Cpl. Sidney J. Morris from 2nd Platoon G Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, repels down the side of a mountain. Photo by Cpl. Ryan D. Libbert, USMC

The United States Marine Corps has officially debunked a rumor that the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center (MMWTC) will be closed. The Marine's unequivical response lays to rest a document floating around the internet under a number of different titles that says the MMWTC is on a list of bases to be closed in the 2005 BRAC process. The unique mountain warfare school is dedicated to training Marines and troops from other branches in a higher Alpine military environment than many other domestic training bases can provide.

The MMWTC Operations Officer Maj. Scott Pierce, USMC called the closure reports "a rumor" while pointing out other wrong information contained in the erroneous reports that appear in a city planning group link for University City, California, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Naval Reserve Association's website entitled as All You Need to Know About Upcoming Base Closures and Outside the Beltway.  The original article apparently appeared at www. G2mil.com under the aegis 2005 Base Closure Recommendations.

Pierce said that the MMWTC was never slated for closure by the BRAC process.

"I don't know how that rumor got started, but no, we were never tagged for closure on any official BRAC list.  We signed on for review like everyone else, but were not tagged.  We have a permanent training cadre here, and nothing else I'm aware of trains battalion sized elements in mountain warfare as we do."

Within the erroneous article is this passage:

Marine Corps Mountain Warfare School, California - this tiny base in the midst of a huge national forest was founded during the Korean war to prepare Marines for mountain warfare.  It was mothballed during the Vietnam war as the Corps determined it was no longer needed.

Pierce disputed the claim. "That's not exactly true, " he said.  "MMWTC was mothballed temporarily, not because it was deemed unnecessary, but because our key operational terrain in Vietnam was not mountainous and there was no dedicated group of instructors during that period."

The dubious defense deactivation document also said that:

For unknown reasons, the base was later reoccupied even though the Corps hasn't been involved in mountain warfare since Korea.

"Not really," Pierce added.

Cpl. James W. Brandon, mortarman for Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, and Oklahoma City native, crosses a one-rope bridge at the Mountain Warfare Training Center at Kimpo, Republic of Korea. Photo: USMC

MMWTC opened again in 1976 because NATO obligations to Norway in the event of Warsaw Pact aggression created a need for mountain and cold war training, Pierce said.  Marine doctrine then as now dictates that operational training include NATO obligations.  Today, however, the primary obligation is to the American people against transnational terrorists who use mountain hideouts from the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia to potential threats in Oregon, USA. As for the G2mil.com article's intimation that mountain warfare in the Koreas is a museum exhibit, try to tell that to the U.S. troops standing ready just south of the looniest military dictator in the Far East.  There is also unrest these days in the Caucasus in Eastern Asia, the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, the Kunlun, and the Himalaya mountain ranges in Central Asia. and Andean nations of South America have also heard rumors of narco-terrorists destabilizing said countries.

The MMWTC regularly trains Marines and soldiers in battalion elements to wage war in elevations from 6,700 to 11,500 feet in temperatures that dip down below 25 degrees Fahrenheit since 1976, Pierce said.  When they want to train above 14,000 feet, they go to nearby Mt. Shasta, and for long-term training, into the rugged terrain of Central Alaska.  And that brought the conversation to another misconception held in the quasi-BRAC urban legend piece, which claims: "Note that Marines in Afghanistan didn't engage in 'mountain warfare,' they stayed on roads."

"Not true," Pierce retorted, adding that Marines occupied sizable pieces of terrain, secured airfields and ran patrols in the Afghan campaign, including its mountainous terrain.  "I can count six to seven Marine battalions that have fought mountain warfare since the start of that war."  Pierce added. "Since 2004, the last four Marine battalions that have deployed to Afghanistan have trained at the Mountain Warfare Training Center.  A fifth, 1st Battalion 8th Marines Regiment, trained before the war."

Repelling at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, CA.
Photo: SSgt. Christopher W. Cox, USMC

The MMWTC also provides individual training.  Troops don't have to be in the 10th Special Forces Group and scale Mount Denali with MMWTC instructors to get in small unit or individual training.  Trainees can enjoy a special ski-dipping drill in the frozen lake through an ice hole, or take a wonderful alpine powder experience navigating avalanche zones in the High Sierras at MMWTC.  However, the Op Tempo in Iraq and...