Army 3-star general: Army should be more like Marines
January 31st, 2012 | Afghanistan Manpower Reserve | Posted by James Sanborn
The head of the Army Reserve said Tuesday that the Army should be more like the Marine Corps — at least in the way the Marine Corps cultivates a strong life-long brotherhood.
Although Marines and soldiers usually boast about being better than the other, Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, head of the Army Reserve, said at this year’s Reserve Officers Association symposium in Washington, D.C., that the Marine Corps does a good job inculcating the idea of “once a Marine, always a Marine.” That helps them pull active duty Marines into the Reserve at the end of their service.
The Army would do well to mimic that as a way to retain hard-won experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While many soldiers see their four-year contract as finite, many Marines see it as just the first chapter of their military career. Army leadership, he said, often paints a black and white picture by asking soldiers near the end of their service if they are re-enlisting or getting out. They should be asking if soldiers are re-enlisting or transitioning to the Reserve, he said. They could do more to make a career in the reserve an enticing prospect.
Behind the Cover: Every Marine’s 2013 pay chart
January 30th, 2012 | Behind the Cover | Posted by Dan Lamothe
This week’s Marine Corps Times cover story hits Marines right where it counts: the wallet.
The piece, written by Pentagon correspondent Andrew Tilghman, highlights the ups and downs for U.S. service members across all branches of service. Pay will continue to increase in 2013, and Marine Corps Times breaks down the boost by rank for officers and enlisted personnel.
This week’s newspaper also offers a variety of analytical piece following last week’s big budget announcements at the Pentagon. We outline how the Corps shrinking to 182,100 Marines may occur and how the service may end up deploying to new locations in the Pacific on a rotational basis, including the Philippines.
The issue is out on newsstands this week. Or, you can subscribe here online and read it now.
VMM-365 Marines replace 162 operating Ospreys in Afghanistan
January 24th, 2012 | Afghanistan Aviation | Posted by James Sanborn
Members of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, pile into an MV-22B Osprey Jan. 17, at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The flight was VMM-162's last on a six-month deployment.
Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 — The Blue Knights — deployed to Afghanistan earlier this month to replace VMM-162 which conducted its last mission there Jan. 17.
The Blue Knights out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., departed Jan. 6 and will take over resupply and transportation missions in Helmand province for 162 which spent six months at Camp Bastion. The Marines of 365 spent their final days at home preparing their Ospreys for an aircraft swap with the pilots of 162. Due to cost, units don’t take their own aircraft when they deploy. Instead they use Ospreys already in Afghanistan and give their own to the retuning squadron.
Video: Marine ‘screams like a little girl’ on amusement park ride
January 23rd, 2012 | Afghanistan Marines | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
Making the rounds today is a video posted on You Tube by Matteroni2 that made us laugh our butts off. It shows a guy screaming in sheer terror on a giant slingshot ride in Orlando, Fla., while his friend tells him “it was worth it just to hear you scream like a little girl.”
Apparently the screamer is a Marine, but it’s hard to tell for sure.
Before the slingshot hurtles him and his friend into the sky he says he’d rather be in Afghanistan than sitting there on the ride with the anticipation of waiting to take off. His buddies in Afghanistan probably heard the scream from there.
If you’re the Marine in the video, thanks for the laugh… and way to let it all hang out!
Behind the Cover: ‘Kyle covered that grenade’ — Marines weigh in on grenade blast survivor’s heroism
January 23rd, 2012 | Afghanistan Awards Infantry Marjah Medal of Honor | Posted by Dan Lamothe
It’s rare indeed that Marine Corps Times will publish back-to-back cover stories on the same subject.
Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter’s story is exceptional, though. As I reported last week, the Marine Corps is investigating what happened in the moments before he and Lance Cpl. Nick Eufrazio were hit with grenade explosion in a guard post near Marjah, Afghanistan, on Nov. 21, 2010. Carpenter took the brunt of the blast, and the service is researching whether he deliberately attempted to protect Eufrazio.
The story prompted a strong response from our readers — and for several of Carpenter’s fellow Marines present that day to step forward to tell their side of the story. They’re adamant in their response: based on what they saw, Carpenter deserves the Medal of Honor, they say.
This week’s cover story reflects that. It outlines what they remember and what the Corps has asked them to do as the investigation moves forward. Combined, the two cover stories share Carpenter and Eufrazio’s ordeal in a way that no other publication has, more than a year later.
As we’ve mentioned before, the case is complicated by chance. All of the Marines interviewed for this story were close when the grenade exploded, but could only hear it and respond. Carpenter said he doesn’t remember what happened, and Eufrazio has been unable to speak about the incident due brain damage he suffered as a complication.
The issue is on newsstands now beginning today. You can also read it by subscribing here online.
Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey blasts ship captain… in Italian?
January 20th, 2012 | Marines Pop culture | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
A Facebook page dedicated to the tar and feathering of ship’s captain Francesco Schettino, who appears to have fled the $45 million cruise ship Costa Concordia and its passengers and crew after grounding it off the coast of Italy’s Tuscany region, has turned to a famous Marine Corps icon to express its disdain for the man some Italians have named “chicken of the sea.”
Among dozens of satirical illustrations created using well known images from movies, music albums and other pop culture, is the famous shot of retired Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey shouting — in Italian — at a superimposed profile shot of Schettino.
The photo illustration is headlined with the words “Get back to your ship immediately” in Italian. Ermey, who has a propensity for telling it like it is, no doubt would have some choice words for Schettino if he ran into him.
The Facebook page ridiculing Schettino, who, among other excuses for having fled the sinking ship, has said he tripped and fell into a life boat, has close to 62,000 followers.
1/8 Marines to replace 1/6 in Afghanistan
January 20th, 2012 | Afghanistan Infantry Kajaki Marjah Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
First Battalion, 6th Marines, was split among three districts in Helmand province, Afghanistan, during its recent deployment. (Photo by Cpl. James Clark)
After another long deployment, “1/6 HARD” is coming home.
First Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., will return to the U.S. soon, according to a Marine Corps news release published today. The Corps has been flying forces from Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, to replace them in combat, the service acknowledged earlier this week.
It has been a whirlwind few years for 1/6′s Marines, some of whom pushed through major offensive on three consecutive deployments.
In 2008, 1/6 served as ground combat element of the Lejeune’s 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as it kicked in the door in Afghanistan, putting a conventional Marine battalion on the ground there for the first time in three years. Marines 1/6 assaulted Garmser district at a time when most of Helmand province was overrun by the Taliban.
In 2010, 1/6 served as one of the main battalions involved in the taming of Marjah district, another Taliban stronghold in central Helmand. It sustained heavy casualties and combat that was captured in the excellent documentary “Battle for Marjah.”
That brings us to this deployment. We’ve covered some of 1/6′s operations on this blog, particularly Operation Eastern Storm, an assault in October aimed at taming portions of Kajaki district in northern Helmand. That effort was led by the unit’s Bravo and Weapons companies. Its Marines stayed in the region after the assault, facing combat like this firefight captured on video.
The unit wasn’t just in Kajaki, however. Charlie Company 1/6 deployed to Marjah again, reinforcing sections of the district that still had Taliban resistance. Alpha Company deployed to volatile Sangin district, where it supported 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion and, later, 1st Recon.
Video: Larry Vickers discusses the new Marine Corps rifle sling he designed
January 20th, 2012 | Gear Marksmanship | Posted by Dan Lamothe
The Marine Corps made a significant change in the fall, deciding to adopt a new common weapon sling for service rifles.
That sling, as Marine Corps Times reported here, is the Vickers Combat Applications two-point sling, made by Blue Force Gear, of Pooler, Ga. It’s designed by Larry Vickers, a retired special operator well regarded for his innovation in the marksmanship world.
Rob Curtis, Military Times’ Gear Scout blogger, ran into Vickers at SHOT Show this week. They discussed several items on video, including the new Marine Corps sling. Check it out here:
Kajaki suicide bomb an eye opener for Marines in Afghanistan
January 19th, 2012 | Afghanistan Infantry Kajaki | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Mohammad Gulab Mangal, the governor of Helmand province, offers comfort to a victim of a Jan. 17 suicide bomb in Kajaki district at Camp Bastion. (Photo by Sgt. Laura Bonano)
Marine forces assaulted key sections of Afghanistan’s Kajaki district last fall as part of Operation Eastern Storm, taking back several sections of it back from the Taliban.
One of those places was Kajaki Sofla. First Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., and other elements of other units worked through the area, hunting insurgents and confiscating weapons caches as they went. Eventually, some level of reconciliation with Afghan citizens in the area became possible.
That brings us to the big event this week: A suicide bomb was detonated by an insurgent on a motorcycle in the Kajaki Sofla Bazaar Wednesday, killing more than a dozen people and wounding many more.
The Associated Press has an initial report up here, and it include a condemnation from Gen. John Allen, the four-star Marine commander who heads all military operations in Afghanistan. He’s quite blunt:
“With today’s horrendous attack at the Kajaki Sofla Bazaar, insurgents have once again destroyed the lives of dozens of innocent Afghan civilians,” Allen said in the statement. “These attacks against the people of Afghanistan have no effect on the progress we are together making here with our Afghan partners and will only further isolate the Taliban from the process of peace negotiation.”
The International Security Assistance Force that Allen heads initially reported that dozens of Afghan civilians, Afghan national security forces and coalition troops had been either killed or wounded.
The Marine Corps released an additional story today stating that the dead include three Afghan policemen and 10 civilians. An additional two Afghan policemen and 20 civilians were wounded and transported to a military hospital aboard Camp Bastion, a part of the Camp Leatherneck complex where II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) headquarters is based.
I’ve reached out to Marine officials at Leatherneck for any details that may be available about Marines in the area as it relates to this incident. If there’s an update, I’ll post it here.
Video: Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, injured by a grenade, discusses his recovery
January 17th, 2012 | Afghanistan Awards Marjah Wounded warriors | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter speaks with Marine Corps Times about injuries he sustained in a grenade blast in Afghanistan. (Photo by Colin Kelly/Staff)
As mentioned on this blog yesterday, this week’s Marine Corps Times cover story focuses on Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, the Marine infantryman who has achieved a miraculous recovery after sustaining a grenade blast near Marjah, Afghanistan, in November 2010.
Marine Corps Times has taken some heat for reporting that there are questions over whether Carpenter covered the grenade to protect his buddy, Lance Cpl. Nick Eufrazio. Actions along those lines have yielded prestigious valor awards in the past, obviously.
Those questions exist, though, at least in the minds of some in the Corps. Additional Marine sources have reaffirmed that since the story was published yesterday. Both lance corporals are heroes nevertheless, but Marine officials acknowledge they are uncertain what happened and still investigating.
That doesn’t take away from Carpenter’s sacrifice, though — or the inspiring way he carries himself now. I sat down with him at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for the story, and was blown away by his optimism and grace. When you see this video, I think you will be, too.
We’ll have another story about this incident in next week’s paper featuring comments from other Marines who were in the compound when the grenade exploded. This story isn’t going away anytime soon.