Product Description

Following up on the success of previous specials including Air Force One, the National Geographic Channel takes viewers On Board Marine One to reveal the incredible challenges and imminent dangers of protecting the President and Vice President.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34735 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2009-04-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Features

• Go inside the tightly guarded gates of HMX-1, the Marine Corps? oldest and largest helicopter squadron, and see what it takes to fly the president where Air Force One can't. Learn about the rigorous training and testing needed to become one of the privileged few working directly with the president?s travel team. Then, visit ?The Cage? at Quantico Marine Base, where Marine One helicopters are kept.

Customer Reviews

Good Supplement to "On Board Air Force One"
[This capsule review applies to the version of the program aired on National Geographic Channel in January, 2009.]

I have seen many (all?) the documentaries available on Air Force One, but I had always craved more information about the other prominent presidential aerial transport, Marine One. "On Board Marine One" at last gives us a rare look inside that helo and the unit (HMX-1) supporting it.

The storyboard of the film progresses in logical fashion from Marine Base Quantico to the White House to an actual transport mission. We observe the lone crew chief practicing his drills until they are absolutely perfect, would-be pilots undergoing simulator exercises followed by actual practice approaches and landings on the South Lawn of the White House and, finally, we travel with HMX-1 to New York City as they prepare to shuttle President George W. Bush from JFK Airport (where he arrives on Air Force One) to the Wall Street Heliport in preparation for his visit to the United Nations. The footage inside and outside the helicopters is outstanding and is as close to flying with the president as most of us are ever likely to get.

Witnessing the consumate skill that the members of HMX-1 bring to their job, you will come away with enhanced respect for the small group of incredibly hard-working people who, as the unit commander says, "are not special Marines doing an ordinary mission" but "ordinary Marines doing a very special mission."

[Note: There will no doubt be an updated (or new) version of this program once the new Marine One enters service, but don't let that delay you in acquiring this gem of a program. I would hope that National Geographic will offer a special disc set pairing this program with its mate, "On Board Air Force One"--maybe in time for Father's Day?]