The Straits Times reports that “Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines was deep in a simulated firefight on a recent morning in the high California desert.”  

“A group of Marines on the aptly named Machine Gun Hill unleashed live fire as another group of Marines tried to seize the surrounding valley from an imaginary enemy.”  

“‘They’re dug in,’ shouted Chief Warrant Officer Brian Somers of Kilo Company, describing the ‘enemy’ forces, supposedly supported by a real state with real resources and who were theoretically returning fire. ‘This is conventional warfare.'”