Free Republic

The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday morning that it has named one of its new ships after Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a San Diego native who died a hero in Iraq in 2004. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the move, saying a new guided-missile destroyer will be named the USS Rafael Peralta. A Pentagon statement said Mabus named that ship and two other new destroyers after Navy and Marine Corps heroes whose actions occurred during different conflicts but "were united in their uncommon valor." Peralta was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross after using his body to shield fellow Marines from an...

PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES In January 2012 the Department published a paper -- “Defense Budget Priorities and Choices” – identifying the major budgetary changes made in response to the new defense strategy. Changes in the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget support U.S. defense strategy and are organized around four major themes: 1. Making more disciplined use of defense dollars. 2. Applying strategic guidance to force structure and investment. 3. Ensuring the quality of the all-volunteer force. 4. Fully supporting deployed warfighters. Disciplined Use of Defense Dollars The FY 2013 budget continues the reform agenda advanced in the Department’s previous three budgets. The FY...

This is what the Navy SEAL team looked like when they went in to get Bin Laden... Some items of note: 50 caliber sniper on the right. Knee, knuckle and forearm protection. Various plastic/wire ties. Absolute identity denial to protect their families. Free choice of footwear. Fourth from the right has three artillery simulators and CS gas grenades on his belly... He's the 'shock and awe' guy. Seal Team Six... can you imagine the look on Bin Laden's face when these guys came through the door? This open letter from a retired USMC colonel received via e-mail: ________________________________________________________________________________ Let's be...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) -- A Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi women and children pleaded guilty Monday to dereliction of duty in a deal that will mean a maximum of three months confinement and end the largest and longest-running criminal case against U.S. troops to emerge from the Iraq War. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., led the Marine squad in 2005 that killed 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha after a roadside bomb exploded near a Marine convoy, killing one Marine and wounding two others. It was a stunning and muted end to a case ....

Is F-35 program flying high or sputtering? By Bob Cox rcox@star-telegram.com Now that the F-35 joint strike fighter program has gotten a pat on the back and morale boost from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, officials at Lockheed Martin hope to put their recent run of bad report cards and bad press behind them. All those problems with the F-35 that have been reported of late? They're not that bad; they're being fixed. Just watch, they say. "We're starting to see a lot of good stuff happening," Tom Burbage, Lockheed's co-executive vice president and general manager overseeing the F-35 program, said...

A NATO helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing six members of the international military force, the U.S.-led coalition said.

Pentagon to take F-35B off "probation": sources WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected on Friday to remove the threat of termination that has been looming over the Marine Corps version of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet, according to multiple sources. Panetta will announce on Friday that he is taking the B-model of the stealthy F-35 fighter off "probation" a year ahead of schedule, given the plane's progress on resolving technical issues, the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters. The announcement will come during Panetta's visit on Friday to Naval Air Station...

In the last few days’ news has broken along with a videotape of four United States Marines urinating on some dead insurgents in Afghanistan. It is a little shocking to see just how quickly the American people are to throw our own to the wolves. People tend to act as though this is the worst thing that has ever been done by our military. Going back as far as World War Two there is evidence of routine executions of prisoners as well as torture and mutilation of dead bodies. There are even reports of American servicemen prying teeth from dead...

The video, which was posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke about a shower. A copy of the video can be seen here "While we have not yet verified the origin or authenticity of this video, the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps," the Marines said in a statement. "This matter will be fully investigated."...

THE TRIAL OF SSGT. WUTERICH:Final Battle Of Haditha Set To Begin by Nathaniel R. Helms | Friday, January 6, 2012 | Day Two: Jury selection complete Camp Pendleton, Calif. – An eight-man panel of four officers and four senior non-commissioned officers will begin listening to testimony Monday morning when the lawyers fighting the final Battle of Haditha offer their opening statements at the General Court Martial of SSgt Frank D. Wuterich, the last Marine standing in the six-year-old fight. The government is apparently expecting a tough battle in the weeks ahead. “I can’t think of a single witness desiring of...

In a press release this afternoon, Club for Growth criticized Newt Gingrich for his attacks on Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital, calling them unbecoming a “Reagan Conservative.” Club for Growth’s statement: Yesterday, Gingrich said “Those of us who believe in free markets and those of us who believe that in fact the whole goal of investment is entrepreneurship and job creation…we find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company, leaving behind 1,700 families without a job.” Gingrich’s attack was echoed that same day that by the Democratic National Committee, which...

Today, the U-T launches a new tradition. Each Jan. 1, we will honor the Person of the Year, an individual or category of individuals with San Diego ties. We can think of no better way to begin this tradition than by selecting as our first winner the Marine. Since Sept. 11, 2001, America has relied on the Marine to keep us safe from terror at home and to take the fight to our enemies abroad, a task our Marines have handled with immense courage, professionalism and honor. Some of the 56,000 Marines based in San Diego County — the...

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A Marine officer said Friday he reacted as he was trained to do by chasing two men who stole a gold necklace he thought they were buying, and then using his fingers to plug bullet holes in his body when one of them opened fire. Lt. Col. Karl Trenker, a 29-year Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrated at a hospital news conference how he stuck his fingers on his left hand into two holes in his left chest and another finger from his right hand where a .22-caliber bullet entered his...

CHINLE - Funeral services were held Tuesday for a Navajo Code Talker who used his native language to confound the Japanese and help win World War II. Billy Crosby died last week, according to tribal officials. He was 85. -----

Link only.

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Marine Gen. James F. Amos, the face of opposition in the military to lifting the ban on gays serving openly, now acknowledges his concern has proven unfounded that repeal would undermine the war effort. In fact, he says, Marines have embraced the change. In an Associated Press interview, Amos called the repeal in September "a non-event."

COMBAT OUTPOST HANSON, Afghanistan — A turkey trot it was not. The U.S. Marines’ top general, James Amos, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago. Traveling mostly in an MV-22 Osprey, the hybrid that flies like an airplane and takes off and lands like a helicopter, Amos began shortly after daylight and finished 14 hours later — and, improbably, managed to confront just one turkey...

The "greatest generation" won the Second World War and on returning home built America into a super power -- a beacon of freedom. Now those Americans are in their 80s and 90s. One of them is former Navajo "code talker" Chester Nez --　the subject of a recent article in The Albuquerque Journal, "The Last Code Talker." Now 90 years old, Nez is "the last living member of the U.S. Marine Corps 382nd Platoon, comprised of 29 Navajos who developed a secret code the Japanese were never able to decipher," noted the Journal. Some 430 bilingual Navajo Americans (fluent in English...

The American PlatoonThe Battle of Fallujah and its impact on a group of young Marines Following your dream shouldn’t cost you your life. But for many of the members of First Platoon, that’s exactly what happened.This week marks the seventh anniversary of the Battle of Fallujah. During the battle, I was embedded as a combat historian with the Marine First Platoon, Lima Company, 3/1, as they fought house-to-house. First Platoon suffered some of the highest casualties in Fallujah: four killed in action — Lance Cpl. Nick Larson, Lance Cpl. Nathan Wood, Lance Cpl. Mike Hanks, and Lance Cpl. Benjamin Bryan...

A Harrier is attended by ground crew at an airbase in southern Italy in 1999, when the planes were involved in Nato attacks in the former Yugoslavia The Royal Navy's entire fleet of Harrier jump jets, the British plane controversially scrapped in last year's defence review, has been saved – by the US military. All 74 of the planes, which were permanently grounded by the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), are to fly again for the US marines, in a deal that is expected to be closed within a week. The Ministry of Defence said negotiations were continuing but...

U.S. Marine Corps Negotiates Buying Decommissioned British Harriers The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have agreed to buy Britain’s entire decommissioned fleet of 74 Harrier GR-9 and 9A Vertical/Short take off and Landing (V/STOL) fighter jets – a move expected to help the Corps operate Harrier jump jets into the mid-2020s and possibly replace aging two-seat F-18D Hornet strike fighters currently used for night attacks, Navy Times reports. A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defence confirmed the Disposal Services Agency was in talks with the U.S. Navy for the sale of the Harriers, their engines and spare parts. The...

To the families of veterans who wait and wait for the return of their loved ones. This I shot of my son returning from Iraq and of the ordeal of waiting at 29 Palms from around 10:00 pm til 2:00 AM in the morning to greet him. Remember it's not only our sons & daughters if's also the families. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! Video 4:00 min.

For ten years now, our Corps has been engaged in continuous combat operations against those who threaten the security of America and our allies. We turned the tide in the Anbar province of Iraq and continue to see success today in southwest Afghanistan. While it has come at a cost … we have much to be proud of. This past year in operations around the world including humanitarian disaster relief, counter-piracy, theater security cooperation, special operations, counter-insurgency and many more, you continued to solidify our place as America’s expeditionary force in readiness. Since the Continental Congress created two battalions of...

Happy birthday to all my fellow Marines past and present. The eagle born to those who pledged their lives and sacred honor, was smiled upon by God and freed from chains and iron collar. He is held aloft on unity and by history revered; for preserving peace through strength his wings now reach across two hundred years. But for each of those and one year more, God has smiled upon The Corps, from the Barbary Coast to the Eastern Sand, by sword, by gun, or by bare hand. So it's been, and shall be weighed: though many are born, few...

Attacking the drug trade with the Super Cobra A crew member closes the hatch on Maj. Scott Benfield as he prepares to fly a mission in his Super Cobra attack helicopter. By: Richard Gould Flying a Super Cobra attack helicopter into combat zones to support his fellow U.S. Marines is Maj. Scott Benfield’s specialty. Raised in Hudson and schooled in Hickory, Benfield has recently returned from Afghanistan where he was stationed during his most recent tour of duty. Afghan insurgents use the proceeds from opium and heroin sales to fund their attacks on American and coalition troops. It’s a problem...

The F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant completed ship suitability testing aboard the USS WASP (LHD-1) off the coast of Virginia in October 2011. Combined, F-35B test aircraft BF-2 and BF-4 accomplished 72 short takeoffs and 72 vertical landings during the three-week testing period.

Rome, Sweet Rome: Could a Single Marine Unit Destroy the Roman Empire? It was a hypothetical question that became a long online discussion and now a movie in development: Could a small group of heavily armed modern-day Marines take down the Roman Empire at its height? We talked about the debate with James Erwin, the man who scored a movie writing contract based on his online response, and ran the ideas by Roman history expert Adrian Goldsworthy. James Erwin was browsing reddit.com on his lunch break when a thread piqued his interest. A user called The_Quiet_Earth had posed the question:...

The Italian Carrier, the F-35B and The Future 10/31/2011 by Ed Timperlake ”Can’t anybody here play this game?” Casey Stengel More than three months have passed since Undersecretary Robert Work’s July 7th 2011 Memo “Navy Tactical Air (TACAIR) Portfolio Analysis-Warfighter Capability and Affordability Trades” http://www.sldforum.com/2011/08/under-secretary-of-the-navy-robert-works-july-tac-air-memo/ The memo was written while U.S. forces were engaged in combat in Operation “Odyssey Dawn” over the skies of Libya. (On the nature of Libyan coalition operations see http://www.sldinfo.com/the-libyan-operation-comparing-the-french-and-usmc-experiences/ or http://defense.aol.com/2011/10/06/marine-libya-lessons-short-command-control-links-stovl-flexibi/). But it is important to first put the Undersecretary’s Memo in proper context. Naval Academy Midshipman during “Plebe Summer” for my generation at Annapolis...

A top Marine Corps general told Congress on Thursday that cutting the Corps to 150,000 Marines, as some analysts project, would mean it could not fulfill its mission during a major war, or respond adequately to crises and humanitarian disasters around the world. “A hundred and fifty thousand would put us below the level that’s necessary to support a single contingency,” said Gen. Joseph Dunford, who as assistant commandant is the nation’s No. 2 Marine. Furthermore, the Marines, known as America’s 911 response force, would be limited in carrying out an array of special missions. “We will not be there...

"We were asked today by a Naysayer to explain what OccupyMARINES are doing for OWS. We replied with a more accurate question to ask is what OccupyMARINES are not doing. OccupyMARINES are not sitting on our asses watching the 1% rip out the heart of America. America Dialed 911 and We Stood Up, We Answered America’s Call. We Have watched since September 17th this wondrous event unfold. We watched as this small demonstration took hold of the world and we quickly understood that they are not going away. So we listened more. We listened to the demonstrators, we listened to...

A new group called Occupy Marines is calling on non-active duty Marines to support the "Occupy" protest movement. The group was formed online to support the Occupy Wall Street protests after videos circulated online of a Marine confronting New York City police, questioning their tactics used against Occupy Wall Street demonstrators.... (VIDEO AT LINK) In a video that has received nearly 2.5 million views, Marine Sgt. Shamar Thomas of Roosevelt, N.Y. an Iraq War veteran, spoke out to police in New York's Times Square, charging that they were over-reacting to Occupy marchers - and shaming their uniform....

(AP) SAN DIEGO — Three San Diego Marine corporals have been discharged for bad conduct after admitting they faked their marriages to receive housing allowances.

The North Carolina men are found guilty in what prosecutors have called a case of 'homegrown terrorism.' They are convicted of plotting an attack on a Marine base in Quantico, Va., among other things. A federal jury has convicted three Muslim men from North Carolina of plotting to attack unspecified targets overseas, as well as the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., in what prosecutors called a case of "homegrown terrorism." After two days of deliberations, Omar Aly Hassan, 22, Ziyad Yaghi, 21, and Hysen Sherifi, 24, were convicted Thursday of providing material support for terrorists. Yaghi and Sherifi were...

Marine Lance Corporal Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt, 24, son of San Antonio Spurs doctor David Schmidt, and local counselor/therapist Becky Whetstone was killed in action Thursday in Afghanistan. Schmidt, a graduate of Alamo Heights High School, spent some brief time at home in August before he embarked on his second tour of Afghanistan in September. Scheduled to end his deployment in May 2012, Corporal Schmidt was killed from a gunshot wound to the head.

F-35B Makes First Vertical Carrier Landing At Sea By Colin Clark Published: October 3, 2011 The big news today: the Marines F-35B made a vertical landing on the deck of the USS Wasp, a small Marine aircraft carrier. Ship trials will demonstrate how the stealth materials on the plane hold up to harsh conditions at sea, as well as show just how hot and noisy the aircraft is when making landings on a carrier. There have been concerns that the enormous thrust and heat from the 43,000 pounds of thrust the engine can produce might soften carrier decks and require...

TULSA, Okla. — Master Sgt. Anthony Henry, a top Marine recruiting trainer for the southwestern United States, pulled up to Tulsa’s biggest gay community center on Tuesday morning and left his Chevy where he could make a fast getaway. “I have an exit strategy,” he said. “I know where my choke points are, I’ve strategically parked my car right on the curbside, I have an out.” But as it happened, one of the strangest days in the history of the United States Marine Corps unfolded without the protests and insults that Sergeant Henry had feared. Sergeant Henry, who had been...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is awarding the military's highest honor to a Marine credited with saving 36 lives during an intense fire-fight in Afghanistan.

Washington - The United States Marine Corps has banned audible farting in Afghanistan because it is culturally offensive to civilians working with the military and members of the Afghan National Army. The Military Times Marine Corps blog, Battle Rattle recently posted the news that "audible farting has been banned for some Marines downrange because it offends the Afghans." The ban has caused a stir among former and current members of the military who question the reasoning behind the decision which has ignited a firestorm of comments from readers and fellow bloggers of Battle Rattle. Military soldiers have already been required...

Marines in Afghanistan have reportedly been told not to pass gas around Afghans to avoid offending the indigenous population. That’s right, now any leatherneck who lets one rip on patrol with Afghans nearby could receive a a talk from his superior officer. The new flatulence restriction was first picked up by the Military Times, and has since become fodder for online discussion ranging from the curious to the ridiculous. A few military bloggers have taken it seriously and found the ban to be indicative of a trend among military brass of bending over backwards to avoid offending the locals. Others...

Three enlisted Marines have been criminally charged with mistreating a fellow Marine from California in the hours before he committed suicide in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps announced Thursday. The three are accused, among other things, of "wrongfully abusing, humiliating and demeaning" Lance Cpl. Harry Lew of Santa Clara in Northern California. His aunt is Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park). Lew, 21, killed himself with his machine gun April 3 while assigned to stand guard in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. Two lance corporals were reportedly angry at Lew for repeatedly falling asleep while on guard duty. Failing asleep on guard...

Marines Already Push F-18s Past 10,000 Hours; When Will They Begin to Fail? By Carlo Munoz Cherry Point, NC: The Marine Corps is pushing some of its fighter aircraft to the breaking point, as the service waits for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Marine Corps fighter squadrons in Afghanistan are racking up thousands of flight hours on their legacy F/A-18 Hornets, going well past the 9,000-hour cap set by Naval Air Command for these older F/A-18s. Some squadrons in Afghanistan are flying combat missions with Hornets that have 10,000 hours or more, Capt. Steward Whittel, a F/A-18 pilot with Marine...

HILO, Hawaii — A community united to honor one of their own at the West Hawaii Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Aug. 18. Lance Cpl. Christopher Camero died July 12 after being injured in Helmand province, Afghanistan, serving with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, supporting combat operations during Operation Enduring Freedom. Against a vibrant green backdrop, nestled in the black lava field — a picturesque Hawaiian landscape — hundreds gathered to lay Camero to rest.

As a boy, Christopher Camero was fascinated by airplanes, played with toy guns, and constructed LEGO structures for his tiny plastic soldiers to defend. He was always saluting and talking about the day he would defend his country. He dreamt of becoming a Marine.

President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration for valor, to a former active duty Marine Corps corporal, the White House said on Friday.

... He will be honored during a White House ceremony September 15. Meyer will be the third living Medal of Honor recipient from service in the current war theaters. No longer on active duty, Meyer returned to Columbia, Kentucky. "The award honors the men who gave their lives that day, and the men who were in that fight," Meyer said, according to a Marine newsletter. "I didn't do anything more than any other Marine would. I was put in an extraordinary circumstance, and I just did my job." Meyer, who serves in the Inactive Ready Reserve of the U.S. Marine...

San Diego – A search off the coast of San Diego is underway after the US Navy lost communication with a fighter jet, according to a U.S. Coast Guard statement to Fox News early Thursday. The navy informed the Coast Guard at about 10:30pm local time Wednesday that they had lost contact with the F-18 jet about 58 miles (93km) off the coast of San Diego.

F-35B: Marvel or Edsel with wings? By: Charles Hoskinson August 3, 2011 10:29 PM EDT PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, Md. — The F-35B is a supersonic stealth fighter jet with an unprecedented new twist: It can take off and land like a helicopter. That’s what makes the airplane a crucial part of the strategy to modernize the Marine Corps as it reverts to its traditional mission as America’s go-anywhere, quick-reaction force after 10 years of ground combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s also what makes the airplane a vastly more expensive option and has caused the technical problems and...

The commandant of the Marine Corps vowed Tuesday to increase the number of black officers, improve minority recruiting and memorialize the service's first black troops. Gen. James Amos told about 500 members of the National Naval Officers Association meeting in San Diego that he was "heartbroken" when he examined the status of blacks in the Marine Corps shortly after becoming commandant last fall. "We're just not there," the 64-year-old four-star general said. "We're not the face of society." Amos, who became the 35th commandant on Oct. 22, said black officers numbered 5.6 percent of the total number of officers in...

KRISTEN WONG FOR HAWAII MARINE - Kailua-Kona resident Robert Gowan was a coffee farmer looking for a way to support the troops. Gowan asked his father, a World War II Air Force veteran, if he had any good memories “amidst all the tough conditions” during the war. His father replied that he and his fellow service members would find cheer as they lay in a fighting hole in the early morning hours when they could smell fresh coffee brewing from the cooks’ tent. Since 2008, Gowan, the Hawaii state coordinator of the Hawaii Chapter of the Gathering of Eagles, has...