 The Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response, or HAZWAPER course, provides aviation marines with the mental tools to deal with hazardous materials. Teaching these young marines how to deal with these hazardous materials. It's important because it gives them an understanding of the different chemicals and hazards that are actually present in this environment on the base, etc. It's not mandatory for anybody in aviation, it's just one of those things that's nice to have. It's just important to know what you feel like in the suit. The mass fogs up, your dexterity is limited, it'll train you to be conscious of if you run into a situation where you have some fumes or you see, you know, a barrel, chemical barrel knocked over, spilling, and two chemicals possibly mixing, you'll know it and get HAZMAT out here, it'll just give you a better awareness of what some of the chemicals are. Lance Corporal Trevor Phillips, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.