MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- A puff of smoke erupts from the exhaust pipe as the diesel engine of the $4.5 million Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicle comes to life. A rumble is heard and felt as the heavily armored machine drives off to provide low-air defense for soldiers during Alaska's largest joint exercise, Northern Edge 2001.

The 83 Marines from the LAV/Air-Defense platoon out of Camp Pendleton, began arriving in Alaska in late February to prepare for its 28-day deployment here.

The first task before them was to attend cold-weather training at the Army's Black Rapids Training Site here.

"We received a four-day indoctrination into survival techniques, treatments, signs and symptoms of cold-weather injuries, basic cold-weather hygiene, and learned about the necessary clothes that a person should wear," said Capt. Wayne R. Zuber, LAV-AD commanding officer. "In cold weather you have to be sure you are taking care of your Marines.  I'm very happy that we haven't had a single cold-weather injury.  I'll attribute that to the vehicle commanders and the sergeants who are making sure the Marines are staying warm and drinking plenty of water."

After completion of the cold-weather training, the Marines took to the road in their 15-ton LAVs, to learn about cold-weather driving tactics. The conditions were a big shock for many of the Southern California Marines, as some had never seen, let alone driven on snow or ice before, said Zuber.

After some roadway driving, they put chains on four of the vehicle's eight tires and began driving off-road in much harsher conditions.  During the training, they purposefully got the vehicles stuck several times to practice recovery techniques.

In addition to supporting Northern Edge, the Marines also evaluated several pieces of equipment while in the extreme temperatures of Alaska including a new heating unit for the LAVs and new bayonets.

"The manufacturer found out we were the only Marines training in a cold-weather environment anywhere in world right now, so they asked us to do some cold-weather evaluation for them," said Zuber. "We simply got the parameters they wanted the bayonets tested by and put them through the paces required."

For this particular deployment, the platoon brought six LAVs with them; four to be used for air defense, one as a maintenance vehicle and one as a command and control post where the section leader keeps the air defense crews informed of incoming aircraft.

"It's a pretty simple set-up. In the command post vehicle, there's a map on one side and several radios in front of the section leader.  He's monitoring all the radio traffic and can give the crews in the air defense vehicles some idea as to where the aircraft might be and what their heading is," said Zuber.

Each air-defense LAV is equipped with two Stinger missile pods, each holding four missiles and eight additional missiles for re-loading. It also has a 25mm Gattling Gun that can fire up to 1,800 rounds per minute, available for low altitude air defense.

Since their arrival, the Marines have been in the field almost every day, conducting either their own platoon training or providing low-air defense for Northern Edge missions.

When supporting Northern Edge, they cover two flight windows each day; one in the afternoon and one in the evening. They have been involved in an average of 18 engagements per mission.

"It has been a great opportunity for everyone," said Zuber. "The pilots are using us for training aids because, how often do they get to train against a ground-based air-defense system? We are using them as a training aid too; because it's not very often that we have planes actually aggressing us. Everybody is getting something out of it. We would certainly love to come back next year," Zuber added.