b'Urban 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 strategies better equip Marines to lead and follow commands in a hostile environment, stressing the importance of automatic responses and leadership in combat.Improvised Explosive Device (IED) training in recognition(Photo by Sgt Anthony Sandoval, USMC: ULC 3-20 Mobile Training Team (MTT) students evacuate a role player casualty during the mass casualty final evaluation event at Marine Air and reaction procedures is also provided, giving Marines theGround Combat Center, 29 Palms on 3 March, 2020.)tactical mindset needed to deal with IEDs on the battlefield.operating ability of all Marines on machine guns. Training for Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training forcesboth courses includes classroom and practical application of Marines to execute decisions in urban combat zones, whereall materials. BMGC practical applications include live fires of the realistic environment of a four-dimensional battlefieldthe MK-19 grenade launcher, M240B machine gun, and the requires close cooperation and teamwork to be successfulM2 .50 caliber machine gun. Classes can teach Marines a and to stay alive. Part of ULCs MOUT training includes Closelot of information about weapons and weapons handling, but Quarter Battle (CQB) live-fire house clearing procedures andnothing can provide the confidence and proficiency needed practical applications with both simulated enemy combatantsto effectively wield machine guns in a combat environment and non-combatants, to increase situational awareness andmore effectively than putting live rounds down range and active response times for Marines on the ground. Anotherfeeling the power of the weapon as it fires. BMGC instructors element of MOUT includes breaching procedures for urbanhelp transition Marines from classroom knowledge to combat combat, consisting of mechanical breaching methods usingapplications of machine guns, increasing every graduates battering rams and tools, ballistic entry procedures withpotential lethality in combat.shotguns, and explosive breach techniques with detonation cord charges. Formal MarksmanshipBreaching and demolitions instruction prepares Marines toTraining Center (FMTC)enter target locations in the most effective ways possible to eliminate targets and maintain security, while also providingIn order for the Marine Corps to succeed in war,training in how to use explosives properly and in the mostmarksmanship is essential. Marksmanship is an artform effective ways possible in a combat environment. Opposingfor Marines, and in order to maintain the quality of training Force (OpFor) simulations put Marines in a mock combatrequired to live up to the standards of Marine Corps history, situation in an urban environment, with real weapons andMarines must continually pass on the knowledge of teaching simulation rounds, as ULC instructors fight back against theirmarksmanship. This is the job of the FMTC instructors at students under cover of darkness during nighttime operationsDivision Schools. Through their CMC and CMT courses, to show strengths and weaknesses in individual and teamFMTC instructors are not just increasing the marksmanship techniques, enhancing leadership qualities, highlighting theof Marines, but they are creating new teachers to continue importance of cohesion, and improving combat readiness. this legacy. CMC is a course designed to create new Combat During daylight hours for OpFor training, ULC utilizes roleMarksmanship Coaches in the Marine Corps, giving Marines players from the Philippines, and on occasion from thein units across the 1st Marine Division the skills required to Middle East, in order to provide realistic situations that forcesuccessfully operate live ranges and teach rifle and pistol students to experience the real-life struggles of communicationmarksmanship to Marines. and cultural implications they will experience in deployedThe mission of the FMTC instructors during their CMT courses environments. is to enhance the skills of coaches to meet the requirements In addition to the ULC Course, ULC instructors also conductfor those coaches to become trainers of new coaches. regular Basic Machine Gunner Courses to enhance the.continued on page 14Thank You For Your Service HOctober 2020 H Military Appreciation Resource Magazine 13'