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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 --...

As any battlefield commander will tell you, getting troops to the fight can be as difficult as winning it. And for modern-day soldiers, the sites of conflict are so far-flung, and the political considerations of even flying over another country so complicated, that rapid entry has become nearly impossible. If a group of Marine Corps visionaries have their way, however, 30 years from now, Marines could touch down anywhere on the globe in less than two hours, without needing to negotiate passage through foreign airspace. The breathtaking efficiency of such a delivery system could change forever the way the U.S....

Remembering the fallen By Michelle Malkin   ·   December 14, 2006 11:00 AM Maj. Megan McClung was an American Girl. She was the highest-ranking female officer killed in Iraq last week. Watch this video. You will not forget her. (More about Maj. McClung in the OC Register.) Thanks to Ken Noland for pointing us to the memorial video and to the terrific website, Digital Imagery and Video Distribution System , which serves as the public affairs arm for the Third Army and Central Command. Army Capt. Travis Patriquin was killed alongside Maj. McClung. Mike Fumento's memorial is here. Matt at Blackfive...

Fallujah Today, and on Route Mobile Patroling one of the two main arteries through the Fallujah region The city of Fallujah and its surrounding environs has both a symbolic and strategic importance to the security of Iraq. Fallujah is the city where al-Qaeda fought the U.S. forces toe-to-toe and lost. Fallujah is a rallying call to al-Qaeda. The city also serves as the gateway to Baghdad, the end of the line of al-Qaeda's Syrian ratlines which are used to run foreign fighters, money and weapons into the capital. Fallujah was where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi set up his first infamous Islamic...

WHAT A STORY OF GUTS AND COURAGE, AND A LOVELY WIFE AND FAMILY

Greetings from Ramadi By Michelle Malkin   ·   November 18, 2006 08:39 AM Mike Fumento has photos from his latest trip to Ramadi. Here's one he snapped at Camp Ramadi. Mike writes: "Something tells me Cindy Sheehan wouldn't feel comfortable here." Speaking of Ramadi, Patterico is looking to talk to soldiers fighting there. Give him a shout at patterico-at-gmail.com.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2006 -- Two years ago, much of the Iraqi city of Fallujah had suffered severe damage after some of the hardest fighting seen since the country was liberated by U.S. and coalition forces in the spring of 2003. Today, construction across Fallujah is booming, and the city’s 400,000-resident population is growing, Marine Col. Larry D. Nicholson, commander of Regimental Combat Team 5, told Pentagon reporters today from Fallujah during a satellite-televised news conference. Nicholson has commanded RCT-5’s nearly 5,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors since February. The unit’s primary mission, he said, is to train and...

A Letter from the Front Lines Hello, My name is Capt. Mike Southworth. I am a pilot in the Marine Corps. I recently flew Mr. Norris during his USO tour ... His visit here means a lot to all the Marines, sailors, and soldiers out here. I know many of my Marines said that it helped boost their morale and helped them forget that they were away from their family and friends ... So, thanks for the support and God bless! Very respectfully, Capt. Mike Southworth, USMC Capt. Southworth's letter was one of hundreds of letters from service members, their...