The Marine Corps formally decommissioned the last of its “workhorse” amphibious landing vehicles in a ceremony in California last Friday, bidding farewell to the machines that have carried Marines from ship to shore and through combat zones around the world for more than 50 years.

The Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) became part of the Marine Corps’ repertoire in 1972. It saw action from Grenada to Iraq, and was a critical tool in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as one of the only vehicles adept at navigating the flooded streets of the Gulf Coast.

“We’re sad to see the AAV go,” Col. Lynn W. Berendsen, the commanding officer of the Assault Amphibian School at Camp Pendleton, California, said in an interview with Task & Purpose on Thursday. “It was a workhorse.”

The nearly 30-ton vehic

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