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A crew chief with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 scopes out the area as he prepares to land in the fabricated country of Mica, Nov. 14. VMM-263 and Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command Marines conducted “Operation Sundown”, a mock training event designed to simulate a mission while deployed. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Jorden M. Wells)
Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, and Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command Marines conducted “Operation Sundown” Nov. 15.
“Operation Sundown is a mock-training event to simulate as accurately as possible a mission while in the field or deployed,” said Capt. Robert E. Wicker, VMM-263 MV-22B Osprey pilot.
The mission began with a detailed brief of the mission objectives and where it would be taking place.
The forces organized under the name Joint Task Force Warhorse and consisted of Special Operations Command Marines, the Army 101st Airborne and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.
“The overall mission objective was to deploy JTF Warhorse to support the pro-democratic country of Mica against their continued fight against the fundamentalist Rocky Mountain Resistance Movement,” said Capt. Philip A. Bias, VMM-263 Osprey pilot.
Mica is the fabricated pro-democratic country they are in support of and the RMR is an anti-democratic insurgency they are fighting against.
Upon completion of the brief, the Marines as well as two all-terrain vehicles were loaded into two Ospreys prior to takeoff.
The mission took place more than an hour to the north of Marine Corps Air Station New River, where Forward Operating Base Dawson was set up for the exercise.
“FOB Dawson will provide a staging point for future military operation and political assistance to the pro-democratic country of Mica,” said Bias.
Upon arriving at FOB Dawson, the Marines and the two ATVs were unloaded to carry out their mission of helping to establish stronger defenses for the Mican government.
With the Marines and equipment successfully unloaded at the designated area, the Ospreys were refueled with the aid of the Army 101st Airborne and returned to the air station.
Successfully arriving back at the air station, the pilots and crew chiefs were debriefed as to how the mission was and to discuss the next stage of their mission.
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