unlike Force Recon units, which select men seasoned in infantry
and ground
combat skills, division recon units are predominantly made up of
more junior
Marines, often fresh out of the school of infantry.

It's then up to the battalion to train these Marines for their
new jobs.

"The battalion's heyday was right before Guadalcanal. They had
created a
training base that was unparalleled," said Paulovich, who
previously served
with the 2nd Recon Battalion.

The backbone of that solid training base, he said, was a
highly-skilled group
of noncommissioned officers.

"That place was a factory for NCOs and for junior officers," he
said.

"We've got a void right now in young NCOs," he said. "I tell
people that the
most important thing we do here is to train NCOs. We train the
future."

That future relies on the new Recon Marines, most of whom are
riflemen, MOS
0311, recruited from the schools of infantry or infantry units.

Those who complete the Basic Reconnaissance Course, a 91/2-week
course at the
Expeditionary Warfare Training Group-Pacific, or the Amphibious
Recon School
on the East Coast, are assigned recon MOS 0321. Riflemen also
are assigned to
the battalion and put through an on-the-job training program to
learn basic
recon skills.

Paulovich hopes the battalion's Marines Awaiting Training
program will stem
attrition at BRC and get Marines into shape to complete the
initial recon
course.

After training, the Recon Marine is assigned to a platoon to
hone individual
and team training skills.

They attend the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School
and the
Marine Combatant Dive School.

"Everybody in the unit is a diver," Paulovich said. Some also
may go to
sniper, Ranger, pathfinder or jump school. The battalion, for
now, has
limited jump billets.

Also, all Recon Marines learn basic medical skills, including
cardiopulmonary
resuscitation, Paulovich said. That's important when a Marine
has to step in
if the team corpsman is busy treating a wounded buddy.

"If the corpsman gets shot, we're able to do a lot of the
medical stuff,"
said Sgt. Maj. John J. Sixta, battalion sergeant major.

The battalion is looking at future enhancements in equipment and
mobility,
including new boats and fast-attack vehicles, and considering
other types of
transportation, such as motorcycles and bicycles.

Improved and lighter optics and communications gear also are in
the works.

Division recon provides the "eyes and ears" of the division and
its regiments
through its amphibious and ground reconnaissance operations.

Deeper, long-range reconnaissance and intelligence gathering
over a larger
area are among the roles of the Corps' more-specialized Force
Recon units.

The battalion is a leaner version of a typical battalion, with
three
companies -- Headquarters and Service, Alpha and Bravo.

The intelligence officer commands H&S Company and oversees
battalion aid,
headquarters section and support sections.

Alpha and Bravo companies each will have four platoons. Each
platoon is being
configured with separate teams focusing on amphibious, air and
mobility
skills.

The battalion continues to assign recon teams to battalion
landing teams
deploying with Marine expeditionary units and general support
platoons for
division units. It's supporting air-ground task forces and units
in division
exercises such as Kernel Blitz, plus scheduled combined arms
exercises and
weapons and tactics instructor courses.

So far, 1st Recon Marines have supported two battalion-level
field exercises
in recent months.

"It was proof that it would work," Paulovich said of the
streamlined
structure. The next battalion exercise is set for August.

Bravo Company will support the Marine Corps Warfighting
Laboratory's Project
Metropolis, a series of experiments in urban fighting later this
year.

"We're real excited about ProMet," Paulovich said. "Without
spending money,
we'll just try some new technologies. That's what we're all
about --
patrolling and scouting."



Gidget Fuentes covers West Coast units and can be reached via
email at
gidgetf@earthlink.net.


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Ah! Kenneth Houghton and Ernie DeFazio, if they are alive, must be hurrah-ing or, if dead, smiling down on us mere mortals from Valhalla.