The Marines were out at Naval Station Mayport on Thursday conducting amphibious operations. They take the amphibious assault vehicles from land to sea and back again.
On the beach they had an R7- which is used for recovery and maintenance, C7- Which is used to coordinate operations and communications, and a P7, which is the troop transport. It can hold 27 fully combat loaded marines.
Staff Sgt Peter Carelli says they do these drills periodically to make sure everyone is on top of their game. "We drill almost every month of the year," says Carelli. "We have some times we have off and then we end up doing an extended drills that's usually about a two week annual training to 29 day annual training out in 29 Palms, doing land operations out there, we've gone to Fort Stewart Georgia, we've gone to Michigan, we go all over to make sure that the Marines get all the terrain that they're gonna face. The best that we can get. We want to make sure they're trained up for every situation, every scenario."
When asked why he became a Marine, Carelli said, "There's only one other Marine in my family, it's my cousin. He served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and it's something I've always wanted to do. I love it. You know, the fighting for my country and being there and being able to take care of my fellow Marines. It's something that's always inspired me."
Thursday, they were doing all their checks, and making sure everyone was trained to be able to deal with emergency situations. They will continue training Friday.
