MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -- Marines and sailors with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., finished the airborne assault portion of their Enhanced Mojave Viper pre-deployment training the afternoon of July 19.

The company donned flak jackets, Kevlar helmets, weapons and a full load of ammunition and boarded four MV-22 Ospreys to assault the Combat Center’s Quackenbush training area.

Integration of air and ground assets is important to any operation, said 1st Lt. Corey Colista, the executive officer of Company K and an Albany, N.Y., native. For a company slated to deploy into combat, it is important to have as much training in as wide a variety of mediums as possible.

“The Marines [and sailors] enjoy this type of training,” said Capt. Joshua Biggers, the commanding officer of Co. K, and native of Edmond, Okla. “Not only have most of them never been in an Osprey, they love the combined arms aspect — the rifles, machine guns and mortars.”

The training has been fun — tough, but fun, said Sgt. Christopher Kelk, the squad leader for 3rd Squad, 4th Platoon, Co. K.

He explained the heat has a large impact on the motivation of his Marines, but the company does a great job of providing water and ice to help keep everyone cool.

“It really helps people keep their head in the game to have cold water when it’s this hot out,” he said speaking of the 110 degree heat July 19.

Once the unit landed and offloaded from the Ospreys, they used combined arms to perform a company-sized clear, hold and build attack.

The company split into three teams; two teams took two objectives while the third provided covering fire.

After both objectives were taken, the teams combined to attack a large, final objective.

After taking the large target, the evolution was deemed successful and the company re-assembled to continue training for their upcoming combat deployment.