School for Patrol Boat Crews

THE WIND IS COLD as it blows over the water. Except for the distant whine of diesel engines, the bay is quiet. You wait, peering intently into the darkness, trying to distinguish shapes in the shadows ashore.

Suddenly, flashes of light erupt from those shadows as machine guns begin firing.

But this time there is no danger, because you are in Grizzly Bay at Mare Island, Calif., learning to be a Navy PBR (Patrol Boat, River) crewman. The machine gun bursts are blanks -but the next time they could be from Viet Cong guns, shooting at you from the Vietnam coastline.

SILENT SEARCH - Trainee aboard PBR maintains vigil during early morn cruise.

PBRs are already operating off the coast of South Vietnam. Many more will eventually be there. As with Navy Swift boats and ships and Vietnamese junks, they stop and search junks and sampans for Viet Cong goods and arms.

Designed especially for work in shallow areas, the PBRs have neither rudder nor propeller. They are propelled and steered by jets of water. The boats have a speed of about 25 knots.

The fiber glass hull is lined with plastic foam for additional buoyancy. Armor plating surrounds the crew positions and engine compartment.

Firepower aboard the PBRs consists of a twin .50-caliber machine gun mounted forward, a .30-caliber machine gun aft, a Mark 79 grenade launcher and two AR-15 light automatic rifles. Small arms kept aboard include a .12-gauge shotgun and .38-caliber revolvers.

Radar is used for navigation. All PBRs are equipped with transistorized FM radio communications systems.

As a future crewman, you will learn gunnery, survival and a little of the Vietnamese language while at Mare Island. You will also learn something about the other crewmembers' jobs.

The four weeks of operational training at the PBR school consist of classroom work and day and night drills with the boats. You are taught radio procedures, lessons on boat engines, radar operation and survival swimming.

"OVER YOUR HEAD" - Trainees practice with dungaree water wings. Below: TRAINEES listen to instruction on PBR engines. Crewmen must know every job.

Though the intense heat, bugs and Viet Cong are missing from the otherwise authentic training area, the serious business of war is in the faces and actions of the students. Young and old alike share the same thought -learn today and survive tomorrow.

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