thedrifter
03-09-07, 08:25 AM
Navy Riverboats Deploy
March 8, 2007 02:43 PM
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A Norfolk-based riverboat squadron departed Thursday for Iraq, the first deployment of Navy swift boats to a war zone since Vietnam.
About 100 members of the Riverine Squadron One will integrate with Marines patrolling the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, eventually replacing the Marine force. They will patrol those waters to combat terrorist operations.
Commander Bill Guarini says that the missions, the formations, tactics, techniques and procedures are pretty much the same as they were 35 years ago in Vietnam, when the Navy announced it was adding river warefare to its traditional "bluewater" role.
To prepare for their Iraq deployment, officers and sailors of the Riverine Squadron attended the Marines Corps' combat infantry school at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. They learned combat techniques, land navigation and how to the handle the M-4 machine gun, which each sailor will carry while patrolling the Euphrates.
The unit, based at the Navy's Little Creek amphibious base in Norfolk, is part of the Navy's Expeditionary Combat Command.
Ellie
March 8, 2007 02:43 PM
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A Norfolk-based riverboat squadron departed Thursday for Iraq, the first deployment of Navy swift boats to a war zone since Vietnam.
About 100 members of the Riverine Squadron One will integrate with Marines patrolling the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, eventually replacing the Marine force. They will patrol those waters to combat terrorist operations.
Commander Bill Guarini says that the missions, the formations, tactics, techniques and procedures are pretty much the same as they were 35 years ago in Vietnam, when the Navy announced it was adding river warefare to its traditional "bluewater" role.
To prepare for their Iraq deployment, officers and sailors of the Riverine Squadron attended the Marines Corps' combat infantry school at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. They learned combat techniques, land navigation and how to the handle the M-4 machine gun, which each sailor will carry while patrolling the Euphrates.
The unit, based at the Navy's Little Creek amphibious base in Norfolk, is part of the Navy's Expeditionary Combat Command.
Ellie