THE MAN in overall charge of activities at the 29 Palms US Marine Corps Air/Ground Combat Center is Brigadier General Richard Zilmer —a career military man and a great admirer of the professionalism of the Royal Marines, writes Ralph Barnett from the Arbroath office of The Courier accompanying 45 Commando for part of Exercise Black Horse in the US.

His military role model is none other than Robert the Bruce.

He said, “This is the USMC’s primary live firing and manoeuvre training base and is the largest facility of its kind in the continental US. With an area of 934 square miles you could fit just about every other military training base in America into 29 Palms and still have room to spare,” he said.

“The summers here are particularly hot—with temperatures reaching up to 115C during the day—and our belief is that if personnel can operate in conditions like that, they can operate anywhere.”

Of 45 Commando Group he said, “It is a pleasure and an honour for me to welcome them here and to give them all the help I can to make their time with us as productive as possible.

“Joint exercises with our British allies are a vital part of military preparation because, as recent events in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown, the likelihood is that our two nations will continue to be operating side by side against common foes.”

Although he is very much a pragmatist and modernist when it comes to the serious business of warfare, it is to the Scotland of the late 13th and early 14th century that he looks for his inspiration and moral guidance.

Taking pride of place on his office walls—amongst the framed citations and honours he has earned over the years—is a large print of King Robert the Bruce in mounted single combat with the English Knight Sir Henry de Bohun at the Battle of Bannockburn“On the field of Bannockburn, your king Robert the Bruce accepted the challenge of single, man-to-man combat against Sir Henry de Bohun and won. That single act—that incredibly courageous display of leadership by example —inspired the outnumbered Scottish army and almost certainly gave them the confidence to turn the tide of battle and win the day.”