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English: Staff Sgt. Aaron M. Campbell, a Marine platoon sergeant with Kilo Co., 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, tries to gain permission from an Iraqi family to search their home during pre-deployment training at a mock Iraqi town at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, Calif., Dec. 14, 2005. Campbell is one of more than 1,000 Marines and sailors from the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment undergoing a month-long pre-deployment exercise in California's Mojave Desert appropriately dubbed, "Mojave Viper." 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.