 The first tracked landing vehicles were introduced and heavily relied upon during World War II. Today's assault amphibian vehicles, or AAVs, provide the Marine Air Ground Task Force with the mobility, firepower, and armor protection necessary to conduct ship-to-objective maneuver. The AAV continues to evolve as the future operating environment changes and it continues to provide the Marine Corps with a unique service-defining capability. Assault Amphibian School, located aboard Marine Corps-based Camp Pendleton, California, trains Marines in assault amphibian vehicle operations and maintenance, assists in the development of formal training and doctrinal proponents for the assault amphibian community, and advocates for continuous, progressive, career-long training for the assault amphibian Marine. Assault Amphibian School provides entry, intermediate, and advanced-level training to both enlisted and officer personnel in the military occupational specialties of 1803 Assault Amphibian Officer, 1833 Assault Amphibian Crew Member, 2141 Assault Amphibian Vehicle Repairer. Assault Amphibian School provides innovative training to prepare entry-level Marines for service in the operating forces. Students are trained, tested, and evaluated in swimming capability, gunnery, tactics, infantry integration, amphibious operations, and maintenance skills. Students must meet demanding physical fitness and academic performance requirements in order to graduate. My name is Sergeant Andres Martinez. Gunnery Sergeant Pete Slayden. Lance Corporal Julia Chenoweth. I'm a platform instructor. I teach the basic maintainer course. Assault Amphibian Vehicle maintainer here at Assault Amphibian School, Camp Pendleton, California. The mission of Assault Amphibian School is to train entry-level students, how to beat operators of AEVs, mechanics, how to beat officers for these vehicles, and we also provide intermediate level and advanced training for both courses as well. We train these Marines on the Assault Amphibian Vehicle Platform. We do this by having these Marines go through 55 training days. They start out by getting classroom lectures. After each lecture, they'll get demonstrations by all their other instructors, and at the end, they'll be evaluated through practical application and field training exercises. Some of the innovative training methods that we use to train these young Marines are actually for our gunnery. Once they get into that portion of their course, they'll first run through a simulator. It's actually how to use the weapons. It almost looks like a video game to them, but it's a very real-life scenario, and it prepares them whenever they actually go through their field exercise training. Our community of being so small in the Marine Corps affects us and these Marines because this is not going to be the last time that we see each other. Later on, down their careers, once these young Marines become NCOs, we'll be working together side-by-side in the operating forces. We'll go on the plumbing together. This is the last time that we actually spend one-on-one time. We build that working relationship right now, that instructor-student relationship, and later on, down their career, it's just going to continue. We support the MAGTAP. Simply by providing that ship-to-shore capabilities. Once we arrive on shore, we also provide follow-on missions from shore to objective to the infantry. We carry infantry to objective and provide support by fire. The mission of my course is to take students who've graduated boot camp, MCT, and they've gained the basic skills of Marines and continue their transformation towards the fleet and teach them basic mechanical skills and also operational skills of the AAV. That way they know how to operate what they're working on. The methods I use to train the Marines, most are going to be classroom methods. Upstairs will be our basic PowerPoint and formal lecture where we get the students involved. It's not so much as a direct discussion like it would be at recruit training or maybe other schools such as SOI. Here we really like to get the Marines engaged and have them be part of the process of not just learning, but also helping teach themselves. So for practical application, we do most of it down on the ramp, which is our rear area maintenance place. The students down and they're going to start practicing on everything they're going to do from suspension work all the way up to the more technical, intricate things. They'll be pulling an entire power plant assembly which weighs just over 6,000 pounds. We'll have them run on the deck, hook to the vehicle, and then we have them reinstall them as well. You look back to the island hopping campaigns, you look at roles in Vietnam, you look at roles in every major engagement, whether it's Somalia or even Iraq, we had AAVs there. So it's hard to say, you know, in any climate, place where you'll be. The mission of our section is to maintain these vehicles that way both the students and the instructors can have the hands-on experience. It's one thing to learn in the classroom, but it's a completely different thing to actually drive the vehicles and we make sure that you can do that safely and that you can operate and learn how to operate in a safe environment. The instructors here are extremely dedicated to what they do. They will go out of their way any time of the day to make sure that you understand everything that you have to understand in order to become an Amtrakor. Personally, I struggle with some of the physical aspects and our instructors made sure every day that I was going out lifting weights, doing the buddy drag, and eventually I got it. So they will go out of their way any time, any day, to make sure that you understand whether they teach you in the classroom, whether they have to draw it out, or whether they have to bring you down here, turn on the vehicle, and actually show you how it works on the vehicle. I really want to become part of this MOS because we are that hard of the Marine Corps. We provide that amphibious assault that we are known for. We can go from ship to shore at any time, any time the nation needs us, especially as a female with this new integration. We have to meet those standards. It's a huge challenge. It's something that not everyone is up to, especially women coming into this integration field. So as a woman, it's a chance to make history as a Marine. It's a chance just to be part of the heart of the Marine Corps.