The army and marines are so over-extended that the US is having to train 10,000 US Navy sailors for ground service in Iraq. I wonder how this will affect the readiness of the US Navy? Think of all those people who joined the Navy because they didn't want to get blown up by IEDs - surprise, you're going. Of course, this will screw up the Navy's recruiting efforts. The Air Force has had thousands of people driving trucks in Iraq for a couple years.
The following are excerpts of the AP article from April 19, 2006
"Navy sailors get Army training at Fort Jackson
AP -Navy sailors are trading sea legs for land combat as the U.S. Army is opening its largest training base to help them survive when sent into Afghanistan or Iraq. The Navy is sending thousands of men and women to support Army units in those regions and wants its sailors to hone their fighting skills...After struggling up from the mud with her M-16 in hand, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jade Permenter insisted Brown's instructions to keep her head and butt down might save her life someday... I'm headed to Iraq. I need this," said the 34-year-old reservist nurse...
So far, some 1,200 sailors have gone through an intense, two-week course crammed with the basics of basic training: learning to fire M-16 rifles, toss hand grenades and conduct house-to-house patrols while weighted down with body armor - tactics normally foreign to those accustomed to life aboard a ship. They learn the ins-and-outs of improvised explosive devices - the roadside bombs that have been exacting a deadly toll on American servicemen and women. They learn how to take and give instructions while under fire on a convoy and how to enter a booby-trapped building.
Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for the Navy's Education and Training Command in Pensacola, Fla., said the program may train up to 10,000 sailors over the coming months"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...