Marines Train Safely, Realistically by ‘Firing’ Laser-Beeper Weapons

Riding up the mountain to the battlefield, the Marine captain matter-of-factly predicted that all his men would die.

He was sort of right.

Squad after squad of Marines charging the enemy machine guns fell victim to the deadly beeper.

That’s beeper, not bullet.

Part of Laser System

The beeper is part of a laser system that the Marine Corps uses in combat training in the rugged brush-covered mountains and movie set-like combat towns here, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego.

The lasers and beepers give the training exercises the appearance of a very elaborate, high-tech game of cowboys and Indians.

Fully equipped men charge, yell and shoot at each other while friend and foe alike fall dead from imaginary bullets. The death toll is sounded by a beeper attached to the uniform and helmet.

“This is as close as we can get without using real bullets,” Capt. Jim Stroup said.

The annoying beeper is activated by an invisible and harmless laser beam fired from a device slightly larger than a Cracker Jack box affixed to an M-16 rifle barrel.

Each time a blank is fired from the rifle, a laser beam also is fired and aimed exactly where the bullet would have struck.

Sensors Trigger Beeper

If the laser beam strikes a Marine, walnut-sized sensors pick up the light flash and trigger the beeper.

A near-miss by the laser--within five meters--will produce two short beeps as a warning to find cover, Marine trainers said.

The laser device is called MILES, an acronym for Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System. It has been used by Camp Pendleton Marines off and on for the last two years.

Instructors hope that the system will teach the troops in a realistic but safe manner, eliminating mistakes that in combat can be fatal.

No More Live Rounds

Gone are the training methods remembered by many veterans of crawling under barbed wire while live rounds whiz overhead.

And firing blanks often created more arguments than realism.

“The troops think they are invincible against blanks,” Maj. Tim Heitkenper said.

The MILES system reinforces the instruction--use cover and keep low--that Marines receive during infantry training.

“The blanks add some realism, but you don’t get the feedback,” Capt. Jim LaCrosse said.

The beeping lets the Marine know that whatever he just did would have gotten him killed or wounded in combat.

After a Marine has been hit by a laser and “killed,” a key held by the training sergeant turns off the beeper and brings him back to life.

The laser system also is used on other weapons, including machine guns, tanks, rocket launchers and helicopters, said a spokesman for its manufacturer, Loral Electro-Optical Systems of Pasadena.

Each laser system is coded for realism, officials said, and thus a shot from an M-16 rifle would not stop a tank.