MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- After three days of seminars and scenarios inside the Ball Center, a host of British soldiers eagerly boarded buses to depart for an urban combat training facility and test their increased interoperability.
Approximately 100 soldiers with 5, 6, and 7 Military Intelligence Battalion, 1 Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition Brigade, were taught the Marine Corps’ Structured Analytic Techniques by Marines of 2nd Intelligence Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, as part of Exercise Phoenix Odyssey, Sept. 8-11, 2014.
The three-day, 25-hour training block consisted of ten classes involving: analytic techniques, analytical pitfalls, critical thinking, creative thinking, issue development, and more. The entire process is designed for professionals to externalize ideas, in order to allow team members to build upon and critique them.
“These SAT techniques are making the Marine Corps’ intelligence community more effective, so we wanted to share it with them,” said Staff Sgt. Frank S. Chisowsky, the course director of the Analytic Methods Group, 2nd Intel Bn, and a native of Hazleton, Pa.
The dozens of discussions and practical application activities conducted over the days of training were designed to provide the British soldiers insight into the techniques, procedures and language of the Marine intelligence community.
“It was very interesting to see how the Marines do things compared to the British Army,” said Cpl. James M. Cochrane, a
military intelligence operator for 53 Company, 5 MI Bn, 1 ISTA Brigade, and a native of Leeds, England. “It’s helped us to receive this training in (Marine) ways, so now we are speaking the same language effectively.”
The familiarity will be valuable for the field exercise portion of Phoenix Odyssey, where the British soldiers will work side-by-side with the Marines for one week of conflict driven scenarios involving terrorism, civil unrest and even civil war while operating in a foreign nation.
“Marine techniques and British techniques get to the same end state, but the classes helped us understand how they get there,” said Maj. Emma J. Duvall, commanding officer of 51 Company, 5 MI Bn, 1 ISTA Brigade, and a native of Edinburgh, England. “We now see how to blend our techniques, and we’re looking forward to working together.”
The two forces will be co-located in a Military Operations in Urban Terrain training facility on Camp Lejeune for the remaining seven days of Exercise Phoenix Odyssey. They will live and work out of the same concrete structures, while being engaged by active role players in the area and responding to scenarios provided by the staff of 2nd Intel Bn.