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Marines bunker down for Korea

Marine Corps News

Release Date: 3/25/2004

Story by Lance Cpl. David Revere

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan(March 6, 2004) -- YECHON AIR BASE, Republic of Korea - Debarking from a United States Army high speed vehicle, 131 Marines and Sailors from Marine Wing Support Squadron 171 arrived here, March 6.

The squadron will remain until April 5, participating in the 2004 Foal Eagle training exercise.

The Marines and Sailors will provide aviation ground support to Marine Aircraft Group 12 and Marine Air Control Squadron 18 in order to facilitate combined fixed wing operations from a forward operating base.

"This week we're setting up tent spaces and utilities for all the units coming in," said Capt. Pat Vongsavanh, MWSS-171 Foal Eagle airfield operations commanding officer.

During the course of the week, the squadron's mission has been to prepare everything necessary for sustaining over 800 Marines arriving next week.

"MWSS-171's job is to have it all ready for them so when they get here they can set their sea bags and alice packs on a cot and go straight to work," said Vongsavanh.

"After they arrive, our job will just be maintaining and helping out with support as best we can."

Although still 115 miles from the demilitarized zone, the squadron had hostile conditions to deal with upon their arrival. Winter bit deep with 17 inches of snow and temperatures as low as -7 degrees Fahrenheit at night.

"You just have to take it one day at a time," said Lance Cpl. Matthew Cuva, MWSS-171 mobile facilities specialist. "There's nothing we can really do about it."

Cuva, along with dozens of Marines from different platoons within 171, worked 14 to 16 hours a day in the cold, setting up tents and facilities in preparation for the influx of Marines.

As temperatures rose slightly during the course of the week, so did the amount of mud, transforming camps and roads into vast fields of sludge.

"The modules we're setting up out here took six to eight hours when we set them up back at the shop," said Cuva. "The conditions here make it take 12-14 hours."

"It's like trying to build a city on big swamp of mud and water," added Lance Cpl. Marvin Weaver, MWSS-171 supply clerk. Meanwhile, construction platoon Marines worked late into the winter night to provide decking for the tents and strong back frames for the operations center facilities.

"I'm looking forward to some cold weather training," said Sgt. Adam Lauritzen, '171 construction platoon sergeant. "It's more real world than back at the shop."

Long hours and adverse conditions will pay off when the camp becomes fully operational next week, complete with showers, a mobile exchange, and a chow hall.

"I'll be bringing them hot chow," said Pfc. Kathleen Baker, mess hall cook. "I'm looking forward to the appreciation from the troops."

Baker said it's the least these Marines deserve for the hard work in adverse conditions they have and will be providing.

"The way we train is the way we fight," said Pfc. Kyle A. Melancon. "We're what America is depending on, so we need to come out here and give it one hundred percent."

"It's not just a mundane thing they're doing here," summed up Vongsavanh. "It's critical to the entire operation."