Operation Steel Knight is a two-day exercise to prepare service men and women for their next deployment. NBC 7’s Dana Williams reports.
At Camp Pendleton, U.S. Marines are constantly being trained and prepared for deployment, but some of the exercises are more realistic than others.
For example, members of 1 Marine Expeditionary Force, along with U.S. 3rd Fleet and airmen from various units participate in Operation Steel Knight every year. The training is scenario-based and takes place over the span of multiple days. Personnel need to show that they can develop a plan and efficiently execute it while communicating effectively under the stress of paid actors who are instructed to be a persistent distraction.
“It’ll make it easier when you go into a real-world scenario, when there is actually somebody on the other side of the fence,” USMC Staff Sgt. Jesse Polizzi told NBC 7. “You're not just getting exposed to it for the first time.”
Polizzi has served as a Marine for 10 years and plans to continue for 10 more. He shared that the benefit of Steel Knight is developing mental toughness, not just physical toughness.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
“Your body will give out before your mind does,” Polizzi said.
This year, the exercise was based on a scenario in which another country experienced a natural disaster, such as a tsunami, and American citizens needed to be extracted from the U.S. embassy while civil unrest developed. Dozens of civilian volunteers, who were paid for their time, pretended to be people desperately begging the Marines for water and other items, while Marines needed to create and uphold a secure perimeter around the embassy. The actors were joined by Marines, acting as American civilians, showing their passports to the Marines in the drill and asking to be let into the embassy. They were then searched, processed and held until they could be evacuated by one of the base’s V-22 Osprey aircraft.
Local
“I like the planning, I like being in a room with people who have the same mindset as I do and are willing to just, nose to the grindstone, and get it done,” USMC 1st Lt. Angela Rivera told NBC 7.
Rivera explained that one of the most difficult aspects of the drill is working alongside people from other areas of government to make it happen.
For the exercise, the Marines not only need to determine who to let into the embassy but also how to evacuate those who were already there, including the acting ambassador, all in an effort to expose the Marines to as much as possible before being deployed. If successful in Steel Knight, the personnel will be certified and able to join the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin, Australia, early next year.
“Knowing that we can get American citizens from Point A to Point B safely, and, like, in an efficient manner — I think that’s that my favorite part,” Rivera said.
