Camp Kerry, Niland California 

CRS-1 conducted Mobile Support Team (MST) pre-deployment training using the Seal Team training facility at Camp Kerry, outside of Niland, California.  The camp was located just inside the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range and provided virtually unlimited day and night live fire capabilities. In addition to the firing range/berm, the camp compound included basic messing, berthing, classroom, and weapons cleaning and storage facilities.  Weapons trained on included:  9MM & .38 cal pistols; 12 gauge shotgun; M-16 & M-14 rifles; M-79 grenade launcher; M-60 (C&D models) & .50 cal machine guns; and 60 & 81MM mortars.

Small boat training was conducted on the nearby Alamo River, which ran into the Salton Sea, and included insertion/extraction, waterborne guard post, patrolling tactics, and ambush response.  Weapons training was normally conducted in the morning, before the heat of the day, and late afternoon or night.  Boat training usually began pre-dusk and ran late into the night. 

Classroom training was conducted indoors during the hottest part of the day.  Occasionally, power outages during the day would cause the unclassified training lessons to be relocated to available civilian facilities, such as the Silver Dollar (rumored to be a bar.)

Completion of training was usually marked by the time honored custom of an evening at the "Luck of the Irish" facility at Bombay Beach on the shores of the Salton Sea, 235 feet below sea level.  Personnel selected for deployment also attended Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training. 

The Alamo River

Jim Mitchell – firing M-79

Dave Ferguson – Dave, prior MST-2 Det OIC (with famous headless dog), walking up to firing range, compound in background.

EM1 Donovan & EN3 Kirby – firing M60

.50 cal – GMG2 Cleveland helping set up the .50 cal machine guns