European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 3, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine marines Are becoming commandos trained to take a terrorist base in the persian Gulf As skilfully As they can storm a Beach in the South Pacific. File photo by Molly Moore Washington Poste eighteen year old Marine pvt. Jeff Hickman is Down in the dirt Cheek jammed into the Metal of an m-60 machine gun that is spitting Bone jolting rounds at an enemy target across the Flat Marsh. He leaps from the Trench and darts behind a Board Wall pokes the barrel through a fake window opening and fires another round. He turns and dives into a nearby sandbag Bunker braces his shoulder and fires again. Wooden pop up targets lie wounded on the South Carolina Marsh. Hickman who grew up on Maryland s Eastern Shore Hunting Deer and Squirrel is one of the new Breed of Marine recruits the Boot Camp troops at Parris Island Marine corps recruit depot s.c., who Are training for Marine corps commandant Gen. Alfred m. Gray or s meaner leaner Green fighting machine. His marines Don t go to Boot Camp anymore those grueling gut busting first 11 weeks Are now called Basic Warrior training. Marines no longer become Mere infantrymen they Are commandos trained to take a terrorist base in the persian Gulf As skilfully As they can storm a Beach in the South Pacific. In his first 18 months As commandant of the 197,000-member Marine corps Gray a tobacco chewing bulldog of a general who troops around the Pentagon in combat fatigues has waged a crusade to return the service to its War fighting  he has taken his Campaign on the Road to a service stung by the Marine embassy guard spy scandals and still haunted by the 1983 bombing that killed 241 americans at the Marine Barracks in Beirut. We Are warriors and people who support warriors Gray who was the  commander of the men who died in Beirut told a group of marines during one of his Field Tours to promote the new image. We re not too fancy. We re hot a whole Bunch of other things. What you see is what you  in recent years Many Marine leaders weren t very pleased with what they saw or what they got. These officers took a dim View of the Complex costly heavy weapons  As the m-1 tank and av-8b harrier jump Jet the corps helped itself to during the Reagan Era s military buildup. These leaders feared that the marines were getting too fat and heavy for their Mission As an expeditionary Force. Battalions were being loaded Down by tanks and artillery that would take up valuable ship space and slow the Quick response forces in a War emergency some officials said. Others argued that the equipment would be useless in the smaller scale third world conflicts that the Marine corps is most Likely to face today. Gray ordered his top officers to rethink How those weapons Are used and in some cases whether the corps needs them at All. Gray and other Marine leaders also were alarmed by their belief that the platoons were inadequately trained in Basic combat skills. Whoever heard of a Marine who was t skilled in weaponry growled chief warrant officer Jim Jerrolds head of training at the Parris Island firing Range for the past seven years. That unfortunately was what was happening. We weren t putting marines out in the Field who were qualified to use All the weapons in an infantry  but even As Gray seeks to launch some of the most sweeping changes in the training and Structure of his fighting forces since the Vietnam War and faces the problems of an aging air and sea transport Force congressional leaders and budget analysts Are warning the new Bush administration and the defense department to Brace for an Era of sharply declining defense budgets. Things Are going to get tighter now said maj. Gen. Michael p. Sullivan Deputy commander for War fighting a new position created under Gray to plan the combat needs of the Marine corps. There s Only so much to go around. Well tighten our  meanwhile Gray is pushing his overhaul of the Marine corps beginning with the new recruits 33,400 men and 1,130 women who enlisted last year. We need to teach these High school graduates with their football letters from East Cupcake neb., a Little bit about being Street Wise Gray told a group of sergeants at Cherry Point Marine corps air station . Since last february the corps has crammed 60 More hours of training into those rigorous weeks at the Parris Island and san Diego training centers where Young boots Are stripped of their civilian identities More time on the firing Range More marches More hand to hand combat More night training More sweat. Requirements Are the same for male and female recruits although training for the women is tailored to be More defensive than offensive. The recruits Are doing the things they sign on to do said maj. Gen. Joseph p. Hoar commanding general of Parris Island which trains All male marines who sign up East of the Mississippi and All female recruits nationwide. They re caught up in the idea of creeping and crawling through the  it s highly motivating said pvt. Larry Peyton 18, of Powhatan va., during a break on the new firing Range where recruits now spend four Days using weapons ranging from m-60 machine guns to anti tank artillery instead of the old schedule of just one afternoon with m-16 rifles. It puts More action into the  Gray is not satisfied that there is enough extra training in Boot Camp. Beginning last november All boots Are required to go on to More advanced infantry training whether their occupational specially is helicopter Mechanic or mail clerk. The new emphasis on tougher training was prompted in part by a recent Marine corps review revealing that Many marines assigned to rear Echelon jobs were not capable of defending themselves in combat. For men there will be 28 More Days of intensive advanced Field work and weapons training. Women will get an extra seven Days of training a Shorter period because it will not focus on offensive tactics and because the smaller number of female recruits requires significantly less training time than the larger groups of male recruits. Beyond recruit training the Marine corps is restructuring its fighting forces converting eight infantry battalions into commando units. They train on Oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and with Fri anti terrorist forces. Hostage crises invasions third world strikes Gray wants the Marine corps there. Commandos by anybody s definition he has said of the new units. When the joint chiefs of staff needed a military Force to attack and destroy Oil platforms being used As command posts by the iranian revolutionary guards in the persian Gulf last Spring they called on the new Marine corps commandos. The Beirut Barracks bombing and his background in intelligence Fields also prompted Gray to order greater emphasis on intelligence gathering skills reconnaissance and High level War gaming against perceived enemy threats. Added training costs Are relatively Small compared to the Mammoth expenses the Marine corps faces in its efforts to modernize and upgrade its weapons ships and equipment Friday february 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13