Free Republic

This Wednesday, February 19, marked the 69th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. One of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific War and all of World War II, the month-long slug-fest between American and Japanese forces in many ways set the stage for the firebombing of Japan and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the final stages of the fighting, an iconic picture was taken of U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman raising an American flag atop Mount Surabachi, an image that perfectly captured American resolve and military strength. The men that raised the flag...

Pfc. Jacklyn Harold Lucas, USMCR (MOH) From Today in U.S. Military History: 20 February 1945 – Iwo Jima, Japan Citation: "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-sixth Marines, Fifth Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands 20 February 1945. While creeping through a treacherous, twisting ravine which ran in close proximity to a fluid and uncertain front line on D-plus+1 Day, Private First Class Lucas and three other men were suddenly ambushed by a hostile...

The London Daily Mail reported this week that “CNN caused a firestorm when it included a war monument in Brest, a city in the former Soviet republic of Belarus, in an article on the 'world's ugliest monuments' published last month.” This isn’t Ted Turner’s CNN, where a reporter would be disciplined for saying the word “foreign” in a sentence. The online article from a travel-piece contributor was intended as humor. A Russian news commentator responded by suggesting the Marine Corps War Memorial – the Iwo Jima sculpture just north of Arlington National Cemetery – is “easy to mock” for its...

In January 2014 a United States Marine Corps (USMC) V22 Osprey landed for the first time onboard the Dixmude, a French Navy Mistral class LHD. The success of this experiment confirmed the full interoperability of Mistral class amphibious vessels with the means implemented by American Expeditionary Strike Groups. The French LHD are indeed fully interoperable with LCAC landing crafts, with heavy helicopters (Sikorsky CH53 Sea Stallion) and now with the Bell-Boeing V22 Opsrey tilt rotor aircraft. A USMC V22 Osprey onboard the French Navy Dixmude LHD Picture: French Navy For about two hours several deck landings were conducted in order...

I can’t believe I’m writing these words: Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III is going on trial – again. Twice, Hutchins’ conviction by a military court martial for unpremeditated murder in Iraq has been overturned due to factors precluding a fair trial. That means that twice, following Hutchins’ initial conviction in 2007, he has been released from the brig a free man. After his conviction was overturned the first time, there were eight months of freedom in 2010. Then, on the day his wife Reyna found out she was pregnant with their second child, Hutchins, a third-generation Marine, returned to prison....

Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, the Camp Pendleton Marine being retried for the slaying of an Iraqi man at the height of the war, requested a new military defense team Wednesday on opening day of his latest general court-martial. Hutchins argued that the Marines assigned to defend him against charges of murder, obstruction of justice, larceny and other offenses have a conflict of interest relating to allegations of unlawful command influence in his case. The potential conflict originates from public comments made in November 2009 by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, comments that Hutchins unsuccessfully argued had tainted his appeals process. The...

A Camp Pendleton Marine freed on appeal after serving more than six years for the murder of an unarmed man in Hamdaniya, Iraq, during the height of the war will be retried in a military court. Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III will be arraigned Wednesday at Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Forces Central Command said Monday. During a subsequent court martial, whose date has not been set, Hutchins will face charges of murder, obstruction of justice, making false official statements and conspiracy to commit larceny. The Hamdaniya killing had provoked outrage in the United States and Iraq, coming on the heels of...

This is a horrible idea, as Col. West points out. It undermines uniformity and conformity, which is fine for civilians but absolutely antithetical to to military philosophy. There are also more practical concerns. A Marine is going to regret his religious beard about ten seconds after hearing the words "gas, gas, gas!" Just try and get a seal on that mask with a religious beard or piercings. There is a very real need for uniformity in the ranks. This has been true since man began forming armies. As Col. West points out, this sort of policy change would be a...

Preparing to deploy to combat terrorism, Special Operations Marines and sailors again are undergoing certification training in urban warfare in the New Orleans area, the military has confirmed. The training began Tuesday and continues through Jan. 28, but the nature of the exercises was not released publicly. Similar training occurred in August, months after U.S. Special Operations forces underwent training in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing. That training wasn't announced in advance and involved military helicopters appearing in the night over the French Quarter and Central Business District areas. Portions of the training that began this week “will...

Call it Melissa Harris-Perry's "corpse-man" moment . . . In a segment on the role of the US military during her MSNBC show this morning, Harris-Perry, quoting the Marine Corps motto, pronounced it Semper "Fee." Marines of course pronounce it "fye." Perry surely meant no disrespect. But it is a mark of how detached she and so much of the liberal media is from military culture that she could make such a mistake. View the video here.

"When their mounted patrol came under intense enemy fire, Corporal Wooldridge and his squad dismounted and maneuvered on the suspected enemy location. Spotting a group of fifteen enemy fighters preparing an ambush, Corporal Wooldridge led one of his fire teams across open ground to flank the enemy, killing or wounding at least eight and forcing the rest to scatter. As he held security alone to cover his fire team’s withdrawal, he heard voices from behind an adjacent wall. Boldly rushing around the corner, he came face-to-face with two enemy fighters at close range, killing both of them with his M-249...

Almost two years ago, Nunez decided he wanted to "be one of the best," so he picked up the phone and called his local U.S. Marine Corps recruitment office. After checking off various requirements, the recruiter asked Nunez about his weight. The 18-year-old gulped. Always a heavy kid, Nunez crushed the scales at 338 pounds. The recruiter told him he should probably consider a different career path.

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Jacob M. Hess, 22, of Spokane, Wash., died Jan. 1, 2014, while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Hess was assigned to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 26, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The incident is currently under investigation.

More than half of female Marines in boot camp can't do three pullups, the minimum standard that was supposed to take effect with the new year, prompting the Marine Corps to delay the requirement, part of the process of equalizing physical standards to integrate women into combat jobs. The delay rekindled sharp debate in the military on the question of whether women have the physical strength for some military jobs, as service branches move toward opening thousands of combat roles to them in 2016. Although no new timetable has been set on the delayed physical requirement, Marine Corps Commandant Gen....

The Marine Corps has delayed the requirement for female Marines to do three pullups because most women have so far been unable to pass the test. For 40 years, male recruits were required to perform three pullups to prove their upper body strength for combat, where they would need to carry heavy equipment and potentially lift themselves out of mud walls. Starting Jan. 1, female recruits would have been required to do the same. But 55 percent of female recruits could not complete all three pullups, compared to just 1 percent of male recruits who could not, so the requirement...

(CNSNews.com) -- Females in the Marine Corps currently are not required to do even a single pull-up, and a deadline mandating that by Jan. 1, 2014, they be able to do at least 3 pull-ups as part of their training has been delayed for at least a year, the Corps quietly announced on social media. Unlike their female counterparts, male Marines have long been required to do at least 3 pullups as part of the Physical Fitness Test (PFT). That's the minimum requirement for males. - See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-boland/female-marines-not-required-do-1-pull#sthash.d11sA26X.dpuf

Female Marines: They’ve got your back – As long as it doesn’t involve upper body strength. (NBC) It's an Obama world… Female Marines can’t do pullups but will be allowed on the front lines anyway. KPCC reported: Starting Jan. 1, every woman in the Marines Corps was supposed to meet a new physical standard by performing three pullups. But that has been put off. The Marine Corps announced it quietly. There was no news conference — just a notice on its social media sites and an item on its own TV show, “The Corps Report.” Lance Cpl. Ally Beiswanger explained...

According to President Karzai, the Obama administration said that the Taliban are "not our enemies." If not them, who? United States Marines and soldiers like Marine Reserve Maj. Jason Brezler or Lance Cpl Greg Buckley (below)? It would seem so by the treacherous actions of the Obama administration. There's a stunning new development in the murder of Lance Cpl. Greg Buckley Jr. Atlas readers are long familiar with the horrible murder of Lance Cpl. Buckley. The murderer of this great American hero in one of a string of insider attacks was Aynoddin, the 19-year-old "tea boy" of Afghan District Police...

The Corps Report Ep. 27 — Typhoon Aid and the Corps Adopts a new Universal CoverUSMC Corps Report11/15/13 Click here for the video, which features a couple other stories. This week's episode of The Corps Report features Marines providing humanitarian relief in the Philippines, the Corps adopts a new universal service and dress cover, and a robotic pack-mule that lends a helping hoof.

The four Marines killed Wednesday while clearing unexploded ordnance at Camp Pendleton were bomb removal technicians. The four were killed around 11 a.m. during a routine sweep to make a range safer for future training exercises at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, said a Marine official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. There was no live firing on the range at the time.