Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits. A report released Sunday recorded 17,650 species living below 656 feet, the point where sunlight ceases. The findings were the latest update on a 10-year census of marine life. "Parts of the deep sea that we assumed were homogenous are actually quite complex," said Robert S. Carney, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University and a lead researcher...

Lcpl Shawn P. Hefner, USMCDec 04, 1986 -Nov 13, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVWHcObPpDc

Decorated Marine veteran Nick Popaditch on Tuesday announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 51st Congressional District seat held by Democrat Bob Filner. Nicknamed “Gunny Pop,” Popaditch served two separate stints in the Marines. He was a tank commander during the Persian Gulf war and honorably discharged in 1992 after six years. Tiring of civilian life, he rejoined the Marines in 1995. A widely circulated photograph after the fall of Baghdad in 2003 shows the tank commander and platoon sergeant smoking a cigar in front of the statue of Saddam Hussein just before his unit helped tear it...

TAMPA, Florida - A Marine reservist accused of attacking a Greek Orthodox priest with a tire iron after apparently calling him a terrorist and a robber now says he was sexually attacked by the cleric, his defense attorney said Tuesday. Jeff Brown said Lance Cpl. Jasen Bruce, 28, had been followed into the parking garage of his Tampa apartment building about 6:30 p.m. Monday by the Rev. Alexios Marakis, who then made sexual comments and grabbed the reservist's genitals. Brown denounced the Tampa Police Department's account of the incident as "one-sided" and "tainted." "We are confident that the surveillance videos,...

Happy Birthday to the USMC! Semper Fi and God Bless to all of you!!

THe USMC has a great slideshow andvideo on the birthday of the USMC on top of the page and top right of the URL listed here. One of the great ads is here:http://our.marines.com/cms_content/showblogvideo/rel_id/169/id/870

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway has emerged in internal Pentagon deliberations as the most outspoken opponent of permitting gay men and women to serve openly in the U.S. military, according to a former senior Pentagon official. Most of the senior brass hold deep reservations about President Obama's pledge to end the ban on gays in the military, especially in the middle of two wars that have put extra stress on the military, down to the platoon level, where soldiers and Marines would be expected to bond with openly gay colleagues. But Gen. Conway has gone further than others...

Billy Lynch left Dorchester 72 years ago, and they’re pretty sure they’ve finally found him, a long way from home, deep in the ground in China. Staff Sergeant Billy Lynch was a Marine. He grew up on Victory Road, and if you go to the corner of Victory and Neponset Avenue, you’ll see the black street sign with the gold star that commemorates William Joseph Lynch Square. It is a place of honor for a Marine who disappeared 67 years ago. He left Neponset for the Marines in 1937, right out of high school, and never came back. He was...

... For the public, the President's address was the first alarm bell of danger. But for many days the Commander-in-Chief Atlantic (CINCLANT) had been preparing to counter this newest aspect of the Russian buildup in Cuba. On October 18th, the prepositioning of forces to reduce reaction time in the event of action against Cuba continued. A reinforced infantry battalion, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines and Bravo Battery, 11th Marines from the Pacific Command's 5th MEB was ordered transferred to the operational control of CINCLANT and a light antiaircraft-missile battalion (Hawk) was ordered to Guantanamoto augment forces there. On October 22, 1962,...

A Marine Corps sergeant was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months confinement and fined $25,000 for pretending to be an injured war hero to get free seats at rock concerts and professional sporting events. Sgt. David W. Budwah also will be reduced in rank to private and dishonorably discharged after any appeals. He must forfeit all pay and benefits during his confinement and is subject to up to 3 1/2 years of additional prison time if he re-offends within two years. Navy Capt. Bruce W. MacKenzie, chief judge for the Navy and Marine Corps, gave the sentence after Budwah pleaded guilty...

I am writing to you today as an American citizen, 26 year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, committed Christian, Husband, Father of two and a businessman. I am also writing to you as the Father of a Marine who is, as all of his brothers in arms are, in harms way. That by itself is not a cause for concern for me because as a Warrior I understand two things:(1) it is the very nature of the calling to which we have been called that we will be thrust into dangerous, even life threatening situations to fight the...

After a rocket-propelled grenade hit him in the head, Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch thought he had his hardest struggle in surgery. But it was the desk job that almost killed his soul. "I was in a job I didn't want, didn't know anything about and I sucked at it," the former Marine Tank Commander said. A San Diego resident and Silver Star recipient, Popaditch told the...Rotary club Thursday night about his experience at the invasion of Baghdad in 2003, his survival of the attack on his tank in 2004 and his recovery. A coauthor of the book "Once a Marine,"...

Sgt. Aaron Taylor had been in the country for about a month A bomb technician from Camp Pendleton has become the latest locally based Marine to die from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Aaron Taylor died Friday when he exited a vehicle and stepped on the homemade explosive, his brother Kyle Taylor said in a telephone interview from the family's home in Minnesota. The Defense Department announced his death Tuesday. "He was an all-around good guy," 21-year-old Kyle Taylor said of his older brother. "He was really ambitious and everything he did he went after 150 percent."

In the Iraqi desert - or wherever he was - Nick Xiarhos had a presence. "Everyone was his best friend. And that was his personality. He could make everyone feel important," his mother Lisa told CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. The born Marine was the first child of police lieutenant Steve Xiarhos and wife, Lisa. "We were so proud - proud he wanted to do that and serve our country, especially be a Marine," Steve Xiarhos said. But Xiarhos was also a son of Yarmouth, Massachusetts... Last July, the 21-year-old Marine corporal was killed in Afghanistan. The pain of Nick's...

NEW PORTLAND, Maine – It was the last way John Bernard would have wanted his voice to gain prominence in the national debate over the war in Afghanistan. The retired Marine had been writing to lawmakers for weeks complaining of the new rules of engagement he believed put U.S. troops at unacceptable risk in the insurgency-wracked country. He got little response. Then Bernard's only son, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard — a Marine like his dad — was killed in an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, the latest victim of a surge in U.S. combat deaths. ----- Bernard's...

Speaking to a respected Hispanic leader in KCK, Dennis Moore reportedly called decorated and disabled Marine Veteran and Congressional Opponent "White Trash" in a recent (recorded) telephone conversation. The KCK leader, who has formally supported the incumbent congressman, is supporting Daniel Gilyeat's candidacy for the Kansas 3rd District Congressional seat. Dennis Moore called the KCK man after hearing the Hispanic community leader's support had changed. Dennis Moore said he had $7 million for the campaign and could not believe the naturalized citizen was supporting "White Trash" over Moore.

It took 43 years, but Marine Pfc. Daniel Hernandez finally got his medal... "His immediate and fearless actions, while himself painfully wounded, undoubtedly saved many lives," said Marine Lt. Jim Lupori, reading from the Silver Star medal citation that, because of lost paperwork, was never awarded to Hernandez by the secretary of the Navy after he left Vietnam in the late 1960s. The four-decade wait only made the honor more meaningful to Hernandez, 63, as several hundred relatives, friends and fellow veterans gathered for a ceremony in his honor at the Hollenbeck Youth Center. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger... and a host...

Review "A raw, heartfelt story of how a man of valor lost his bearings and eventually found the courage to share his story. Shadow of the Sword leaves you hoping and cheering for the happy ending that Workman deserves."-Bing West, author of The Strongest Tribe "In writing this moving and incredibly honest book, Workman shows at least as much courage as he did in Fallujah. His story gives hope to anyone who struggles that they, too, can overcome if they just keep fighting-one day at a time, one battle at a time, one victory at a time."-Donovan Campbell, author of...

After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Marine Lance Cpl. James Yon says there’s no comparison in the willingness of America’s two enemies to fight. “I have respect for them,” the 28-year-old Rock Hill native said of Afghanistan’s Taliban. “They actually do stand toe-to-toe with you.” By contrast, insurgent forces in Iraq prefer impersonal roadside bombs, said Yon, who was deployed to that country less than two years ago... A member of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment from Kaneohe, Hawaii, Yon was at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital here last week after suffering injuries in a blast. The lanky 6-footer...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - A military judge has dismissed a murder charge against a Marine accused of killing an unarmed detainee in Iraq. The charge against Sgt. Jermaine Nelson was dismissed Tuesday at Camp Pendleton after he agreed to plead guilty to dereliction of duty. His attorney Joseph Low says the plea agreement calls for no prison time and an honorable discharge. The 28-year-old Nelson could have faced up to life in prison if convicted of murder. Nelson was among three Marines accused of killing detainees in 2004 during house-to-house fighting to recapture Fallujah.

The gay and lesbian community is calling for an investigation into a billboard that was destroyed. The billboard is just one of 5 put up for National Coming Out Day and features a gay Marine. The billboards were paid for by the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center. "We had the idea to celebrate National Coming Out Day which is October 11th. It's a time that around the nation people say I'm proud to be gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender," said Heidi Williams, Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center. The MGLCC wanted to get Memphis' attention but they didn't expect...

Greenville, South Carolina saw the arrival of a Marine who perished in Afghanistan, and Gaffney, S.C. was his ultimate resting place. Only the faint sound of lightly marching feet could be heard as hundreds stood silent on the Greenville-Spartanburg International tarmac Wednesday while fully adorned Marines carried Lance Cpl. Chris Fowlkes’ flag-draped coffin. The solemn arrival began an afternoon-long procession that ultimately wound through the streets of the 20-year-old Marine’s hometown of Gaffney, where businesses shut down and mourners lined the streets. The homecoming came six days after the former Gaffney High School football player died in a military hospital...

To get booted off the street, a police officer has to do something pretty serious - like shoot a suspect or be accused of brutality. But in the 35th District, which covers Logan, Olney and adjacent neighborhoods, apparently a hairdo will do it. A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days until he cut his braids off, sources said. While dozens of black officers across the city wear cornrows, Officer Thomas Strain is white. So when the five-year veteran showed up for work Sept. 3 with the traditionally black hairstyle,...

NATO-led forces are investigating the death of four Marines in eastern Afghanistan after their commanders reportedly rejected requests for artillery fire in a battle with insurgents, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Tuesday's incident was "under investigation" and details remained unclear, press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference. A McClatchy newspapers' journalist who witnessed the battle reported that a team of Marine trainers made repeated appeals for air and artillery support after being pinned down by insurgents in the village of Ganjgal in eastern Kunar province. The U.S. troops had to wait more than an hour for attack helicopters to...

There is a Marine in Southern Washington, Camas to be exact, who became famous because of YouTube and a sternly worded lecture at a Town Hall meeting. David Hedrick had the fortitude to bluntly call Representative Brian Baird to account on several issues. Health care, the teaching of our children, and the upholding of one’s oath to the Nation, were among the issues this brave Marine took Baird to task for.

SAN DIEGO - The Pentagon released the name Wednesday of a 30-year-old Camp Pendleton-based Marine Corps officer killed in combat in Afghanistan. Capt. Joshua Meadows of Bastrop, Texas, died in Farah Province on Saturday, according to the Department of Defense. Meadows was a member of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command.

Four Marines died yesterday in Afghanistan when the Taliban laid a trap: Four U.S. Marines died Tuesday when they walked into a well-laid ambush by insurgents in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province. Seven Afghan troops and an interpreter for the Marine commander also died in the ambush and the subsequent battle, which lasted seven hours. Three American service members and 14 Afghan security force members were wounded. It was the largest number of American military trainers to die in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The battle took place around the remote hamlet of Gangigal, in a valley about...

I feel guilty because originally I supported the decision by the Associated Press to release the photo of the young Marine that was taken as he lay dying. I lost readers over that and I do not blame them. Sarah Palin weighed in on Facebook. "Many of us join Secretary Gates in condemning the Associated Press for its heartless and selfish decision to turn its back on the wishes of a grieving family in order to exploit the tragic death of a true American hero. Lance Corporal Joshua ‘Bernie’ Bernard was a selfless young American who sacrificed everything for our...

On August 14 in Afghanistan, Marine LCPL Joshua Bernard was killed in action when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. As Bernard lay maimed and dying, embedded Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobsen smelled a Pulitzer, so she snapped picture after gory picture instead of helping those trying to save LCPL Bernard. After the young Marine was buried, the AP dispatched a minion to Bernard’s parents, John and Sharon, ostensibly to “get their permission” for the publication of the gruesome photograph. John Bernard emphatically denied their request,

Many of us join Secretary Gates in condemning the Associated Press for its heartless and selfish decision to turn its back on the wishes of a grieving family in order to exploit the tragic death of a true American hero. Lance Corporal Joshua 'Bernie' Bernard was a selfless young American who sacrificed everything for our freedom. Shame on the AP for purposely adding to the grieving family's pain. Ignoring the family's wishes by publishing a sacred image of their loved one proved a despicable and heartless act by the AP. The family said they didn't want the photo published. AP,...

NEW YORK (AP) ― The Associated Press is distributing a photo of a Marine fatally wounded in battle, choosing after a period of reflection to make public an image that conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it. Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, 21, of New Portland, Maine, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. The image shows fellow Marines helping Bernard after he suffered severe leg injuries. He was evacuated to a field hospital where he died on the operating table.

NEW YORK – Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed disappointment Friday at news outlets that used a picture taken and distributed by The Associated Press depicting a U.S. Marine mortally wounded in combat in Afghanistan. The AP distributed the picture despite personal pleas from Gates and the dead Marine's family in a case that illustrated the difficult decisions in reporting on a conflict where Americans have seen relatively few images of fallen U.S. troops over eight years.

...The morning he came back to the Naval Academy was a Wednesday, but it will stick in your memory as the day you heard that Ted Kennedy had died and the week when you learned that someone might have killed Michael Jackson. The politician and the entertainer of their generations, they were lionized by many and scorned by some. One pleaded guilty, the other was found innocent. But they each died with an indelible asterisk, a footnote to their legacies that time will not erase. Matt Freeman died clean....

The decision of the Associated Press to release a photograph of the last moments in the life of Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard, especially after his family objected, is contemptible.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.” The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published. Gates: “I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard’s death has caused his family. Why your organization would purposefully defy the family’s wishes knowing full well...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.” The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published.rest of story at link...

Link to the image since the port office pulled it from their website. Remember, the president had to approve this.

It wasn't a bullet or roadside bomb that felled Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez three years ago after nine days in Iraq. It was an injection into his arm before his unit left the states. The then 20-year-old Marine from Springfield, Mo., suffered a rare adverse reaction to the smallpox vaccine. While the vaccine isn't mandatory, the military strongly encourages troops to take it. However, it left Lopez in a coma, unable for a time to breathe on his own and paralyzed for weeks. Now he can walk, but with a limp. He has to wear a urine bag constantly, has...

Wednesday, August 26 | 8:00 a.m. BY KATHIE DURBIN COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER Former Marine David Hedrick of Camas has become an instant conservative media celebrity after attacking U.S. Rep. Brian Baird and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Baird's Aug. 18 health care town hall in Ridgefield. A video clip of Hedrick's comments and the raucous response that greeted them, taken from a columbian.com multimedia piece, has gone viral on the Internet, receiving more than 450,000 views on YouTube. *SNIP* Kathie Durbin: 360-735-4523 or kathie.durbin@columbian.com.

Polish official intercedes on behalf of mothers of slain Brooklyn Marine Sgt. Pietrzak and his wife By Corky Siemaszko DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, August 24th 2009, 12:30 PM The grieving mothers of a slain Brooklyn Marine and his wife have won the support of the Polish government in their push for a face-to-face meeting with President Obama. A top Polish official urged the U.S. ambassador in Warsaw to "employ all your personal and institutional authority" to make it happen, according to a letter obtained by The News. An Obama sitdown with the mothers of Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak and...

According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the recent wave of town hall protesters are nothing but “un-American

An interview with the former Marine about his video at a Town Hall Meeting with Congressman Brian Baird of Washington

Town Hall Meeting with U.S. Congressman Brian Baird Must SEE VIDEO!

Town Hall Meeting with U.S. Congressman Brian Baird, August 18, 2009. A Marine vet speaks his mind with complete clarity and voice. Here's the video:

Via, er, HotAirPundit, red meat courtesy of the good folks who hijacked our last thread. The Democrat in question is Brian “Brown Shirts” Baird, thus the pounding he takes here is extra gratifying. Not sure I follow the Marine’s point about what right the feds have to tell him he can keep his insurance plan, though. Presumably he’s making a Commerce Clause argument a la Rivkin and Casey, but if growing weed on your own farm for your own use constitutes “quintessentially” economic activity, wouldn’t a program that affects 15 percent of the entire U.S. economy also qualify? If the...

Via, er, HotAirPundit, red meat courtesy of the good folks who hijacked our last thread. The Democrat in question is Brian “Brown Shirts” Baird, thus the pounding he takes here is extra gratifying. Not sure I follow the Marine’s point about what right the feds have to tell him he can keep his insurance plan, though. Presumably he’s making a Commerce Clause argument a la Rivkin and Casey, but if growing weed on your own farm for your own use constitutes “quintessentially” economic activity, wouldn’t a program that affects 15 percent of the entire U.S. economy also qualify? If the...

In the heat of an ambush in Afghanistan's most lawless province, a 19-year-old Nebraskan jumped in front of a grenade to shield other Marines in his platoon. Richard Weinmaster was critically wounded by the blast. But the bloodied Cozad native stayed in the fight, firing his machine gun at the enemy position until he collapsed from his wounds. Looking back at the July 8, 2008, engagement, Weinmaster says he was “just doing my job.'' But his bosses in the Marine Corps — and the Secretary of the Navy — felt otherwise. Advertising On Thursday, they awarded the now 20-year-old Weinmaster...

Link Only.

8/17/2009 By Pfc. Walter D. Marino II, 2nd Marine Division CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Joseph DeBacco is a nine-year-old boy with big dreams of being a Marine. But those hopes, after a two-year battle with terminal cancer, seemed far from reach until his father, former Marine Cpl. Mike DeBacco, made a call to an old friend. Fourteen years had passed since they worked together, but when Mike called long-time friend Maj. Dave Burgess, his son had a chance to live his dream. Burgess arranged a tour of Camp Lejeune, N.C. for Joseph who is fighting rhabdomyosarcoma, a tumor that originates...