Marines teaching ‘brown water’ skills
June 10,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF

While every Marine may be a rifleman, every sailor isn’t.

But a select group of sailors with a new riverine group will become intimately familiar with their rifles.

They arrived at Camp Geiger this week to begin a six-week training course to learn basic infantry skills and develop a warrior ethos within the newly formed river forces, the Navy‘s first return to “brown water” since Vietnam.

The riverine mission — patrolling and fighting on inland waterways — has lately been the province of the Marines, and it’s leathernecks who have been fighting on the hostile rivers of Iraq.

That will change in 2007, when the Navy’s first riverine squadrons become deployable fighting forces.

But first: back to basics. That’s where the Marines of Camp Geiger come in. The 222 sailors with Navy Riverine Squadron 1 arrived at the School of Infantry on Wednesday, when they began a course similar to Marine Combat Training, said Capt. Frank Dillbeck, the Marine in charge of training the sailors.

“This is the foundation of a whole predeployment training plan,” he said. “This is their first day of the basics, their first step into the odyssey.”

The important lessons the sailors learn, Dillbeck said, are quick response to orders and how to develop the “muscle memory” necessary to respond instinctively in a combat situation. They are not learning team or squad tactics; instead, they are learning how to be individually proficient with their weapons.

There are differences between the sailor’s curriculum and the training received regularly by Marines fresh out of boot camp. The sailors will learn their own weapons, the M-4 assault rifle and M9 pistol, and they will train together with their unit members, everyone from the commander down to the lowest sailor.

While a cultural gap exists between “leathernecks” and “squids,” the sea-going “sister services” aren’t so different that sailors can’t learn the grunt-like ways of their Marine brethren.

“It’s not like we’re getting a bunch of Boy Scouts,” Dillbeck said. “They are extremely motivated and ready to learn.”

Cmdr. Bill Guarini, the riverine squadron’s commander who officially took control of the unit May 25, said the combat experience of Marine instructors makes them ideal teachers for the new squadron.

“The Navy is taking fleet sailors; most of us never wore cammies,” he said. “I’ve been in Navy 16 years, and I don’t have combat skills. So we’re learning from the people that are the best at it.”

Navy Lt. John John, the squadron’s planning and logistics officer, said the training gives the Navy and Marine Corps another way to extend their 200-plus years of cooperation.

“It’s a great experience,” he said. “There’s lots of pride. We are continuing a legacy. It’s a different environment, with us working hand-in-hand with (the Marines). This is just one more way for us to do that.”

The re-establishment of Navy riverines has been under work for months, part of the Navy’s push to become more integral to the asymmetrical, insurgency laden warfare of the present and future. It will also allow them to relieve the Marines-only small-boat company.

The Navy’s Riverine Group 1 stood up May 25 at its headquarters at Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Va. The Group will eventually consist of about 900 sailors in three squadrons.

After their stint at Geiger, Squadron 1 will remain at Camp Lejeune. They will mosey over to the Coast Guard’s Special Missions Training Center in late July, where the coxswains and crews will learn river battle tactics and how to drive their boats and wield the mounted guns.

Then in November or December, the squadron will deploy from Norfolk back to Lejeune for a couple weeks of intense training simulations. After that, they will be combat ready.

Guarini said they expect to deploy sometime in early 2007 with Iraq being a “likely” destination. Guarini said sailors are clamoring to join the river-warrior units.

“There’s an intense interest in the riverine squadron,” he said. “It’s new, it’s different. People are fascinated by it. Some people have been on ships for 10 years and they want something different.”

Dillbeck said the Camp Geiger instructors are excited to be a founding part of the Navy’s new force and he’s confident the sailors will perform well.

“It’s an honor to a part of the ongoing history of Navy and Marine Corps operations,” Dillbeck said. “It’s not foreign to them. It’s in their blood. It’s a matter of awakening their heritage.”

Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.

Ellie