U.S. Marines with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division conducted a night raid training exercise at Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) Area 25 on Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 20, 2018.

The exercise had many moving parts and took careful planning to execute. Preparations included running through multiple different MOUT scenarios before the event to solidify details like vehicle locations and methods of coordinating close air support.

"We don't get to do exercises like this too much," said Sgt. Robert Storms, vehicle commander and master gunner with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Bn., "My favorite part is the preparation for it, all the rehearsals that we do, and trying to work together."

When it came time for the raid to be executed, participants navigated to the MOUT town in their vehicles and established live fire support positions. They then worked in fire teams, breaching doors, clearing rooms and searching for mock insurgents and weapons caches.

"I think this provides a lot of good unit cohesion because it really shows that their team leaders can work out problems, especially with certain points of friction," said Lance Cpl. Cole Clarke, a gunner with the unit.

1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Bn. has previously conducted raid packages during the day, but the night-time setting added another aspect to the training. Marines became acquainted with working in low light conditions while team and squad leaders navigated scenarios that they had yet to encounter. It also helped the vehicle commanders and gunners better understand what to expect in a deployed environment.

"Conducting selective penetration raids is beneficial to Light Armored Reconnaissance's responsibility to the Marine Expeditionary Units and the Marine Air-Ground Task Force," said Sgt. Storms, "It will help us move into doing it at a little bit higher speed."