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The Marine Corps said Wednesday that it is investigating the origins of a video on the Internet that purports to show Marines in combat gear urinating on the corpses of three Taliban insurgents.

In September, President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's most prestigious military award, to Sgt. Dakota Meyer, the marine who saved 36 of his comrades during an ambush in Afghanistan. Obama called Meyer one of the most "down-to-earth guys that you will ever meet." But today Meyer, 23, is having trouble getting a job because of allegations by defense contractor BAE Systems that he has a drinking problem and is mentally unstable. Meyer filed legal papers Monday claiming the allegations were in retaliation for objections he raised about BAE's alleged decision to sell high-tech sniper scopes to the...

When the earthquake hit Japan and the houses were crushed — and again, when the wall of water washed away those houses that remained — Raymond May Burgess and Dave Wheaton watched with particular interest. They have been homeless. They are also volunteers at the Good Neighbours Club, a downtown drop-in for men who have no homes, or who are badly housed. They figured they ought to help. What to do? Dave, who lived on the street for years, said, “I was watching it on TV. I talked to my mother; we’re finally talking again. And I came in here...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Former TV game show host Bob Barker is donating $2 million to a charity that helps injured members of the military and their families. The former host of "The Price is Right" will donate to the Semper Fi Fund, which assists Marines, soldiers, sailors, and Air Force and Coast Guard members who are injured during service.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church's behavior in demonstrating at the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder was protected speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution. The Court of Public Opinion must hold the demonstrators to a different standard. Lance Corporal Snyder swore to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. He died defending the very rights of the people who violated his and his family's right to mourn. I too took that same oath. As a retired Marine Colonel, please allow me to defend my Marine Lance Corporal...

Link toCommandant's Message:Neat Story; definitely esprit de corps. (NEWSER) – Two former Marines will demonstrate their solidarity in this weekend's Marine Corps Marathon, where Bryan Purcell will act as the "legs" of Eddie Ryan, an Iraq veteran who was paralyzed in combat, AOL News reports. Ryan, 26 was shot twice in the head in 2005, and while he's recovered far more than doctors expected, he can't yet walk on his own. HBO featured him in a show about vets, and the segment touched Purcell, who was inspired by Ryan's goal to run a marathon. "As soon as I saw that...

Semper Fi

Kristopher Greer, a 25-yr old Marine from our small community in Tennessee was killed in Afghanistan on August 8. His funeral was yesterday. Attendance at the funeral was remarkable. The highway was blocked, no parking spaces left at the church, had to walk or take a shuttle. It appeared as if the entire community was there plus many others from all around. You could not get into the service. Although his death is the saddest thing that can happen to a family and a community, it was overwhelming to see the Welcome Home he got and the way the entire...

War On Terror: Attempts to punish the Haditha Marines and Navy SEALs for their courage and bravery under fire failed. Now some would reward timidity and cowardice with a medal for "courageous restraint" under fire. A nonsensical proposal circulating in the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Forces in Afghanistan would give a medal to soldiers in battle who show restraint in the use of deadly force in situations where civilian casualties might result. This will not protect civilians as much as it will endanger the lives of our troops. Our soldiers are already disciplined and trained not to wantonly...

At a time when the fate of a U.S. Marines' Futenma base in Okinawa is dominating headlines, a documentary is shedding light on the troops and the training they undertake before living on foreign soil. Director Yukihisa Fujimoto went to South Carolina's Parris Island, one of the marines' main training facilities, to document the 12-week process used to convert pimply boys and girls into fighting men and women in "One Shot One Kill," now screening in Tokyo. Fujimoto, a critic of the many U.S. military facilities in Japan, including the Futenma air station, said he was motivated to shoot the...

<p>Military Justice: The first of three Navy SEALs charged with abusing a captured jihadist has been cleared. Why has this administration taken the word of terrorists and let American heroes twist in the wind?</p> <p>The acquittal of Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, 29, of Blue Island, Ill., by a six-member U.S. military jury in Baghdad on Thursday is good news and the correct verdict.</p>

Law: American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is. People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's alleged bimbo eruptions than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with Climate Gate, the public option and the antics of billionaire athletes. An administration consumed with apologies has said the architect of 9/11's massacre, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, must be given all the...

Military: Two U.S. congressmen take the lead in proclaiming the obvious — that those who attack this country should be punished and not those who risk their lives to defend it. The Navy SEALs are a special breed of patriot and warrior. This highly trained and select group — the best of the best — is a daily participant in the long twilight struggle against the enemies of freedom that President Kennedy warned us about. Kennedy formally created the SEAL (sea, air, land) outfit as an elite force capable of combat operations in any environment. It was a team of...

The head of the US Marines said on Thursday he opposed ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military, the first top officer to break openly with President Barack Obama over the issue. General James Conway told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he disagreed with Obama's plan to repeal the ban. "My best military advice to this committee, to the (defense) secretary, and to the president would be to keep the law such as it is."

Tom Stone: John Murtha forgot Semper Fi By: Tom Stone OpEd ContributorFebruary 19, 2010 In this Sept. 13, 2006, file photo, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Murtha, an influential critic of the Iraq War whose congressional career was shadowed by questions about his ethics, died Feb. 8. He was 77. (AP) I have waited until the burial of Rep. John Murtha, D-PA, to allow an appropriate amount of time for the grieving of his family and the accolades of his accomplishments to subside before writing to put forth what is, in my opinion,...

DELARAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Hundreds of U.S. Marines were engaged in a second day of fighting on Monday with Taliban insurgents as they tried to clear a militant stronghold in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, U.S. officials said. Thirteen insurgents were killed in the early hours of Monday when the Marines called in a Hellfire missile strike from an unmanned Predator drone, U.S. Marine Major Dale Highberger, second in command of the operation, said. Around 10,000 U.S. Marines moved into Helmand in spring last year, more than doubling the numbers of other NATO forces in the province, who had reached what...

When you leave Wal-Mart after making a purchase, you walk past a scanner that sets off an alarm if you haven't paid for something.And if the alarm goes off at this Wal-Mart, Ed Bauman will want to talk to you.Ed Bauman, Wal-Mart greeter, says "I'm getting too old for this stuff."Too old to be punched in the head by a customer who exception to Bauman's questions.Ed says "when he swang, he got me right here," pointing to the back of his head.The 69-year-old greeter was at the entrance when a man in red shorts, identified as Skyler Lowery set...

War On Terror: As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed receives the benefits of U.S. justice, three Navy SEALs face court-martial for allegedly punching a captured terrorist who hanged Americans from a bridge in Fallujah. Apparently our efforts to impress the world about the marvels of our criminal justice system require us to give foreign terrorists such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man who invented the manned cruise missiles that flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and plowed into a Pennsylvania field on its way to the Capitol Building, the full rights and protections of the American citizens he conspired...

War In Iraq: The press is salivating over the prospect of an Iraqi My Lai in the town of Haditha, with ABC trotting out Rep. John Murtha to brand U.S. troops war criminals just in time for Memorial Day. Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," and with the matter still under investigation, Murtha, D-Pa., decided it would be sentence first and trial later when he proclaimed Marines responding to an attack in the town of Haditha on Nov. 19 guilty of murder of at least 15 Iraqi civilians. The incident began as a Marine convoy of Kilo Company, Third Battalion,...

No, health care is not a right. Fair and balanced is not a right. Equal time is not a right. Free housing, free food, free education, free beer, etc, are not rights. Abortion is not a right. Gay marriage is not a right. “Entitlements” are not rights. In fact, no one is entitled to anything taken from others, including our tax dollars. And illegal aliens have no right to be here at all, much less rights to entitlements, free housing, free food, free health care, free education, or anything else. The rights to life, liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of...

Subject: Have you seen this ?? This guy's video on youtube has been so popular that Obama called him personally. He said that he was very disturbed with the video and invited him to the White House.. Obama also said he wanted the White House to handle the Press and not to talk about the video or the White House visit. That's interesting. Watch it now. This may be the best six minutes invested in your future You may have to turn your Sound Control up some. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

With "JAG," "Navy CIS," "MASH," and other military television shows being quite popular, one might consider with how military service has enhanced the fame of veteran actors in Hollywood or vice versa. During our distinguished history, some Hollywood actors have taken a break from their careers while they defended our country oftentimes to battle in war. These hereos include Charles Bronson, Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Clarke Gable, Lee Marvin, Elvis Presley, and Jimmy Stewart. More recent editions of entertainment veterans include "Limp Bizkit" lead singer Fred Durst who did service with the United States Navy. Up until...

He enlisted in the Marines in 1942 and fought at Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and Okinawa, earning a Bronze Star for bravery. While in uniform, he married Lorraine Paley, who survives him, as do their daughters, Mary Kaufman Carde of Los Angeles and Amy Kaufman Burk of Mill Valley, Calif.; their son, Frederick, of Manhattan; and seven grandchildren.

[Watch incredible video highlighting contrast] This is a remarkable video. It clearly demonstrates the difference in how two presidents are greeted by the United States Marines. The jarheads’ greeting for President Bush is deafening. The greeting for President Obama is, well, polite. Semper fi, indeed.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — May 11, 2005 in Iraq was just one of the many days in the past that proved why Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles are necessary for marine forces. Aaron Mankin, who was a Marine combat correspondent at the time, would probably agree after his experience that day when an improvised explosive device destroyed the 26-ton amphibious assault vehicle he was in. The blast inflicted second- and third-degree burns over 25 percent of then-Lance Cpl. Mankin’s body, also permanently damaging his lungs after he inhaled the heat, flames and debris. He has since...

November 10, 2008 marks the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. To celebrate this occasion Go Daddy is proud once again to release a special birthday tribute to the Corps. For those of you who served or are serving in other branches of our military, please accept this salute to the Marines also as a salute to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. The reason I prepared this salute to the Marine Corps was simply because I served in the Corps and it was in the Corps that I grew up and became a man. Please...

Marine Corps Commandant General James T. Conway reflects on the Corps' 233 year history.

During the summer of 1982, in the wake of a presidential directive, Marines went ashore at Beirut, Lebanon. Fifteen months later, on 23 October 1983, extremists struck the first major blow against American forces – starting this long war on terrorism. On that Sunday morning, a suicide bomber drove an explosive laden truck into the headquarters of Battalion Landing Team 1/8, destroying the building and killing 241 Marines and corpsmen. Extremists have attacked our Nation, at home and abroad, numerous times since that fateful day in Beirut. Their aim has always been the same – to kill as many innocent...

The U.S. Senate has shot down an amendment by a South Carolina senator to pull more than $2 million earmarked for Berkeley school lunches, ferry service and police communication equipment and transfer it to the Marine Corps. After the Berkeley City Council called the U.S. Marines "uninvited and unwelcome intruders," Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced the Semper Fi Act on Feb. 6 to rescind the funds earmarked for Berkeley in the 2008 fiscal year Omnibus Appropriations bill. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 41-57 to defeat DeMint's amendment, prompting DeMint to say that he is "extremely disappointed that the U.S. Senate...

Excusing Berkeley by: Bethany Stotts The Berkeley City Council's decision to declare its local U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office “unwelcome and uninvited intruders” has sparked considerable controversy throughout the nation. With S. 2596, also known as the Semper Fi Act, now in the Senate and with 12 cosponsors, this controversy seems to have intensified, prompting news articles critical of Senator Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) proposed “retaliation.” Should the legislation pass, the city of Berkeley would lose $2.3 million in earmarks. The threatened loss of $975,000 (a subset of the total amount) for the University of California Berkeley’s Matsui Center for Politics...

WEST POINT -- World War I ended days after he enlisted, and his request for active duty in Vietnam in 1966 was denied on account of his age -- after all he was 68. But, Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller was a force to be reckoned with in every other war and armed conflict between those times. Long before he retired as a lieutenant general, he had become a Marine Corps living legend. Yesterday, a grateful hometown honored its hero, remembered that he is the only Marine ever to receive five Navy Crosses for bravery and expressed thanks that he was...

Before he left to train for a second tour of duty in Iraq, Marine Cpl. Joseph E. Stevenson III of Downers Grove wrote a letter to his family, in case he did not return. Stevenson, 20, died in his sleep on Oct. 28 at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Stevenson was buried last week with full military honors. His parents, Barbara Ann and Joseph E. Stevenson Jr., have given the media permission to reprint their son's letter over the Veterans Day weekend. Letter is kinda long, so go to the link http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=75390

The National Museum of the Marine Corps has become one of Virginia's top tourist destinations, attracting more than 600,000 visitors to the Quantico site after one year. The Marine Corps will celebrate the museum's success on its first anniversary Saturday. "Originally, we were expecting between 250,000 and 500,000 visitors," said Chris Vassil, a media relations assistant at the museum. "We expect to end this year with over 600,000 visitors, which puts it in the top visited destinations in Virginia." The museum is expected to rank as the fifth most visited attraction in Virginia for 2007, according to the Virginia Association...

VIDEO: Semper Fidelis

Looking at the calendar this morning, I noticed an entry -in my late wife's handwriting-for tomorrow's date: USMC- Semper Fi.

From the Halls of Montezuma To the Shores of Tripoli; We fight our country's battles In the air, on land and sea; First to fight for right and freedom And to keep our honor clean; We are proud to claim the title of United States Marine. Our flag's unfurled to every breeze From dawn to setting sun; We have fought in ev'ry clime and place Where we could take a gun; In the snow of far-off Northern lands And in sunny tropic scenes; You will find us always on the job-- The United States Marines. Here's health to you and...

Marine Brotherhood I saw something today that taught me volumes about the brotherhood of Marines. As I stood in line to grill my sandwich, I watched a young corporal preparing two meals to-go. There was nothing really special about the meals . . . except this. It was obvious to me that this Marine was carefully selecting different things for each tray. One was for him, the other was for his buddy who stood guard at the gate. He carefully selected meat and cheese, meticulously grilled and wrapped them, then chose sides. I was moved by the obvious care with...

Letters in Response to Capt. Lund and Code Pink • Editors, Daily Planet: Thank you for printing the letter by Captain Richard Lund. I work in a building on University Avenue. I am a woman, I am a mother, I am the wife of a veteran, I am a liberal, I am a democrat, I am a staunch opponent to this war, and I am an enemy of President Bush. And I am ashamed. Wars aren’t created by the military, they are created by politicians and their self- serving constituents. The Code Pink protest is an insult to the sacrifices...

First the Marine Corps made Chuck Norris an honorary Marine. Now the Corps wants all Marines to follow in his footsteps. All Marines must now qualify for their tan belt in the Corps' version of martial arts by the end of 2007, Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway said in a recent Corps-wide message. The move mostly affects those who joined before 2001, when the service made the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program part of basic training and the Basic School, said 1st Lt. Brian P. Donnelly, a spokesman for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. The Corps originally hoped to have all...

The night started like many for John Lovell, a 71-year-old ex-Marine and helicopter pilot who served two presidents. Late dinner alone at a Plantation Subway shop -- veggie sub, soda, oatmeal cookie. Wednesday night, though, Lovell's meal was interrupted by an armed robbery. Two gunmen stormed into the sandwich shop at about 11 p.m., robbed the cashier and tried to shove Lovell -- the lone customer -- into the bathroom. Two bullets later, one gunman was dead, another was wounded and Lovell was being hailed as a hero. ''There's no such thing as an ex-Marine, and he typifies this,'' said...

Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP) -- Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash. He immediately grabbed the person's wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened. "I guess he thought I was an easy mark," Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday. He's anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden...

I'll never forget the day I heard my younger brother, Wieland, was killed in Vietnam. It was a day like no other. No family should have to feel what my mother, other brother, Aaron and I did that day. And yet so many do, every day, every year. "I'm going to miss you, be careful" At the height of the Vietnam War, both of my brothers, Wieland and Aaron, enlisted in the U.S. Army. As a veteran myself, I understood their desire to serve, and I concurred with their decision to enlist. After all, the U.S. Air Force turned my...

Maj. Douglas Zembiec, a Marine Corps officer profiled in the Los Angeles Times magazine in 2004, was killed while leading a raid on insurgents in Baghdad, officials reported Friday. Details of his death on Thursday were sketchy. In an age when many prefer military personnel to be diffident and reluctant to engage in violence, Zembiec was proudly a throwback. "One of the most noble things you can do is kill the enemy," he once said. Zembiec, 34, received a Bronze Star with a V for valor for leading an infantry company in repeated assaults against insurgents in the Sunni Triangle...

Dear American Soldier in Iraq: There are a few things you should know about how tens of millions of us back home feel about you and the fight you are waging. These things need to be said, especially now, given the fact that the head of one of America's two major political parties has announced that the war in Iraq is lost. This war has not been lost. What has happened is that many Americans, for all sorts of reasons -- some out of simple fatigue, some because they do not believe that war solves anything, some out of deep...

The top U.S. military officer, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, doesn't plan to apologize for telling a newspaper that homosexuality is immoral. Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Chicago Tribune on Monday that he supports the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay people from serving in the U.S. armed forces. The general also compared homosexuality to adultery -- behavior that is prosecuted in the military, he said. "My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct that are immoral," Pace told the Tribune. "I believe that military members...

Bumper of my SUV By Michelle Malkin   ·   March 12, 2007 03:01 PM Kudos to country singer Chely Wright, who performed in Iraq last week: Since World War II, American celebrities have been raising the morale of service members overseas with different forms of entertainment ranging from concerts to stand-up shows. In an effort to keep that tradition alive, country singer Chely Wright, visited Al Asad, Iraq, to entertain and lift the spirits of service members, March 3. “I’m thankful and really appreciative that (the band members) and I get to fly around the world on airplanes, ride in tour...

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday he considers homosexuality to be immoral and the military should not condone it by allowing gay personnel to serve openly, the Chicago Tribune reported. Marine Gen. Peter Pace likened homosexuality to adultery, which he said was also immoral, the newspaper reported on its Web site. "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way," Pace told the newspaper in a wide-ranging interview. Pace, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a 1967 graduate of...

Sean Barrett has seen a lot in his four years at Harvard. He’s consistently been among the top Crimson finishers at various regional meets since his freshman year. He’s seen coaches come and go. He’s competed with and against formidable tracksters across New England and beyond. Now he’s getting ready to embark on a journey that will show him more about himself and his world than he could ever imagine. Barrett has joined the U.S. Marine Corps and has committed, initially, to serving four years. It’s a decision that seems almost incongruous for a bright athlete from the Ivy League....

This was a press release issued by the individual below but the source paper has copyright issues. So am posting as a vanity: United States Marine Corps Sgt. Craig M. Breiner, 30, of Howell plans to carry the U.S. flag from the Belmar boardwalk to the state capital in Trenton to rally support for American military personnel serving in war zones. "We need to bring the morale of our troops up," said Breiner, a seven-year Marine veteran who spent seven months in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. . . . Breiner's walk will commence Jan. 20, rain or shine, at...

In this image released by the U.S. Marine Corps, soldiers assist their platoon commander, 2nd Lt. Samuel Joiner, a 23-year-old from Knoxville, Tenn., to safety after he was wounded by an improvised explosive device in Anah, in the volatile Anbar province, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006. The Marines and sailors, part of the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based Company A, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, have spent nearly three months conducting security operations to Rawah and Anah, two cities along the Euphrates River about 200 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Baghdad. (AP Photo/Lance Cpl. Nathaniel F. Sapp, U.S. Marines) WASHINGTON --...