If war were to break out in the Pacific tomorrow, the United States Marines would be asked to do the job nobody else can, load up into amphibious vehicles and swim out to defend hundreds of islands around the pacific. But there’s only one problem, their current amphibious transport is more than 5 decades old. That’s why the Marines just received their first batch of the next generation amphibious combat vehicles, the ACV. Proving that Gen-Z marines get all the cool new gear.Why is the old AAV being replaced? And How does it fit into the Marines’ much larger amphibious focused transformation plan? And what are some of the challenges they’ve had with fielding it? Grab a box of crayons to munch on and let’s find out.