Box Em Up, Ship Em Out

CAMP PENDLETON, CA – Pacific Horizon 2017 is a Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) exercise designed to train I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) and components of Naval Beach Group 1 (NBG-1) Marines and Sailors on arrival and assembly operations. The exercise also provides training for follow-on Marine Air Ground Task Force actions to ensure that the right equipment, supplies and tools get to the right people to be employed in a crisis response, humanitarian assistance and amassing combat power ashore from sea.

The PME taught Marines how to conduct container operations and manage vehicle mobile loads, which was a major focus during the exercise.

"Managing high volumes of shipping containers and vehicle mobile loads is something that is very important because it controls how much equipment or personnel a unit can transport to a target location," said Samson Avenetti, the I Marine Expeditionary Force maritime prepositioning force analyst. "There is no Standard Operating Procedure for these practices, so it's important Marines get these classes because no matter the Marine's job, they could be put in a situation where they have to manage a vehicles weight distribution or the volume of items in a shipping container."

This training ensures Marines of any military occupational specialty could confidentially accomplish the management of shipping containers and loading and unloading of vehicle transport loads. Training outside the assigned MOS of any given Marine ensures Marines are prepared for any unexpected event, and raises overall combat readiness throughout the Marine Corps.

"Yesterday if you asked me to properly load and unload a vehicle transport load, I wouldn't be able to do it, because that isn't the primary focus of my job," said Cpl. Preston Gregory, an embarkation specialist with the I MEF G-4. "Through this training, I am confident in saying I could properly manage the volume of a shipping container and properly load and unload a vehicle transport load."

The Marine Corps prides itself on its operational readiness. Whether that's being able to deploy anywhere across the globe in 48 hours, or having the highest standard of military training. But, Avenetti says the Marine Corps always has room for improvement.

"Management and distribution of container and mobile load contents of different units is not always the priority to the Marine, and that's why we're out here today," said Avenetti. "Through this training, the Marine Corps puts itself is in a higher state of readiness and that's just good for business."

Editor's note: The original story can be viewed on the 1st Marine Logistics Group website.