Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif -- MCCES has been part of the Combat Center community since 1967.
Their mission is to provide professional and technical training in the planning, designing, engineering, employment and operation of tactical communications systems in order to ensure commanders at all levels within the Marine Corps have the ability to exercise the command and control functions throughout the operational environment.
More than 5,000 Marines graduate from this military occupational specialty school every year.
The school has over 40 individual courses covering over 30 MOS fields. The main divisions in the school’s academics are broken into three companies.
Company A, Communication-Electronics School, deals with radio, electronic and telephone operations. Company B, Tactical Communications Training School, involves data and transmission training. Company C, AIR School, teaches communications operations in aviation.
Along with being one of the Marine Corps’ largest schools, MCCES is an active member of the Combat Center community. Between their permanent personnel and their student population the schoolhouse consists of around 2,000 Marines in their day-to-day operations.
The majority of MCCES students are relatively new to the Marine Corps. It’s these students that make up a large part of the Combat Center’s liberty community.
From the Zone and the Single Marine Program, the presence of MCCES is felt across base.
Outside of their holistic training mission, MCCES plays a part in many recreational activities for all ranks, including the Commanding General’s intramural sports program and even community service projects.
MCCES has grown from its humble beginnings as a small platoon into one of the Marine Corps’ largest MOS producing schools and an integral part of the Combat Center community.
Editor’s note: This is part one of a three-part series taking a look inside the largest MOS schoolhouse in the Marine Corps.