May 20, 2002	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1423

BAGRAM AIR BASE: The Afghan war has buried the traditional image of marines storming onto beaches in wartime.

Trained primarily for amphibious assaults, Britain’s Royal Marines and the US Marine Corps have found themselves in this land-locked, mountainous country fighting at an unheard of distance from their natural habitat — water and coastline.

“The range at which we are operating now is probably unprecedented in the military history of amphibious operations,” said Major General Rob Fry, the commandant general of Britain’s elite marine commandos.

“I don’t think we’ve ever done this before and I think the strain upon not so much our people but upon our mechanisms and our machines will certainly leave a lasting legacy.

“It wouldn’t have been typical by any historical standards but I think it will be increasingly typical in contemporary terms,” he said during a recent visit to Bagram Air Base, the Afghan headquarters of the 12,000- to 13,000-strong US-led coalition force.

The US marines were the first Western conventional forces to touch Afghan soil last year, helicoptered 800 kms from their warships in the Arabian Sea in November before the Taliban relinquished their grip on power.

They have since gone and been replaced, first by the US 10th Mountain Division and now the 101st Airborne, the so-called “Rakkasans”.

But the British marines continue to prowl the soaring peaks and valleys of eastern Afghanistan in the hunt for elusive remnants of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

Lugging 100 lbs backpacks plus weapons, flak jackets and helmets at an altitude where it hurts just to stand up, the only casualties suffered by the marines have been victims of the terrain.

But while unexpectedly distant from any coastline, the troops on the ground say their marine training has prepared them well.

JUST A FORM OF ENTRY: “The bottom line is that once a Royal Marine gets ashore, they’re infantrymen,” said Captain Richard “Taff” Bayliss, the commander of the marines’ supporting artillery and a veteran of the 1982 Falklands War against Argentina.

The Royal Marines prepare for high altitude and extreme weather combat in the Arctic Circle while the US marines are well-versed in jungle and urban warfare.

But their doctrines of war are the same — to prick a hole in an enemy’s defences that will allow the heavy armour of a following army to pound through like a sledgehammer.

Ultimately, the marine involvement in arid Afghanistan is no big deal to either corps.

Major General Fry said operating so far inland challenged the marines in terms of getting there. It took more planning, mid-air refuelling and longer lines of communications than usual.

Both marine corps were sent out, sustained and supplied from their vessels at sea.

FIRST TO FIGHT: To the US marines, setting up “Camp Rhino” south of the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in the early stages of the war simply reaffirmed their motto of “First to Fight”.

US marines have all they need with them, including giant Sea Stallion troop-carrying helicopters, Super Cobra gunships, F-18 Super Hornets for air cover and even an armoury to repair damaged weapons.

At any given time, three Marine Expeditionary Units of about 2,000 men each equipped with tanks, amphibious assault vehicles and 12-cylinder armoured Humvees are afloat in the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea and somewhere else in Asia.

They can still be expected in future conflicts to storm ashore. About 80 percent of the world’s potential conflict zones are on a coastline. But the days of trying to break through an enemy’s heaviest defences with pure manpower are over.

Instead, they will probably do something like what the US marines did in southern Afghanistan — fly over the heads of the enemy and attack them from their rear.

“There will be no more Saving Private Ryans’,” said Pool, referring to the World War Two beach-head landings on the French coast depicted in the Oscar-winning film.—Reuters