Saw this and thought about time! I hope they do better than the ground pounders we trained to handle the RAG boats at Little Creek- good thing those boats were aluminum cause they took a beating teaching landings - all in all they turned out to be pretty good Coxswains!

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,95136,00.html?ESRC=navy.nl

The Army's had watercraft crews for a long time. Back in 1980, I was an enlisted man serving at West Point, NY. My roommate and best friend was an Army Watercraft Engineer, aka "bilge rat." He worked on the ferry and tour boats (re-decorated PBR-type craft) at the academy's docks onthe Hudson. He called the soldiers who worked above the waterline "deck apes." I know he was also trained on LARCs and other landing craft. Loved his job and was proud to be part of the "Army's Navy." He claimed at the time that the Army had more boats than the Navy (but always seemed to leave the number of ships out of that equation).

I guess they have had boats in the army since George Washington crossed the Deleware! lol -as I said most of the Army guys turned out to be pretty good coxswains (boat captain)

I read about the "river rats" vets being asked to come to Little Creek to give a hand in teaching the youngin's how to really handle small boats in rivers..... can't find the article/link any longer.... sorry.

You'd be surprised at the amount of Army watercraft stationed at Fort Eustis, VA. We toured several different types of landing craft, barges, tugs and material handling vessels. Not a navy by any means, but there was quite an assortment.

I guess the only true open sea Army vessel I got to tour was the TSV or Theater Support Vessel. It was an Austrailian transport ship that we were testing for future procurement

Photo gallery of the TSV

I remember the Army had lots of small craft when I was in. The Corp of Engineers having larger ships.

On the flip side of this....USN Personnel are also being trained as ground pounders here in Colorado. Since I started working as a CSI (Combat Skills Instructor) upon retiring, we have had several groups of sailors come thru for training prior to deployment overseas. I believe all of them have been medical personal. Where the Soldiers would say "Hooah" they would say "Arrrrr" as a play on the pirate theme. Very funny for us instructors. They have all been a great bunch of folks and very receptive to getting down in the mud and completing the mission. Convoy Live Fire, Short Range Marksmanship, CQB, Combatives, Combat Lifesaver etc. etc. etc. They really valued the training they were receiving and several have wrote us and let us know that the training they got paid off when they got on the ground. That in itself has made my job very fulfilling. "Q"

Not to hijack the topic but our Navy Corpsman at least in 1st Marine Division were our most treasured asset and every bit as good as a basically trained Marine and then some! We ( most Marines) have a high opinion of corpsman especially, but any sailor that had direct contact with us was certainly good to go!