File:USMC-01054.jpg

English: Marines, roleplaying as insurgents, review a map before launching another attack on Marines from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, during pre-deployment training at a mock Iraqi town at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, Calif., Dec. 14, 2005. Approximately 50 Iraqi-Americans and 210 Marine roleplayers are used to act as villagers, vendors and enemy combatants during the month-long Mojave Viper training package here. More than 1,000 Marines and sailors from the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment are undergoing the training. The battalion will be part of the 20,000-plus troops of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which will replace the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based II MEF as part of a regular rotation of military forces in Iraq early next year. From reacting to deadly improvised explosive devices to conducting searches through a civilian-populated Iraqi town, the Iraq-bound Marines are learning and rehearsing various "real life" scenarios they will encounter in Iraq.