Vance completes Marine training exercise

Marine Corps Capt. Anthony G. Vance, son of Marion O. Vance-Ignatz of Henderson, Nev., and Lloyd G. Vance of Fredericktown, Mo., recently completed the pre-deployment exercise Mojave Viper at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., while assigned to 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, Garden City, N.Y. Vance's unit is made up of about 1,100 reserve and active-duty Marines and sailors scheduled to deploy to Iraq. This will be 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines' third deployment since 2002. Mojave Viper is a 30-day training exercise that helps service members hone skills in both combined-arms and counter-insurgency operations. The primary mission of Vance's unit will be base security and other nation-building civil affairs operations. Vance is a 1992 graduate of Shawnee Mission North High School of Shawnee Mission, Kan. He joined the Marine Corps in January. He is a 1997 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University.