Big game hunters help Marines track enemy

[unhappycamper]

Marine Cpl. Derrick Terrell, left, and Pfc. Philip Marino use their eyes and a thermal imaging camera to scan the scene during a two-week Combat Hunter training exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C.


Big game hunters help Marines track enemy
By Kevin Maurer - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 13, 2008 7:24:19 EDT

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The enemy hides among civilians on the urban battlefield, walking the same dusty streets and in the same crowded markets where Cpl. Derrick Terrell found himself during a yearlong deployment in Iraq.

The Marine rifleman said he was oblivious to his surroundings, a wartime environment where basic infantry skills of shooting straight and heading out onto patrol were no longer enough. It’s a potential weakness that led Terrell and hundreds of other Marines to spend time with big game hunters and police, learning to “hunt” for targets among the human landscape.

“I wish I had this training when I was there before,” Terrell said of his time last year in Iraq. “It helps take away the enemy’s advantage on us. I know what I am looking for now.”

Called Combat Hunter, a two-week program at Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton is designed to teach Marines how to observe, profile and track potentially dangerous individuals.

The program, which started in April 2007, grew out of a concept by Gen. James Mattis, who saw the need for hunting-related skills while overseeing combat forces at Camp Pendleton in California.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_combathunter_081208mil/