MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- From the power of the pen to the explosiveness of an AT-4 anti-tank weapon — Marines can improve their combat leadership skills at the Infantry Squad Leaders Course, one of myriad courses available to help infantrymen hone their trade.
The ISLC trains noncommissioned officers to apply their leadership to a squad — a team of 12 Marines directed by the squad leader during infantry assaults and patrols.
"The purpose of ISLC is to train sergeants and corporals to be rifle squad leaders, concentrating on squad- and platoon-level tactics and weapons organic to the rifle company," said Gunnery Sgt. Carl F. Chambers, the course's chief instructor.
Students learn a vast amount of material during the 37-day course. It's a challenging pace, Chambers said.
"The course was designed around the concepts, knowledge and skills associated with warfighting, decision-making, weaponeering, patrolling, attacking, defending and military operations other than war," Chambers said.
The squad leader's charges consist of three, four-man fire teams. Each team has a leader; a rifleman; an automatic rifleman, armed with a squad automatic weapon; and an assistant automatic rifleman, who carries ammunition and takes the M-249 squad automatic weapon if the primary automatic rifleman is killed or wounded and can't fight.
Field training includes how to move toward an objective during an assault. The squad leader must coordinate and direct those movements to safeguard members as they approach the objective.
The squad leader must not only be proficient in infantry tactics and weapons — he also must be somewhat of a scribe.
"The infantry squad leader receives training that allows him to be tactically and technically proficient in writing combat orders, and in combat reporting and planning of fire support assets available to an infantry squad," Chambers said.
The course is mostly field exercises. Out of 512 academic training hours, 240 are in-field exercises. But to the Marines taking the course, exercise isn't the hardest part.
"The hardest part for me is writing the combat orders — not because they are so hard, but because they are so time- consuming," said Sgt. Jerry P Woods, a platoon guide with Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.
The instructors agree the orders are the hardest part of the course. The orders amount to a nightmare of details. Every conceivable contingency must be planned for. The orders typically include the mission and how it will be carried out, the order of fire-team movement, equipment to be taken, how to respond to enemy contact, assigning of secondary jobs like navigator and radio operator, signals and what to do with casualties, POWs, etc.
"They're a monster," said Staff Sgt. Luis A. Carrillo, a course instructor. Carrillo says the course also challenges the instructors.
"The hardest part as an instructor is getting the information to stick in some of the students' heads," he said.
Many Marines are sent to the course. Others choose the training as a refresher.
"I decided to join the course because I wanted to brush up on my tactics," said Woods, who has spent the majority of his career in security forces. "I wanted to be a better leader, and since I've been in security for a while now, I wanted to have a refresher in what I need to do within the infantry."