Click on the above image for a demo ride on a Sea Ark Combatant Craft crewed by Inshore Boat Unit 17 sailors

On the opposite (north) side of the Naval Amphibious Base from the VUMM are located the vastly expanded piers from which we all remember the Swifts being tied up to during training. In addition to the SWCC and other amphibious warfare craft now located there, San Diego based units of Naval Coastal Group One use the piers as the departure point for training the Naval Reserve Units that quite frequently deploy overseas with their small boats, known as Sea Arks, in defence of our country in the global war on terror One such unit is Inshore Boat Unit Seventeen. We were fortunate enough to have sailors from this unit volunteer their time to give attendees to the activities at the base on May 5 demonstration rides on their cocky little hot rods that have seen active duty at distant locations in nearly all areas of the globe. IBU 17 has, in the past few years, been called to duty both in Kuwait and also Guam. The services of all the IBU's continue to be in ever increasing demand as the need for force protection throughout the world becomes a vital mission of today's Navy So it did not take long for naval warriors from vastly different generations to form bonds based upon an affection for the small boats that go fast and perform their missions overseas so successfully Those that took the time to either ride the shuttle bus or walk over to the pier, wait patiently in line for the next group of sixteen to don life jackets and then take a trip back into our past and future will remember the IBU 17 Sea Ark boats numbers NINE and THIRTEEN and their able crews with great fondness and appreciation for the accomplishments of our modern day littoral warfare sailors

GEE! That SURE was FUN When can we go again, Daddy ... Please?

Gentlemen, I personally would like to thank each of you for allowing us to participate in your reunion. I believe our Captain, myself and the limited crew of Inshore Boat Unit 17 (IBU 17) gained valuable experience from the event. We would have liked to have had you on our boats all day, however the number of people participating in your reunion and our limited number of boats made it difficult. I personally believe the Navy has a great history and is rarely memorialized as it should be. Your members really brought that concept to a reality for all sixteen of our crew members that volunteered that day. I would have preferred to have spent more time with your members, but unfortunately I was busy driving Boat 9. By the way if anyone got wet, I do apologize, but your members were enticing me. LOL The participating crew of IBU 17 felt it was a very important evolution and we are very proud to have participated in this event and would be more than willing to do so again. Once again we thank you for your service Very Respectfully, Michael Kari Command Master Chief Inshore Boat Unit 17

Command Master Chief: We thank each and every member of IBU 17 for such an excellent demonstration of the capabilities of our modern US Navy sailors. We are so proud that units like IBU 17 are carrying on the traditions we started forty years ago with the motivation and skill needed to keep this country protected against the challenges facing us in the new twenty-first century. The service you and your sailors provide to this country is deeply appreciated by all of us old guys. Once more the circle continues on and remains unbroken