MANA, Kaua'i — Marines at the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility yesterday conducted an exercise that was rare for the missile range but starkly realistic for the world today — the rescue of injured and trapped civilians from a foreign danger zone.

The exercise was part of the multinational Rimpac 2006 exercise, much of which occurs on and around ships. But the sights and sounds at the range were terrestrial — a woman rolling painfully in the sand; a staccato burst of small-arms fire rattling through the kiawe; Marines in fatigues wrapping wounds and calling for stretchers.

Always throughout the exercise, however, some of them held a perimeter in the tall grass and thorny shrub, rifles ready, alert for the approach of danger.

Marines call it a NEO, a Non-combatant Evacuation Operation. They train for it because they have had to do this kind of rescue before, and expect to again.

"A NEO is very important to us. It is the hardest evolution you can do, and we have done a lot of them around the world," said Lt. Col. Frank Donovan, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif.. "Throughout our history, we do or plan for a NEO every time we deploy."

An order to evacuate civilians often requires that Marines prepare themselves to go into a dangerous area, generally with very little notice, and often without a clear picture of what they'll face when they get there, how much opposition they will experience, and even how many people they will need to recover.

"When we get a number, we generally triple it for planning purposes," Donovan said.

COMING ASHORE

The scenario for this one was that the consulate in a Third World country was in danger. Americans and friendly foreign nationals were holed up there and needed evacuation. Meanwhile, the number of potential evacuees ballooned as Americans seeking safety were headed in convoys from distant areas toward the consulate.

In the scenario, the State Department has called for an evacuation, and the nearest Marine expeditionary unit has responded. Three of these U.S. Marine fast-reaction units are on call at all times, one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast and one in Okinawa. They are generally ship-based, with extensive ground and air equipment.

"We can sustain ourselves at sea, and we can reconfigure ourselves for a new mission on short notice," Donovan said. This mission involved both the Camp Pendleton 1st Marines and Kane'ohe Bay's 3rd Marines.

The site for the operation was an Air National Guard compound at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, which would serve as the foreign consulate. Marines arrived off the coast aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard. They came ashore Tuesday by air as well as by hovercraft known as LCACs, for landing craft air cushion. As part of the exercise, they established two secure locations — one of them the consulate — and began taking people out of the consulate by air and by LCACs.

The Marines simulated two skirmishes with aggressive foreigners, some of whom tried to storm the consulate building and prevent Americans from gaining access. There were no injuries.

"We got all the Americans in," said Capt. Kemper Jones, commander of the infantry rifle company providing security at the two sites the Marines had secured.

'IT'S GOOD TRAINING'

Also as part of the exercise, a convoy of American citizens ran into a roadside bomb as they approached the consulate. Two injured civilians ran to the consulate building for help. Marines responded by first securing the area, then attending to the medical needs of a dozen injured Americans before evacuating them.

Most of the victims were civilian women, coached and made up to play the role of the injured, some of them hysterical, some nonresponsive, some fearful.

"It's useful to be training with nonmilitary people. It's different from the people we're used to training with," said Cpl. William Malona, who has served in Iraq.

Within an hour, the "injured" were on stretchers or in trucks and were being taken out of the area, under the care of the Navy doctors that supply the Marine Corps' medical needs.

"The beauty of a Marine expeditionary unit is that we have assets, and multiple ways to get these people out," Donovan said.

For the Marines, the chance to practice their trade is critical, said Pfc. Sam Brackett, a Marine for two years, with one tour of duty in Iraq.

"It's good training. Most of the new guys have never done anything like this," Brackett said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.