b'.1 stMarine Division Schools continued from pg. 2Urban Leaders Course (ULC)Urban Leaders Course instructors provide two courses at Division SchoolsULC and BMGCin order to prepare Marines to fight and win anywhere in the world. ULC consists of a variety of combat readiness training regimens to ensure Marines are fully prepared to handle life threatening combat situations in the future. Foreign weapons training gives Marines the opportunity to learn about and have hands-on experience with a variety of foreign weapons, including the German G3 rifle, the Belgian FAL Rifle, the Russian RPD machine gun, RPG-7 launcher, AK-74 rifle, AK-47 rifle, and the Soviet-era PKM machine gun and SVD Dragunov sniper rifle. Live ranges conducted in the course give hands on weapons proficiency training, as well as teaching platform shooting such as barricades and lateral shots, to enhance muscle memory and reaction times to situations. Tactical operation techniques for movement and ground combat(Photo by Sgt Anthony Sandoval, USMC: ULC 3-20 Mobile Training Team (MTT) students strategies better equip Marines to lead and follow commandsevacuate a role player casualty during the mass casualty final evaluation event at Marine Air in a hostile environment, stressing the importance of automaticGround Combat Center, 29 Palms on 3 March, 2020.)responses and leadership in combat. In addition to the ULC Course, ULC instructors also conduct Improvised Explosive Device (IED) training in recognitionregular Basic Machine Gunner Courses to enhance the and reaction procedures is also provided, giving Marines theoperating ability of all Marines on machine guns. Training for tactical mindset needed to deal with IEDs on the battlefield.both courses includes classroom and practical application of Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training forcesall materials. BMGC practical applications include live fires of Marines to execute decisions in urban combat zones, wherethe MK-19 grenade launcher, M240B machine gun, and the the realistic environment of a four-dimensional battlefieldM2 .50 caliber machine gun. Classes can teach Marines a requires close cooperation and teamwork to be successfullot of information about weapons and weapons handling, but and to stay alive. Part of ULCs MOUT training includes Closenothing can provide the confidence and proficiency needed Quarter Battle (CQB) live-fire house clearing procedures andto effectively wield machine guns in a combat environment practical applications with both simulated enemy combatantsmore effectively than putting live rounds down range and and non-combatants, to increase situational awareness andfeeling the power of the weapon as it fires. BMGC instructors active response times for Marines on the ground. Anotherhelp transition Marines from classroom knowledge to combat element of MOUT includes breaching procedures for urbanapplications of machine guns, increasing every graduates combat, consisting of mechanical breaching methods usingpotential lethality in combat.battering rams and tools, ballistic entry procedures withFormal Marksmanshipshotguns, and explosive breach techniques with detonationTraining Center (FMTC)cord charges. In order for the Marine Corps to succeed in war,Breaching and demolitions instruction prepares Marines tomarksmanship is essential. Marksmanship is an artform enter target locations in the most effective ways possible tofor Marines, and in order to maintain the quality of training eliminate targets and maintain security, while also providingrequired to live up to the standards of Marine Corps history, training in how to use explosives properly and in the mostMarines must continually pass on the knowledge of teaching effective ways possible in a combat environment. Opposingmarksmanship. This is the job of the FMTC instructors at Force (OpFor) simulations put Marines in a mock combatDivision Schools. Through their CMC and CMT courses, situation in an urban environment, with real weapons andFMTC instructors are not just increasing the marksmanship simulation rounds, as ULC instructors fight back against theirof Marines, but they are creating new teachers to continue students under cover of darkness during nighttime operations to show strengths and weaknesses in individual and teamthis legacy. CMC is a course designed to create new Combat techniques, enhancing leadership qualities, highlighting theMarksmanship Coaches in the Marine Corps, giving Marines importance of cohesion, and improving combat readiness. in units across the 1st Marine Division the skills required to During daylight hours for OpFor training, ULC utilizes rolesuccessfully operate live ranges and teach rifle and pistol players from the Philippines, and on occasion from themarksmanship to Marines.Middle East, in order to provide realistic situations that forceThe mission of the FMTC instructors during their CMT courses students to experience the real-life struggles of communicationis to enhance the skills of coaches to meet the requirementsand cultural implications they will experience in deployedfor those coaches to become trainers of new coaches. environments. .continued on page 64 Military Appreciation Resource Magazine HJanuary 2021 H Thank You For Your Service'