Pendleton Crews Train for Amphibious Assault

If and when Marines storm the beaches to liberate Kuwait, most will be carried ashore by a toady-looking, 41,000-pound craft handled by crews trained at Camp Pendleton.

Last August, when the first Marines were deployed to the Middle East, the Amphibious Vehicle School at the world’s largest amphibious assault training base literally shifted into overdrive to prepare for war.

“We’re going to train more of these guys in four months than we would during a normal year,” Col. Nick Hoskot, commanding officer of the Schools Battalion, said during an exercise Monday.

What had been a six-week course of eight-hour days now has been packed into 23 ten-hour days during which an increased number of amphibious assault vehicle crews are being trained for possible combat in the Gulf War.

Military experts are virtually certain that Marines will stage a dramatic landing on enemy-held shores, and although that view is still somewhat speculative, there’s a lot riding on a potential amphibious assault.

Beside success or failure, the operation would put the Marines at center stage of the conflict in a high-stakes test of their combat reputation.

“It’s symbolic of what we do, our primary mission is amphibious assault and this,” said Hoskot, glancing at a landing craft, “is how we get there.”

After crews are trained at Camp Pendleton, they’re assigned to Marine units based elsewhere. Hoskot and his officers don’t know exactly what to anticipate in a fight with Iraqi forces, but training emphasizes basic and adaptable skills.

The amphibious assault vehicle is a decidedly unromantic-looking, track-driven craft that carries up to 22 Marines loaded with combat equipment. It is usually armed with a .50-caliber machine gun and a 40-millimeter grenade launcher and is handled by a three-man crew.

The Marine Corps has 1,100 of these vehicles, although how many are poised for action in the Gulf hasn’t been revealed. Camp Pendleton won’t divulge how many crew members are now being trained.

Monday was the start of four-day field operations that began with officers practicing coordination and communication with the ship that carries and releases the vehicles. Several amphibious assault vehicles landed on Camp Pendleton’s shores in a turbulent surf.

Maj. Steve Warner, commanding officer of the Amphibious Vehicle School, said the craft is the workhorse of the corps’ amphibious arsenal. “These vehicles will lead and lift the assault force,” he said.

Other craft, including high-powered Hovercraft, would play a key role in an assault from sea, but even so, the amphibious assault craft would lead the way.

They cost $900,000 each, can plunge over 15-foot swells and move at 7 knots (8.2 m.p.h.) through water and up to 45 m.p.h. on dry land.

These aren’t great speeds, but it’s enough to exhilarate the new crews. “It’s a thrill you can’t get doing anything else,” said Lance Cpl. Brandon Frisbie, from Minnesota.

While the vehicle’s plating can withstand small arms fire, the greatest concern is damage by mines and missiles, said Hoskot. The Marines are confident the craft can operate through oil-coated waters.

Nobody knows for sure what to expect from Iraqi forces during an amphibious landing on Kuwaiti shores, but amphibious doctrine, simply put, “is to go where they aren’t,” said Hoskot.