RCT-6 Marines take over for RCT-8 in northern Helmand
January 5th, 2012 | Afghanistan Infantry Korea Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Infantrymen with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, set an ambush for insurgents in October as part of Operation Eastern Storm in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Cpl. James Clark)
The regimental headquarters that has overseen infantry operations in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan, for the last year is headed home.
Regimental Combat Team 8, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., has been replaced in Afghanistan by Lejeune’s RCT-6, said Marine officials in Afghanistan. Like RCT-8, RCT-6 will be based out of Camp Delaram II in northeastern Nimroz province, overseeing operations in Sangin, Kajaki, Musa Qala and other nearby districts.
For RCT-8, commanded by Col. Eric Smith, it has been a long deployment in which several units have seen continued combat. Most recently, they included 1st Battalion, 6th Marines; 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines; 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines; 1st Reconnaissance Battalion; Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines; and Alpha Company, 2nd Tank Battalion.
Several of those units were involved in Operation Eastern Storm this fall, in which Marine forces pushed north from volatile Sangin district to take on insurgents entrenched in Kajaki and other areas of northern Helmand. Fighting has been fierce as times, as this viral video of 1/6 at Patrol Base Georgetown shows.
In a blog entry published Jan. 1, Smith said insurgents should expect Marines to continue taking the fight to them.
“RCT-6 has arrived and is doing a superb job of taking the reins,” he said. “Any insurgents who think that a change in units will give them a break are sadly mistaken.”
‘The snow was blood-red’ — New Marine Corps birthday message highlights Korean War
November 4th, 2010 | History and heritage Korea The CMC The Sgt. Major of the Marine Corps | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Each year, Marine Corps leadership releases a heartfelt message to Marines in video form before the service’s Nov. 10 birthday.
Last year’s message focused heavily on the heroism of Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter and Cpl. Jonathan Yale, who stood their ground in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2008, staring down a suicide bomber in a truck. They were both killed when the truck exploded, but prevented it from barreling onto a military outpost where dozens could have died. They posthumously received the Navy Cross last year.
This year’s message, posted on YouTube today, pays tribute to Marines who fought in the Korean War. Featuring new Commandant Gen. James Amos and Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the service’s senior enlisted adviser, it provides a touching retrospective:
For those who didn’t recognize it, the beginning of the message shows Amos and Kent in the Korean War exhibit of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, near Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.
We’ll have a few other birthday-related blog posts on Battle Rattle in coming days. Happy birthday, Marines.
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.”