MCAS Yuma to hold evacuation exercise Friday

Marines will be practicing evacuating civilians in the event of a natural disaster or other crisis on Friday evening as part of a twice-yearly training exercise, and once again Yumans will have a front-row seat.

The noncombatant evacuation operation, or NEO, is being conducted as part of the six-week Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) Course taught by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron (MAWTS)-1, which is based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

“When the military gets involved, (it's because) things have gone badly,” said Col. Karsten S. Heckl, MAWTS-1 commander. “Ultimately we stand ready to rescue civilians that the nation has deemed are in harm's way.”

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday morning inside the squadron's MCAS headquarters, Capt. Karl Wethe, of MAWTS-1, said the purpose of the exercise is to practice all the necessary tasks Marines would have to do to conduct a short-notice, orderly evacuation, including the transportation, identification and securing of evacuees.

Wethe said Friday's exercise will simulate the evacuation of “medical personnel with the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders” and will be held simultaneously from 5 to 9 p.m. in the cities of Yuma and Brawley, Calif.

In Yuma the exercise will be conducted at the Kiwanis Park, located at the corner of 8th Street and Magnolia Avenue, and Trinity Christian Center, 4309 W. 16th St., both of which have been used as sites for the training numerous times. In Brawley, the exercise will take place at Pat Williams Park.

In Yuma, Wethe said, the exercise will involve 16 aircraft flying overhead, mostly CH-53 and CH-46 helicopters, and a ground convoy as a quick-reaction force that moves in to evacuate 34 role-playing Marines, while other Marines role-play insurgents. There will also be additional aircraft flying in support of the training but they may be too high to observe.

Wethe added that at no time will any Marine or aircraft be carrying live ordnance. Aircraft will operate at a minimum of 500 feet above ground level over the city except when they're landing. There will be a strict adherence to all Federal Aviation Administration regulations, and both military police and Yuma Police Department will be onsite.

While the public is welcome to observe the training, Wethe said they are asked to remain a safe distance away so they won't interfere with the training and to avoid any debris from helicopter downwash.

WTI is conducted each fall and spring, with pilots, weapon system operators, ground combat and combat support service officers from throughout the Marine Corps coming to MCAS Yuma to take part. A British and a Canadian officer are participating in this fall's course.

Participating Marines receive classroom instruction combined with a rigorous flight curriculum during the training. They are taught about a variety of weapons and how they are used, tactics and how best to use them together with other Marine aviation units, as well as command and control systems.

Heckl said the course provides the WTI participants with realistic training consistent with a mission they may encounter. Given that there have been 16 NEOs since the Korean War, he added it's quite possible that Marines participating in this course will be called upon to do a mission like this. In 2006 Marines were called upon to help thousands of civilians leave Lebanon after fighting broke out.

The goal of the course is to teach Marines the importance of both the planning and the coordination in a mission for it to be successful. Upon their completion of the course, the Marine students will take what they learn back to their units, where they in turn become the teachers, passing what they learned back to their unit.

“They are going back to their unit and train them on everything we taught them here,” Wethe said.

Heckl said being able to practice an NEO is “absolutely essential” and expressed gratitude to the city for allowing the air station to conduct the training, saying Yuma is one of the few cities in the country that allows this type of training.

MAWTS-1 has been conducting two WTI courses per year since its creation in 1978. Its curriculum is constantly updated from lessons learned during current Marine Corps operations around the world.

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.