 Recently, Marines with 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company were qualified to operate the new Raven B unmanned aerial vehicle aboard Camp Leatherneck. The Raven is a small, four-pound, remote-controlled airplane that is ideally operated by two Marines and is capable of capturing real-time video imagery for surveillance and target acquisition. You have a forward observer from 300 feet that all you have to do is feed it batteries. So you can know who's running out the back door as your assault team is punching in the front door and that's invaluable information. The Marines receive two days of classroom training on the parts and capabilities of the Raven as well as several hours of flight time. The new Raven system has more communication channels which prohibits multiple signals from interfering with it during flight. Say we have several Ravens in the same area. If they're the old ones, if they're on the same channel, they kind of run interference with each other and things like cell phones and other UAVs, their signals can interfere. These channels are more specific, more locked on to the Raven and because we have multiple channels like about 50 channels, we can spread it out more. That way we don't get that interference with the older ones. Most Anglico Marines in other locations in Helen Province will also receive training with the new Raven in the near future. Reporting from Camp Leatherneck, I'm Lance Corporal Brian Nygaard.