Marines


II MEF News

Photo Information

A scout with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion demonstrates his abilities in combat lifesaver skills during the battalion’s annual Isaak Competition at Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 4, 2016. The competition offered the scouts a plethora of different scenarios a scout must be able to accomplish, including casualty evacuation, call for fire, unknown-distance marksmanship, and land navigation. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joey Mendez)

Photo by Cpl. Joey Mendez

2nd LAR scouts compete in Isaak Competition

8 Apr 2016 | Cpl. Joey Mendez II Marine Expeditionary Force

The Marines of 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion challenged themselves physically and mentally to honor a fallen brother in a competition held April 4-8 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The Isaak Competition, named after a fallen Marines Scout, tests the Marines basic scout skills. Cpl. Garreth C. Isaak was a scout squad leader with Delta Company, 2nd Light Armored Infantry Battalion during Operation Just Cause in Panama. Isaak was killed-in-action December 20, 1989, and was the first Marine KIA from a light-armored battalion since its inception in 1985.
“The Isaak competition is a competition to honor the memory of [Cpl.] Garreth Isaak, who was killed in Panama and it is also a competition to determine the best 0311 scout in 2nd LAR,” said Sgt. Benjamin D. Patrick, a scout with the battalion.
A total of 64 Marines, who comprise the majority of the battalion’s scouts, participated in the event and were tested in a plethora of challenges and tests relating to the skill sets a scout must possess.
Patrick said the competition included a demolitions station, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear station, casualty evacuation, communications, day and night land navigation, route reconnaissance, vehicle threat identification, call for fire, and a live-fire range.
“The mission of a 2nd LAR scout is to be that dismounted element for LAR, to do the patrolling outside of the vehicles. The competition covers everything that is asked of a scout in LAR,” said Patrick.
After one week of mentally and physically grueling challenges, the individual scores from every event are tallied and the winner for the competition was selected. The winner was not announced until a friendly battalion-wide game of flag-football was completed.
Patrick, with the score of 405 points out of 460 through the course of 12 events, was the winner of the competition. For his hard work and dedication he was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, granted a four-day weekend, and the title of being 2nd LAR’s ‘best scout.’

More Media

II Marine Expeditionary Force