Former Marine’s skull cracked at ‘Occupy Oakland’ clash
October 26th, 2011 | Events Marines | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
In the video, the crack of a crowd-control projectile is followed by heavy smoke. People scream and run toward the smoke, converging near the ground over the body of a young man.
Another crack is heard and more smoke billows. Out of that plume, a crowd emerges carrying the man who appears bleeding and unresponsive.
The injured man has been identified as former Marine Cpl. Scott Olsen, who deployed twice to Iraq with Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines based out of Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Olsen, who was a tactical communications Marine, got out of the Corps last year and landed a job in San Francisco as a systems administrator with the help of his friend and roommate, Keith Shannon, who was also a Marine.
Olsen was listed in stable but critical condition and it wasn’t known yet whether surgery would be performed.
“He has a two-inch skull fracture and swelling of the brain. When I saw him he was conscious but could only answer yes or no questions,” said Shannon, who was reached by phone at Highland General Hospital in Oakland, Calif., not far from the clash that took place Tuesday night between city police and members of the “Occupy Oakland” demonstration.
The news of Olsen’s injury and the fact that he was a former Marine was outlined in a press release from Iraq Veterans Against the War, IVAW, whose Bay Area chapter president, Dottie Guy, said Olsen was involved in the Occupy San Francisco movement.
When a call circulated for more protesters for the Oakland event, Olsen went there to participate. The group of demonstrators had been using a city plaza for its occupation for two weeks until police kicked them out on Tuesday.
Though Shannon was not there Tuesday night and did not see the clash, he said witnesses at the scene claim it was a “police projectile” which struck Olsen in the head. The Oakland Police Department has not yet responded to a request for information.
“1 Marine vs. 30 Cops (Marine wins)”
October 18th, 2011 | Events | Posted by Tony Lombardo
With one helluva headline, the YouTube video “1 Marine vs. 30 Cops (Marine wins)” is getting a lot of attention in the news and on the blogs.
In the clip, a man billed as “United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY” takes about five minutes to yell at a large group of NYPD, accusing them of police brutality. Thomas is an activist in the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has hit the streets of New York to peaceably protest the “corporate forces of the world.” If you’re interested, you can read more about the mission here.
Thomas gets in the faces of several officers and screams more than once “There is no honor in this! There is no honor in this!” It’s intense.
So, the fact Thomas is a Marine makes the whole incident a lot more interesting. But one important note to mention — missed by a lot of people out there — is that Thomas looks to be a former Marine.
Manpower and Reserve Affairs confirmed their records do show one Shamar Thomas — an Iraq veteran, who left the Corps in 2007. This explains his stubble and unbuttoned jacket.
It also seems to match the YouTube description, which says Thomas is now playing amateur football and attending college.
Does it bother you, or inspire you, that Thomas is wearing his MARPAT for this scene? No doubt he wouldn’t be getting nearly as much attention if he had his worn his football jersey or waved his college pennant.
Running for Cpl. John Peck — in a gas mask
October 28th, 2010 | Afghanistan Events Wounded warriors | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
Jeremy Soles has run four half-marathons and four 10Ks in a gas mask to raise awareness of wounded troops.
Jeremy Soles will run the Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday in a gas mask. Why? Because it’s hard, but not as hard as the life of a wounded Marine.
“The mask is an icon,” said Soles, who got out of the Corps in 2004 and has run several races wearing a gas mask as part of Team X-T.R.EM.E., which is raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project.
“The time I spend in a mask is short, difficult and requires mental and physical fortitude,” he said, pointing out that doing it is not unlike what so many wounded guys go through, “only for them it’s for the rest of their lives.”
He’s dedicating his race to young Cpl. John Peck, 24, of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, who was wounded in Afghanistan on May 23. As a result of that IED attack, he now has no legs or forearms.
Peck has undergone countless surgeries and has many more to come. He’s at Mologne House at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
To donate money to the Wounded Warrior Project and learn more about Team X-T.R.E.M.E, go to www.teamxtremerunning.org
A moment of silence amid the flames
September 8th, 2010 | Camp Lejeune Events | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
While the debate rages and public condemnation pours in from around the world at the planned burning of a Koran by evangelical pastor Terry Jones on Sept. 11, leaders at Camp Lejeune, N.C., are teaming up with civic officials to remember that day in 2001 in a different way.
At Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville around a beam from the World Trade Center presented by New York’s first responders to Camp Lejeune in 2003, there will be a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., a minute after the first plane struck the skyscraper.
That silence will be broken by the sound of sirens from the emergency vehicles of law enforcement, fire and rescue crews, and music will be played by a component of the 2nd Marine Division band and students from Jacksonville High School.
The observance ceremony will be hosted by the Onslow Civic Affairs Committee and begins at 8:15 a.m. Saturday.
To beret, or not to beret
July 23rd, 2010 | Events Gear Korea Rumors | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Every so often, it seems, the Marines-wear-beret rumor rears its head. Usually it’s when leathernecks get the chance to question or schmooze with senior brass. Back before the Army in 2001 standardized the beret for all soldiers, every so often some bold and usually gung-ho junior Marine would ask or suggest the wear of berets. No commandant or uniform board approved such an idea, however.
Battle Rattle recalls a day back in the mid-‘90s, when a young Marine joined others greeting then-commandant Gen. Chuck Krulak on a ship’s mess decks asked the four-star general why Recon Marines couldn’t wear the black beret, so they could stand out as being, well, elite, he argued. The general quickly dismissed the question, although Battle Rattle wonders whether that Marine’s staff NCOs were less forgiving.
Even with the Army’s still-controversial adoption of the beret as universal head wear, Marines and the beret remain an ongoing curiosity. Sometimes, the question surfaces in the most unlikely place, at the oddest time. Most recently, it arose in the most unlikely crowd: Soldiers in South Korea.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates talks to soldiers during a short talk and question-and-answer session July 20 at Camp Casey, South Korea.//DoD/Cherie Cullen
Defense Secretary Robert Gates traveled to South Korea, where he would visit the Demilitarized Zone, meet with South Korea defense leaders and announce new U.S.-Republic of Korea “show of force” exercises designed to remind North Korea of repercussions for its March torpedoing of the ROK ship Cheonan. The sinking is the latest act by the North to heighten already rocky tension in the Far East.
Suffice it to say, the Pentagon chief had a full plate of heavy issues, but on his July 20 arrival he took some time to take a few questions from soldiers at Camp Casey, an Army garrison in Seoul. A couple of soldiers – all wearing the black berets authorized by the Army – asked about the Defense Department’s ongoing plans to extend Korea tours to three-year for married service members. One soldier asked about the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. But then came an out-of-the-ballpark question.
“Is there any revelation about our Marines going to patrol caps or berets?” a soldier asked, hinting that “counterparts would like to ask.”
The question surely was unexpected. “First I’ve heard of it,” Gates responded, laughing. “They don’t tell me these things.”
Just what fueled the question isn’t clear. Was it wild speculation or scuttlebutt that’s bouncing around the joint commands and camps in South Korea or perhaps some secret covert plan underway on the peninsula?
Battle Rattle asked a manpower and reserve affairs spokeswoman in Quantico, Va., who chuckled at the notion but said she hadn’t heard of any policy change. Bill Johnson-Miles, a Marine Corps Systems Command spokesman, said the command likewise hadn’t heard and hadn’t gotten any recommendations about berets “to even consider adopting them.”
Rain? What rain? Marines marched on, and so did we
July 15th, 2010 | Events Iwo Jima Memorial | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
Patriotism was soaked to the undies on Tuesday as hundreds of VIPs in cushioned chairs and hundreds more seated on blankets or standing at attention braved the rain to line the lush green field at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arilngton, Va.
The Silent Drill Team marches in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial. Gale winds, sheets of rain and thunder and lightening cut the Sunset Parade short on July 13. (Photo by Gina Cavallaro)
It was the Marine Corps Sunset Parade, a glorious public pageant of music, colors and military precision that takes place every Tuesday during the summer.
It wasn’t raining the whole time. It started slowly then stayed steady for about 20 minutes as umbrellas popped up all around. After 10 minutes everyone was totally drenched.
A man in his work clothes — a white shirt, tie and gray pants — stood on his family’s quilted picnic blanket, his hands at his side, fingers curled, a steady stream of raindrops slipping off the end of his nose and earlobes. Clearly, a Marine.
And another guy, long hair, shorts, T-shirt, same thing. Clearly, a Marine.
And the rain kept coming and no one moved as the band played a retro medley of 1960s tunes like Age of Aquarius and Hair. The guest of honor, Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, the delegate from Guam, stuck it out like a champ in her spiffy white pants suit and coiffed hair, unfazed.
And the band played on.
Who knew that the real soaker was on the way. It was as if a giant swat of wind had come smashing down on the open area, gray-green sky, trees whipping, sheets and sheets and sheets of rain. Truly dangerous, when you think about it.
Only then did the announcer elegantly conclude the ceremony and people scrambled off the field, looking for shelter that wasn’t there. Children cried, women’s shoes came off and men did what they could to shelter their families with their arms… their wet arms.
Everyone fled but the Marines on the field. They concluded the ceremony in their own way, as they would have if the sun had been shining brightly.
I can’t wait to go again.
Marines run, sing, re-enlist during Fleet Week
June 1st, 2010 | Events | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
About 400 Marines, sailors and Coast Guardsmen were joined by New York City's police and firefighters for a run through Manhattan June 1, 2010, on the last day of Fleet Week. Photo by Cpl. Patrick Evenson
Fleet Week is pretty much over, but there’s still a chance to see Marines singing for their supper at a Hard Rock Café karaoke party. The fun begins at 7 p.m. at the Times Square restaurant in midtown Manhattan.
Today was the last day of the weeklong event, and it started at 8 a.m. with about 400 Marines, sailors, Coast Guardsmen and New York’s police and firefighters making a run through downtown Manhattan to honor 9/11 victims and America’s fallen heroes.
More than 3,000 members of the military were in the New York City area participating in re-enlistment ceremonies, community outreach events and equipment demonstrations for Fleet Week, which has been hosted by New York for each of the past 26 years.
Marines and sailors from 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force New York, and the USS Iwo Jima attended a Memorial Day ceremony yesterday at the Soldiers’ and Sailor’s monument, and everyone sails out tomorrow.