1st Battalion 25th Marines

Introduction

A platoon's job in a Marine Company is to be a point of advance for as many Marines as possible throughout an enemy-infested area. The platoon decides what type of operation they expect their platoon to conduct and what they wish to do. Upon crossing into the enemy's area, they walk up to the area called "Brood/Boys" and halt to engage the enemy in one or more simple fire skirmishes. There is not much use for riflemen. Sometimes it is enough to engage in simple marksmanship and fire a few rounds into the ground to keep the enemy from running into the company. Usually, these are just enough to discourage the enemy and make it difficult for them to re-enforce the area. In some cases, riflemen continue to stick to the perimeter and allow the riflemen of the other companies to march their batteries onto the area or allow the artillery of the unit to fire in support of the riflemen.

As usually happens, when a rifleman in their platoon decides to engage in the more important 'Battle' fire, the platoon as a whole fires back and eliminates the enemy. Occasionally, there are split up into platoons of about 14 Marines apiece and the platoon leaders are tasked to organize the fire of the platoon and make sure that the men really are going to fight and are firing at the enemy. When there is time during the fire, the unit members should then walk off and engage in communication. It is common for a 'broken' down platoon to meet up at a point within 100 to 150 yards of their assigned unit. If the platoon is under fire, they usually make some noise that lets the rankers know something is happening and that the Marines are still alive. If not, they retreat (to join the next group).

Most often, Marines will observe a terrain feature such as a fallen tree covered in leaves or a hill protected by a stationary piece of wood. They watch the top of the hill as the Marines take aim on the target and fire at the target location and then go into the ground of the target. If this happens a full-auto round or the occasional burst of small arms fire will show up, it is often enough to let the men know that they are in enemy territory. It is also common for the men in a company to search for their place-of-abode.