Marines practice defending airfield at Mount Fuji, Japan

U.S. Marines from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan were back at Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji late last month for this year’s iteration of Exercise Eagle Wrath. Over a period of four days, the Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171 had to establish a mock airfield and defend it from enemy attacks.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Johnston Murn, a low altitude air defense gunner with 3rd LAAD Battalion unit deployment program, uses a Stinger missile tracking and handling trainer on a Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25 during Exercise Eagle Wrath 2016 at Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji, July 28, 2016. Marine Wing Support Squadron 171 stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, received assistance throughout the exercise from Combat Logistics Company 36 from MCAS Iwakuni, the Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion and Marine Air Traffic Control Mobile Team from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and HSC-25 from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Aaron Henson)

“The Marine came in three waves,” said U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Robert Rivera, engineer company commander with MWSS-171. “The first wave was initial security where they secured the air field so the rest of the Marines can come into a protected environment and employ the rest of their forces. Once the air field was secured, the follow-on air field services could establish services such as fuel, airfield operations and expeditionary fire rescue.”