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Elite special forces are some of the best-trained and most formidable units a country can boast. They go where other soldiers fear to tread, scoping out potential threats, taking out strategic targets, and conducting daring rescue missions. These really are the best of the best. Although it's extremely difficult to rank these forces relative to one another, there are some units that rise above the rest in their track record and the fear they instill in their adversaries. These soldiers have been through rigorous training exercises designed to weed out those who can't hit their exacting standards. In a world...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama plans to nominate Marine Commandant Gen. Joe Dunford as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s most senior military post, according to a senior administration official. Dunford would succeed Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who is retiring this year as the top military advisor to the president and defense secretary. Officials said Air Force Gen. Paul Selva will be nominated to become the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the senior administration official said.

An avalanche triggered by a deadly earthquake in Nepal on Saturday buried a part of the base camp for climbers bound for Mount Everest, killing at least eight people, Nepal's tourism ministry said. "The toll could go up, it may include foreigners as well as sherpas," tourism official Gyanendra Shrestha said.

Operation Choke Point, the Obama administration’s under-the-radar project involving the Department of Justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) whose goal is to shut down industries it does not like by “choking off” their banking relationships, is taking aim at another business. Brian Lynn, CEO of a Jacksonville, Florida based payday lending company that operates 26 stores in Florida, Georgia and Alabama under the Speedy Cash and Lending Bear brands, has been in business for more than 20 years. He confirms to Breitbart News that two major banks closed his company’s accounts with...

Two years ago, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the nation’s top military officer, laid down an edict on the Obama administration’s plan to open direct land combat jobs to women: If women cannot meet a standard, senior commanders better have a good reason why it should not be lowered. Today, the “Dempsey rule” appears to have its first test case. The Marine Corps just finished research to see if female officers could successfully complete its rigorous Infantry Officer Course.

Flying a kamikaze drone armed with explosives from the back of an MV-22 Osprey aircraft, and directing it right into the insurgent’s fighting hole. The Marines tested a small unmanned aircraft known as the Switchblade recently at Twentynine Palms, Calif., flying it directly at targets from both the ground and the back of the Osprey, a long-range aircraft that has rotors like a helicopter, but can fly like a plane once they rotate forward. They were “inert,” with no explosives on board, but the mission went off without a hitch, said Col. James Adams, commanding officer of Marine Aviation Weapons...

This is just a short clip I found of R. Lee Ermey at the NRA convention (I believe) saying that he’s gonna vote for Ted Cruz: (VIDEO-AT-LINK)If Ted Cruz is good enough for Gunny, then you know he’s right for America.

The CH-53 Super Stallion chopper may have been leaking fuel Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Marine-Helicopter-Lands-Near-Del-Mar-Shores-Beach-299883281.html#ixzz3XV9PVAbB Follow us: @nbcsandiego on Twitter | NBCSanDiego on FacebookA marine helicopter made an unexpected landing near a beach in north San Diego Wednesday, officials confirmed. San Diego lifeguards said a CH-53 Super Stallion marine helicopter landed near Del Mar Shores Beach south of Fletcher Cove at around 11:40 a.m. Firefighters were called to the scene to investigate the chopper for a possible fuel leak. No injuries were reported. Check back for updates on this developing story.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — MV-22 Ospreys replaced the Marines’ last squadron of CH-46E helicopters Thursday, officially ending the Sea Knight’s 50-year run as the troop and supply transport workhorse of the Corps. Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 164 received the first Sea Knights assigned to the West Coast in early 1965 and introduced the medium-lift helicopter to combat in Vietnam in 1966. Parts of the squadron also flew missions in the evacuation of Saigon, making it the first in and last out of the Southeast Asian country. More than 600 CH-46s, affectionately known as “Battle Phrogs,” were produced over the years,...

An 18 month trial period allowing female Marines to attend the Marine Corps’ Infantry Officer Course will end without a single female graduate, reported the Marine Corps Times. The opportunity for female volunteers is part of a larger effort to determine the feasibility of allowing female officers to take part in ground combat operations. If anyone had successfully completed the course, they would not have earned the occupational designator or entered the infantry, since the program was only an experiment. The IOC began accepting female officers in September 2012, but by July 2014, only 20 female officers had volunteered, and...

Hi everybody, I’m Bill Whittle and this is the Firewall. Let’s just assume for a moment that you’re a radical, left-wing zealot, who was raised by actual communists, and who, naturally enough views the United States military as the tool of capitalist exploitation and colonial racism. Now, further assume that through a perfect storm of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, fate, money, power and media bias somehow conspired to make you Commander in Chief of those same armed forces. What would you do? You couldn’t very well scuttle 11 carrier strike groups. You can’t just destroy entire...

<p>Search-and-rescue crews are looking for seven Marines and four soldiers after an Army helicopter crashed late Tuesday during a routine night training exercise in the Florida Panhandle.</p> <p>Eglin Air Force Base spokesman Andy Bourland told the Associated Press that the helicopter was reported missing at around 8:30 p.m. local time and crews found debris from the crash at around 2 a.m. Wednesday.</p>

Audio interview 39:32

2003-05-31 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- A federal judge ruled Friday that Iran was behind the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen, clearing the way for more than 600 of their relatives to collect financial damages against the Islamic republic. In a 30-page decision that resulted from a lawsuit filed by the families, U. S. District Judge Royce Lamberth wrote that the terrorist group Hezbollah had carried out the attack at the behest of Iran and its Ministry of Information and Security. "The approval of both the Ayatollah Khomeini and President Rafsanjani was absolutely...

The Marine Corps has authorized MARSOC operators to carry Glock pistols, since most of the elite outfit's members prefer the popular 9mm over the custom .45 pistols the service bought them in 2012. The Corps issued a Feb. 2 Marine Administrative Message, or MARADMIN, that green-lighted Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, or MARSOC, units to use the Glock 19, a proven design used by many units in U.S. Special Operations Command. The reliable, easy-to-maintain 9mm features a polymer frame and a 17-round magazine. The Marine Corps just completed an exhaustive search for a new MARSOC pistol in 2012. The...

From Feb. 19, 1945 (when U.S. Marines assaulted its beaches) to March 27 of that year (the day combat officially ceased), the island of Iwo Jima was hell on earth. In 2009 I began writing occasional columns commemorating the 70th anniversary of key WW2 battles and events. I dedicated them to the WW2 generation. Twenty-year-old Marine vets of February 1945 are now 90, if they are still among us. Iwo Jima was on my list of must-cover subjects. By sheer coincidence, my wife and I spent this past weekend in Dallas, Texas, with the sister of a Marine F4U Corsair...

The two-person crew of a Marine Corps jet is safe after a crash Sunday near Statenville, Ga. The F/A-18 Hornet was with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 224 based out of Beaufort, S.C., and was part of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point, according to Michael Barton, deputy director of the public affairs office at Cherry Point. The pilot, Maj. Rick Nicka and the weapons officer, 1st Lt. Robert Reynolds, ejected from the jet and were treated for minor injuries at South Georgia Medical Center 19 miles away in Valdosta, Ga., according to a release. Barton said the plane...

WALLACE, Idaho — A fugitive’s escape from the Shoshone County Jail ended when he entered the property of a Marine and former law enforcement officer. KXLY-TV in Spokane reports that Roy Bieluch broke out of the jail on Tuesday night after crawling through the ceiling of a storage closet. He bolted past a cleaning woman when she opened the door.

Second Lt. Anthony Kemp was bitten by a rattlesnake while he and two other Marines were hiking in the Wichita Mountains in southwestern Oklahoma. LAWTON — For three Marines hiking in the Wichita Mountains earlier this month, the Corps’ motto of Semper Fidelis — Latin for “always faithful” — played out in ways none of them expected when a large rattlesnake bit 2nd Lt. Anthony Kemp, 23, almost killing him. “You’re always faithful to your brother,” Kemp said Wednesday from his hospital bed at OU Medical Center, where he is recovering from the bite and the resulting above-the-knee amputation of...

ISIS closing in? Terror group seizes Iraqi town 5 miles from Marine base Islamic State has reportedly seized al-Baghdadi, in Iraq’s Anbar Province, 5 miles from an air base staffed by U.S. Marines, as the terror group continues its push beyond its bases in Syria and Iraq in an attempt to establish militant affiliates in other countries. Hundreds of Islamic State fighters reportedly captured most of al-Baghdadi, which is 55 miles from the capital Ramadi, on Thursday. On Friday, Iraqi soldiers had retaken several government buildings, but the soldiers withdrew early Saturday, handing the town back to the militants, The...