 Thibias Assault, the grim business of a coordinated team of sailors, ships and landing craft of the amphibious forces of men and equipment of the fleet marines. This team is always prepared to land the landing force for the sailors and the marines of the Navy's amphibious forces. The movement a well-rehearsed symphony, a symphony of combat with its tempo rooted in the experience of men who streamed on to other shores in other years. Men who made the amphibious operation a cliche of this restless time in which we live. The marines have landed and the situation is well in hand and this was repeated time and again from Guadalcanal on across the Pacific, the army forces in North Africa, Sicily and the European continent. Thibias forces landed on Iwo Jima under the shadow of Mount Surabachi in the Philippines and Okinawa. Last of the D days, the final H hours, these were the amphibious assaults that ended the bitter years. Outside interference threatened Lebanon and the entire Middle East. The ships were off Cuba in 62. In 1965, they landed marines in the Dominican Republic from the busiest yet loneliest house in all America. To be ready for that decision is the continuing mission of the Navy's amphibious forces. It is a commentary upon the multitude of details that must be considered. The merits and the weaknesses of the enemy's defenses. Not just upon the beaches, but England, one mile or a hundred miles or a thousand miles. The force he might bring to bear from land and sea and air, against our men and ships. The state of the sea and the weather. The direction of the wind, the tides, the reefs, shoals, rocks and depths of water. The waves and the width of the beaches. And above all, the men. The marines who will land and the sailors who will get them there, and support them throughout the landing. To the planners, each man in the operation is important. The yeoman and the boson mate. The storekeeper and the signalman. The gunners mate and the hospital corpsman. The personnelman and the cook, who scrape and paint, who keep a boiler steaming and the engines turning, who steer the ships and keep them on course. Yes, all the men who do all the jobs in amphibious operation demands. They must be ready, ready to move. And anything they might need, they must carry with them. No beauties these, but each one tailor made for a specific role in an amphibious assault. The attack transport for troops. The attack cargo ship for supplies. The amphibious command ship for command control. Landing ship for armored vehicles. Flight transport for special missions. The amphibious assault ship for troops and helicopters. The amphibious transport dock for landing craft and helicopter assault. The tank landing ship for landing heavy equipment on the beach, upon the waters. But in spite of their evolving over the years, these ships wouldn't seem strange to those men who fought aboard their predecessors of World War II, nor would life aboard them seem so different. Life in the amphibs isn't really different from the old days. Everything is still the same routine. For example, we still have long separations from our families, and we still need a special kind of wife who can manage and carry the burdens while we're away. Some of the ships are more modern, our quarters aboard are more comfortable, and the gear we work with is more complex. There's lots of routine stuff, but any job has some of that. Somehow it all adds up. It all means something. Take teamwork, for instance. We don't just practice it, we live it all the time. Around here teamwork is a kind of confidence that the other guy knows his job as well as you know yours. And for good reason, we're trained to know our job. There are classes all the time. There's a special school for every subject you can think of. This of course precludes them from interfering with the ship-to-shore movement of the landing craft moving from the transport group to Red Beach. On the other hand, in Fire Support Area 3, the Naval Gun Fire Support Ships lectures, studying, learning. Every sailor today is a kind of a student. They like students everywhere. When classes are over, they take time to relax. My style, but they call it music, even if they play it cool. Don't forget that Hitler and Tojo thought the drugstore cowboys would be pushovers. Some people still think American kids are soft. Well, they shape up. And when the chips are down, they'll fill the bill. They have, every time. Field test comes when operations begin, teams move aboard, and the team is complete, weeks or months if the mission calls for it, and sooner or later. But the job is not designed to serve individual purposes. This is a team where the nation directs. NGC, the flagship of the Amphibious Task Force. The admiral controls the flexible power of the force. He has all the means to act and to act fast when ordered to do so. His force is fully prepared to meet contingencies and emergencies, to sustain action until the beaches are secured, conferences are held to resolve the problems of communications, a liaison with other forces, of boats and supplies, of supporting arms. When an operation is underway, the admiral and the Marine General are kept fully informed by their staff in flag plot. They are in touch with every ship, and later with every command post ashore. The admiral can talk to the Pentagon, or even the White House if necessary. The flagship has other communications channels too, to control the planes, to control the landing craft, and to direct the naval gunfire support. Navy reconnaissance aircraft have photographed the landing areas long before the task force sails for its objective. In the final hours prior to the landing, submarines probe the shoreline for low-level views. Other swimmers move inshore to search for traps the enemy may have laid. All this is done with care, so the enemy will never know that we were there, that we are interested in this particular stretch of quiet beach. As the amphibious task force approaches, the final intelligence reports are used to update the assault plans. Air support blasts enemy positions on the beach in preparation for the landing. First in are usually the Navy's underwater demolition teams. Their mission is to blow up the mines and barricades which the enemy set as traps for boats and men. Herd amphibians form assembly circles, transports. The Marines are preparing to go in and dig the enemy out by hand, as they have always done. The helicopter instead of landing craft precisely planned, completely controlled, timed to the minute to hit the beach, is made up of armored amphibians carrying combat-ready troops, set up posts to treat the wounded, to evacuate them from the battlecopters shuttled from ship to shore. Carrying men and material to the beach is secured. The vital supply link from ship to shore is established, is a result of careful planning, meticulous preparation, and precise execution. In the critical areas of the world today, our amphibious forces are constantly deployed, ready with helicopters, landing craft, and men, continually proving that the mere presence of this offensive power is one of America's strongest defenses. This vigilance is the price of liberty, of peace.