Ranger unit training at McEntire

[SR-25]

The Army’s elite infantry troops wrap up a five-day training exercise today at McEntire Joint National Guard Base near Eastover.

Members of the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, headquartered at Fort Benning, Ga., arrived Thursday to train how to seize airfields.

“Training at McEntire Air Base provides a scenario the Rangers have not seen while training at their home location,” battalion spokeswoman Kimberly Laudano said.

Located 16 miles east of Columbia, the 2,400-acre base has been used before by Army and Marine Corps special operations units for training.

McEntire, home to an Air National Guard fighter wing and three Army Guard aviation battalions, is the only military installation on the East Coast where military units can train with the lights off and the gates locked.

The base also is a favorite of special operations units because it is near Camp Lejeune, N.C., where the Marines are based, and Fort Benning, home of the Ranger battalion.

The Rangers are training at night and using live ammunition and other explosive devices.

“It tests their reaction and decision-making process in a simulated combat environment,” Laudano said.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate...l/13169351.htm

[Blind_Reaper]

Sounds pretty cool. The only thing that worries me is the live ammo :P but hey ... Sua Sponte !