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Students with the Assault Amphibious School Battalion ?splash down? into the ocean at Del Mar Beach as they conduct Assault Amphibious Vehicle training April 4. The Marines are learning how to maneuver the 26-ton vehicles, which can travel at speeds of more than 45 mph.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Geoffrey Ingersoll

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The Amphibious life of a tracker

12 Apr 2007 | Lance Cpl. Geoffrey Ingersoll Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- It wasn’t a big deal that 18-year-old Corey A. Hester didn’t bring a pencil to school for his test. All he needed was a Kevlar helmet, a life vest and a 26 ton Amphibious Assault Vehicle.

“The most exciting part is driving the vehicle from land into water, it’s an awesome feeling,” said Pfc. Hester, a recent graduate of Melbourne High School, Fla., and a student at Camp Pendleton’s Assault Amphibious School Battalion. “It means a lot to me that we are the few Marines who are actually amphibious.”

On land, the AAV is anything but defenseless. Marines can push it up to 45 mph, and can fire back with either a MK 19 40 mm machine gun or a M2 .50 caliber machine gun.

“It’s a tank that goes on water, and then I’ve got 26 tons of off-roading capability,” said 21-year-old Pfc. John P. Harris, an AAS student originally from Mount Solon, Va. “It’s an adrenaline rush to drive it.”

In order to keep these steel boats afloat and ready, classes of new Marines continually graduate from AAS. These Marines, some of them just months out of high school, carry with them the responsibility of maintaining the Corps’ unique amphibious capability.

“Even though we’re conducting desert operations in Iraq, we still need the training because you never know when they may need us,” added 33-year-old Staff Sgt. Doug D. Cowsert, senior instructor with AAS Battalion.

The AAV is capable of carrying 25 Marines with a crew of three. It deploys from Navy ships off an enemy coast, navigates through the seas, takes the beach head and can travel up to 200 miles inland.

“No other job in the military can drop a vehicle off a ship and drive a couple miles to the shore and then drive on land,” said AAS student Lance Cpl. Todd W. Love, a 21-year-old from Lockhaven, Pa. “And then we can drive on land and we don’t have to stop.”

Despite the small role they play in Iraq, the Marines who operate these vehicles don’t underestimate their importance to the overall mission of the Marine Corps. Cowsert, who is from Wayne, Mich., feels the training is fundemental for the Marines: “It’s better to know how to do it and rarely have to use it, than to need it and not be capable.”

Students with the Assault Amphibious School Battalion ?splash down? into the ocean at Del Mar Beach as they conduct Assault Amphibious Vehicle training April 4. The Marines are learning how to maneuver the 26-ton vehicles, which can travel at speeds of more than 45 mph.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Geoffrey Ingersoll

Download

Details

The Amphibious life of a tracker

12 Apr 2007 | Lance Cpl. Geoffrey Ingersoll Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

PRINT

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- It wasn’t a big deal that 18-year-old Corey A. Hester didn’t bring a pencil to school for his test. All he needed was a Kevlar helmet, a life vest and a 26 ton Amphibious Assault Vehicle.

“The most exciting part is driving the vehicle from land into water, it’s an awesome feeling,” said Pfc. Hester, a recent graduate of Melbourne High School, Fla., and a student at Camp Pendleton’s Assault Amphibious School Battalion. “It means a lot to me that we are the few Marines who are actually amphibious.”

On land, the AAV is anything but defenseless. Marines can push it up to 45 mph, and can fire back with either a MK 19 40 mm machine gun or a M2 .50 caliber machine gun.

“It’s a tank that goes on water, and then I’ve got 26 tons of off-roading capability,” said 21-year-old Pfc. John P. Harris, an AAS student originally from Mount Solon, Va. “It’s an adrenaline rush to drive it.”

In order to keep these steel boats afloat and ready, classes of new Marines continually graduate from AAS. These Marines, some of them just months out of high school, carry with them the responsibility of maintaining the Corps’ unique amphibious capability.

“Even though we’re conducting desert operations in Iraq, we still need the training because you never know when they may need us,” added 33-year-old Staff Sgt. Doug D. Cowsert, senior instructor with AAS Battalion.

The AAV is capable of carrying 25 Marines with a crew of three. It deploys from Navy ships off an enemy coast, navigates through the seas, takes the beach head and can travel up to 200 miles inland.

“No other job in the military can drop a vehicle off a ship and drive a couple miles to the shore and then drive on land,” said AAS student Lance Cpl. Todd W. Love, a 21-year-old from Lockhaven, Pa. “And then we can drive on land and we don’t have to stop.”

Despite the small role they play in Iraq, the Marines who operate these vehicles don’t underestimate their importance to the overall mission of the Marine Corps. Cowsert, who is from Wayne, Mich., feels the training is fundemental for the Marines: “It’s better to know how to do it and rarely have to use it, than to need it and not be capable.”