Sgt. Eric Hollenstein demonstrates proper personnel search techniques on Sgt. Raymond Elwell, a Company F fixed-site security instructor, during the entry control point portion of training March 11. (Official USMC photo by Capt. Paul L. Greenberg)

Lance Cpl. Joseph Sanchez provides rear-site security for his fire team during Company G’s training at Combat Town March 11. (Official USMC photo by Capt. Paul L. Greenberg)

Col. Michael Belcher, the 25th Marine Regiment commanding officer, speaks to the Marines from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, at “Combat Town” on Marine Corps Base Quantico during his visit to the battalion’s annual training March 11.(Official USMC photo by Capt. Paul L. Greenberg)

emergency medical technician in Yonkers, N.Y., explained that this fixed-site security training will help keep his Marines alive in combat “because they will know what to do and what to expect when in theater.”

The value of the training was confirmed by 1st Sgt. Roger Fortune, the Company G senior enlisted leader, who circulated throughout the area, monitoring and mentoring his troops.

“This is going to assist Marines in Iraq through the realistic scenarios we’ve been going through,” said Fortune, a 22-year veteran of the New York State Police. “The more we go through these scenarios, the more proficient we will become. It enhances small-unit leadership and cohesiveness within the entire company.”

The Marines from 2/25 will continue to refine their skills in fixed-site security during an intensive three-month training evolution at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., this summer.

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – (March 13, 2008) -- Reserve Marines from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, spent the day learning fixed-site security at an urban warfare training facility here called “Combat Town” March 11.

This training is an integral part of their pre-deployment training as they prepare for their upcoming mission to Iraq this fall.

The battalion’s practical application exercises involved maintaining entry control points (ECPs) and vehicle control points (VCPs), escalation of force procedures and quick reactionary force patrols.

Company F was tasked with facilitating this instruction for all the battalion’s companies throughout the two-week annual training.

“The training itself is very realistic for actions Marines are taking,” said Maj. Scott Lauzon, the Company F inspector-instructor and site training supervisor. “We have several Marines in the group who are already very experienced based on previous deployments.”

The Marines were bundled up to protect themselves from the frigid winter morning, but they appeared focused on the mission at hand.

The skills taught in this period of instruction directly related to the Marines’ scheduled role as a security force in the upcoming deployment, according to Lt. Col Geoff Rollins, the battalion’s commander.

The four platoons from Company G were divided into two main groups in Combat Town. While one platoon practiced ECP/VCP measures under the instructors’ close supervision, the other three platoons patrolled the streets of the urban training facility and the surrounding woodline and practiced quick reaction force drills.

“The training laid the groundwork in the basic fundamentals of ECP/VCP, such as how to properly search a vehicle and how to properly search personnel in the vehicle at an entry control point, as well as escalation of force measures,” said Maj. John Fitzsimmons, the Company G commanding officer, who is preparing for his second tour in Iraq.

In his civilian career, Fitzsimmons, 33, is a commercial real estate property manager for an international company based in New York City.

As the Marines on patrol made their way through the skeleton concrete structures of Combat Town, they leapt into action when they came under fire from the “opposing force,” which consisted of designated members of their platoon. This usually took the form of sniper fire.

Marine infantry units in Iraq usually move into an area of operations, secure that area, and work with local government officials and Iraqi Security Forces to identify threats and establish stability. Marines of 2/25, however, are being employed purely as a battalion security force.

Though this is not a role that Marine infantry battalions typically perform, it is in keeping with a Marine infantryman’s mission of “repelling the enemy’s assault by fire and close combat,” according to Maj. Timothy Murphy, the battalion’s intelligence officer, citing the traditional mission of the Marine rifle squad.

Murphy, a Reserve Marine with more than 21 years of combined enlisted and commissioned service, is a career Department of Defense employee from Fairfax, Va. This will be his third trip to Iraq.

Back at Combat Town, the Marines took a needed chow break with their Meals Ready to Eat around noon. As they sat in the bleachers on the outskirts of town, they discussed the training and its implications for the deployment looming in their near future.

Cpl Joseph Uzzi, a 3rd Platoon squad leader and