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Posted on 04/10/2006 11:46:39 AM PDT by jmc1969
At this time next year, about 200 sailors will fill up small boats, man .50-caliber machine guns and watch for trouble along the waterways of Baghdad.
There’s a catch, though: At the moment, these sailors have no boats, no manuals and no past missions to call their own. Riverine Group 1 of the Navy’s new river combat force based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base is starting from scratch.
They still are recruiting men and writing a fresh chapter on how to prepare for river fighting. “We’ve got sailors lining up at the door,” Capt. Michael L. Jordan, commodore of the riverine force, said during an interview at his half-finished headquarters. “The problem is, we’ve got no experience to draw from.”
The Navy has not seen this type of action since the Vietnam War, so it is calling river veterans, the Marine Corps and the special warfare community for advice. The chosen sailors will undergo eight months of training, including combat first aid and grunt infantry at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
It’s a brave new world – and in one year, they’ll be in Iraq.
The riverine force is part of the Navy’s effort to become a bigger player in global efforts against terrorists and insurgents. Policing and protecting the shallow brown and green waters in hot spots now is the responsibility of the Marine Corps and special forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at home.hamptonroads.com ...
SWIFT BOATS REDUX! LOOK OUT FOR A NEW J-FINK!........
Brown Water Navy ping
Maybe gun down a few un-armed villagers for old time's sake - get himself another purple heart...
Just talk to JFnK. He could clue everyone in real fast!
He was in Nam you know.
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Archangel, Archangel, this is PBR Street Gang, over...
The Navy has slowly been expanding it's own version of it's own new "Naval Infantry" types with the Marine Corps edging away to becoming our "911" force anywhere in the world and not just "amphibious" type warfare.
Looks like their will be a lot of competition (and I hope cooperation) for this role between the Corps and the Army Airborne in this new endevour.
lol.
Thanks for the laugh!
Poor man. His trauma must be awful.
I've always wanted to buy a surplus Apocalypse Now-type PBR. I heard they draft something like 6 inches. I also heard they've been scrapped.
Oh Great! Now we'll hear in the 2008 election another story about how Kerry went on a secret mission and meets with the CIA in Syria on Christmas eve 2006.
the memory of Christmas in Tikrit is seared....SEARED, in my memory!
Did you happen to see this thread?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1611648/posts
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