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CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Marines treated at Camp Lejeune for post-traumatic stress had to undergo therapy for months in temporary trailers where they could hear bomb blasts, machine-gun fire and war cries through the thin walls, according to servicemen and their former psychiatrist. The eight trailers were used for nearly two years, until a permanent clinic was completed in September in another location on the base, said a Camp Lejeune medical spokesman, Navy Lt. j.g. Mark Jean-Pierre. The noise from training exercises "shook me up real bad. I couldn't take it. I almost ran out of there a couple of...

The Warrior Song Project http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTs6a0ORdQU would like to thank all of the following individuals for their selfless contributions to this effort: James De Vito, US Marine Corps, for vocals Sachiko De Vito, for being brilliant Rock Williams, for vocals Sean Hurwitz, for the guitars Bernie Pershey, for the marching snares Kashan Curry, US Marine Corps, for images & advice Justin Sullivan, for “The Wobble Beat” Robb Hendrick, for advice & creative design LYRICS: I’ve got the reach and the teeth of a killin’ machine, with a need to bleed you when the light goes green best believe, I’m in...

Former Marine Nick Popaditch, aka the Cigar Marine, is running for the Republican nomination to challange the incumbent Democrat in the California 51st Congressional race for 2010. He needs your support. The district is heavily Democratic and he faces an uphill struggle but this Marine is one tough opponent. This man is a true war hero, not some "Swift Boat" wannabe. His slogan, "A Marines word is his bond", says it all. He gained national popularity when he was photographed atop his tank turret smoking a cigar at the fall of Baghdad. Later in the war he was seriously wounded...

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

From the Sand Pit: It's freezing here. I'm sitting on hard, cold dirt between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountains, along the Dar 'yoi Pomir River, watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that leads to a cave. Stake out my friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands of miles. I also glance at the area around my a-- every ten to fifteen seconds to avoid another scorpion sting. I've actually given up battling the chiggers and sand fleas, but those scorpions give a jolt like a cattle prod; hurts like a ba---rd. The...

Veterans Day becomes somewhat of a quandary if one seeks to highlight only one particular group amongst the magnitude of those deserving of focus. For indeed, while some may appear to shine more brightly, their luster and magnificent illumination is merely a reflection of a cast of more than a million military members who served, and continue serving our nation.... of which our FA "founding father", Curt is one. (hat doff to you, guy....) As the wife of a Navy enlistee during the Vietnam War, I can say that my military life still remains a strong and humbling memory in...

A Colorado sheriff who made headlines for his deliberate non-compliance with the politically correct attitude of his county toward Christmas, today honored the U.S. Marine Corps on its 234th birthday, along with veterans and members of other military branches. And he implored them to be vigilant now as ever, since their service is not over. The comments come from Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, who occasionally releases a personal column called the BullsEye. He was in the news in recent Christmas seasons when he scoffed at county rules about using neutral themes such as penguins for Christmas decorations and staged...

As a nineteen-year-old college drop out, forty years ago on this past August 18th, I was being pushed and shoved off a bus at MCRD, San Diego, California, as we 'boots' were trying desperately to move as fast was we could for what we were all sure was a bunch of rabid DI's. They were after all, foaming at the mouth.

On Saturday, visitors to the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg were treated to a re-enactment of some of the weapons, tactics and strategies used to win War World II. “Give me an army of West Point graduates and I'll win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I'll win the war.” General George S. Patton quotes (American General in World War I and II, 1885-1945)

Happy Birthday to the USMC! Semper Fi and God Bless to all of you!!

Click on the link to watch the video. It is on the right side, down the middle of the page.

Happy Birthday U.S. Marines! Thank You!

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Nov. 9, 2009 – Marines have an uncanny ability to call any place “home,” even if it’s a mixture of sand and gravel, or in this instance, a Taliban compound. U.S. Marines walk down an alley during a patrol in the Nawa district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Sept. 21, 2009. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. John M. McCall  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Marines with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, have been operating out of what Marines refer to as “the mansion” here, since Aug. 1. Local Afghans have told Marines the...

On a wall near a makeshift classroom at Camp Pendleton hang 27 portraits. They are pictures of U.S. Marine Corps bomb technicians who have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The portraits are a reminder to members of a newly commissioned bomb squad of the perils they face as they prepare to deploy to the war-torn region. "There's no question, it's one of the most dangerous jobs out there," said Capt. James Shelstad, commander of the base's newly created 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company. Shelstad and several members of his company sat down last week with the North County Times...

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David Raymond Baker was buried Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday morning.

Watch the Full Program Online Warning: Graphic Language and violent imagery Viewer Discretion Advised. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamaswar/view/

Oct. 25, 2009 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: In 1942, it came down to one Marine It's hard to envision -- or, for the dwindling few, to remember -- what the world looked like on Oct. 26, 1942, when a few thousand U.S. Marines stood essentially stranded on the God-forsaken jungle island of Guadalcanal, placed like a speed bump at the end of the long blue-water slot between New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, the most likely route for the Japanese Navy to take if they hoped to reach Australia.On Guadalcanal, the Marines struggled to complete an airfield....

Arielle Levin Becker of the Washington Post wrote about John Philip Sousa’s professional stature as regards his past association with the Marine Corps Band: If there’s any question about the place Sousa has in the band’s memory, a visit to the director’s office settles any doubts.  Sousa is immortalized in four photographs and paintings, including one of him in a Navy uniform, and perhaps in a fifth — there is speculation that, in the front row of a Civil War-era photograph of the band, a young Sousa is hiding between two trombone players. The baton that [departing U.S. Marine band...

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway has emerged in internal Pentagon deliberations as the most outspoken opponent of permitting gay men and women to serve openly in the U.S. military, according to a former senior Pentagon official. Most of the senior brass hold deep reservations about President Obama's pledge to end the ban on gays in the military, especially in the middle of two wars that have put extra stress on the military, down to the platoon level, where soldiers and Marines would be expected to bond with openly gay colleagues. But Gen. Conway has gone further than others...

Under the harsh sunlight, a lone grey donkey sauntered across one end of a silent street; halfway down the far end, a US marine lay in the dirt, exposed and alone — brushing the dust from a pressure plate linked to a massive bomb. A few days ago this town, deep in Taliban territory, was thronged with up to 800 residents and traders. This is Helmand’s biggest drugs market, but today all but a handful of Kuchi, the Afghan nomads, have vanished. Somehow the Taliban knew the marines were coming. Rather than fight openly, they left behind a booby-trapped ghost...

Investigators are trying to determine why a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 airplane and a U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopter collided on Thursday night, likely killing nine crew members. Aircraft and ships are scouring the ocean off San Diego for any signs of survivors of the nighttime collision, but Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the crash likely killed both the plane's seven crew members and the two-person crew of the AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter.Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the crash occurred minutes after control of the C-130 was handed off from FAA controllers to military air controllers.

Launching An American Knight in Washington Written by John Horvat    Thursday, October 29, 2009 On October 27, the TFP Washington Bureau was filled with friends and supporters to hear a presentation on the book, An American Knight The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC just authored by TFP member Norman Fulkerson. The author presented the book to a full and lively auditorium of some 50 people and later personally signed copies. As a special guest, Duke Paul of Oldenburg from the German TFP, gave the opening remarks commenting on the meaning of chivalry today. Also attending was...

BreakingNews San Diego media: 9 missing after collision of Coast Guard C-130 and Marine Cobra helicopter off the SD coast. BNO News working to confirm.

As Baker's flag-draped casket was lowered from a small charter jet into the hands of six fellow Marines, his family and friends stood arm-in-arm, weeping on the tarmac at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Stillness and silence dominated the scene. The sound of passenger planes taking off and landing was drowned out by the weight of the scene unfolding at ground level. That silence was broken only when a police bagpiper began playing "When the Saints Go Marching In." Baker's casket then was loaded into a waiting hearse, and scores of policemen and firefighters — from no fewer than 25 area...

It was the last way John Bernard would have wanted his voice to gain prominence in the national debate over the war in Afghanistan. The retired Marine had been writing to lawmakers for weeks complaining of the new rules of engagement he believed put U.S. troops at unacceptable risk in the insurgency-wracked country. He got little response. Then Bernard's only son, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard — a Marine like his dad — was killed in an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, the latest victim of a surge in U.S. combat deaths. Three weeks later, Joshua became the...

As Marines here train to deploy to war zones, there is daily discussion about how to detect and disarm the buried roadside bombs that are the No. 1 killer of Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military researchers have found that two groups of personnel were particularly good at spotting anomalies: those with hunting backgrounds, who traipsed the woods as youths, looking to bag a deer or turkey; and those who grew up in tough urban neighborhoods where it is often important to know what gang controls which block. Personnel who fit neither category, often young men who grew up in...

When Gunnery Sgt. Marcus Hyman was told he’d get to sit down with Barack Obama on Monday, the Marine knew what he wanted to find out: What’s the president’s plan for Afghanistan? Obama didn’t go into great detail answering Hyman, the young man said after their chat, but the future of the faltering war was clearly on the president’s mind during his afternoon visit to Jacksonville Naval Air Station. (snip) Not everyone in the audience was as excited — some sailors said they were upset about being ordered to come — but for many, the speech was a unique opportunity.

The Marine Corps earned bragging rights during the 9th annual U.S. Army International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., last week, when Leathernecks from the Corps' Scout Sniper School (West) in Camp Pendleton, Calif., claimed the title of top marksmen.

It's hard to envision -- or, for the dwindling few, to remember -- what the world looked like on Oct. 26, 1942, when a few thousand U.S. Marines stood essentially stranded on the God-forsaken jungle island of Guadalcanal, placed like a speed bump at the end of the long blue-water slot between New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, the most likely route for the Japanese Navy to take if they hoped to reach Australia. On Guadalcanal, the Marines struggled to complete an airfield. Japanese Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto knew what that meant. No effort would be spared to dislodge these upstart...

<p>This photograph from Afghanistan recently made rounds on the Facebook and e-mail accounts of folks whose work centers on military women's issues.</p> <p>The image itself didn't surprise them. It showed four Marines resting at a makeshift patrol base, their guns and helmets propped up against the familiar dusty backdrop of an Asian battlefield. Two of the Marines seemed to be snacking. One picked at her foot.</p>

A mile from South Station, an outpost of US marines in Helmand province, the tribal chief was openly hostile. “The Americans threaten our economy and take our land for bases. They promise much and deliver nothing,” he said. “People here regard the American troops as occupiers,” said Haji Khan, a leader of the Baluch tribe, who rules like a medieval baron. “Young people are turning against them and in time will fight them.” Inside South Station, soldiers are proud of the progress...Until they arrived, this remote part of Helmand had not had a government presence for years. But many are...

Some of the vets needed canes or wheelchairs to navigate the vast decks of the new Navy amphibious assault ship Makin Island...Legions of military VIPs will attend this morning...None will be held in higher esteem than the World War II Marine Raiders who sacked an enemy-held island in the Western Pacific, boosting American morale during the dark early days of the war, when the enemy seemed unstoppable. ...“Just to be able to sit down and have a beer with these guys — I'm star-struck,” said Lt. Cmdr. Matt Polzin, 39, of Bay City, Mich., who served as a guide for...

Japan's new government appeared to bow to pressure from US military officials, saying on Friday that Tokyo supports keeping a major US marine airfield on the southern island of Okinawa. The move narrows - but does not close - a rift between the two alliance partners ahead of President Barack Obama's visit in three weeks. The new Tokyo administration, elected in a landslide in August, has said it would assert a more independent stance from Washington than previous administrations. However, Tokyo does not want to unduly strain ties with its chief ally and key trading partner. The government of Yukio...

The community remembers the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit of 1983 as brave troops who suffered great losses in Beirut in one of the most devastating non-nuclear bombings of all time. Retired Marine Col. Timothy Geraghty remembers them as “my men.” Geraghty will be in Jacksonville today to commemorate the anniversary of the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed nearly 300 peacekeeping troops, 241 of whom were Marines and sailors under his command. Twenty-six years after the event, he has told the story of Beirut in his own words.

It was 4 years ago today that I kissed him goodbye as he left for boot camp in Parris Island. Can't believe how fast the time has flown!

A day after learning Marine Lance Cpl. David Raymond Baker made the ultimate sacrifice, local residents who knew him continue to honor and remember the young man from Painesville Township. Baker, 22, was killed by an improvised explosive device Tuesday in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan. He joined the Marines shortly after graduating from Riverside High School in 2006. "Every time I saw David he had a smile on his face. He was a great person, good-natured and very bright," Wade said. "We are all shocked and saddened by the loss of one of our students. I will always...

With 15 miles (25km) of pristine, undeveloped beachfront property in southern California, it is difficult to imagine wanting to live anywhere else. But for many of the marines at Camp Pendleton, one place beckons above all others. "Afghanistan," says Lance Cpl Alejandra Esqueda, when asked where she would like to be deployed next. "I actually look forward to it. I'm hopefully going to Afghanistan to finish what we got to do there… I've already been to Iraq. Afghanistan is the new place to be." Thirst for action Lance Cpl Esqueda is one of hundreds of marines on the beach preparing...

A resident will take his first step into the ethical morass of war tonight...with a cinematic debut that explores “what you have to do to come home alive.” In April 2006, amid heavy fighting, seven Marines and one Navy corpsman were given orders to capture a known insurgent in the Iraqi village of Hamdania, located west of Baghdad. The group kidnapped and killed the insurgent’s cousin, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, instead. The eight involved in the incident — the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment Kilo Company — became known as the Pendleton 8 and were held at Camp Pendleton before charges...

Most people who lose a leg dream of walking again. For adaptive athlete Jarem Frye, the inventor of a spring-loaded prosthetic knee transforming the lives of amputees, that wasn't nearly enough. He wanted to fly. Jarem Frye at his office in Mcminnville, Oregon (Photograph by Annie Marie Musselman) WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE a military propaganda video showing footage of U.S. Marines on patrol—protecting an Iraqi neighborhood from insurgents—now lives on the Internet, where you can see Garrett Jones's last steps as a whole-bodied man. The 15-second clip, shot in July 2007 in the city of Karmah, is poor in...

With political and public attention once again focused on the sacrifices made by our military in Afghanistan, it's more important than ever to remember American heroes who set an example for us all. In this first cradle-to-grave biography of Colonel John W. Ripley, author Norman Fulkerson tells the extraordinary life story of a Marine Corps hero of legendary stature; the selfless leader of combat troops and embodiment of "Semper Fi." "If a young officer or Marine ever asks what is the meaning of Semper Fidelis," Col. Ripley once told a friend, "tell them my story." This is his story!

I have to say I am outraged tonight. One of my closest friends on this planet said good bye to her 19 year old son tonight as he is shipping off from Cherry Point on Friday in N.C. to Afghanistan...in Helmand to be exact which is in the southern portion of the toilet for a country. This will be his first tour ever and tonight he was telling me how he had to spend over $3,000.00 on his own armor and gear to leave with. That the clips for his weapons that he was issued didn't even fit the weapons...

Armed Forces hits recruiting goalsMilitary Recruitment Hits 35 Year High 10-19-09 Last Update: 7:47 pm Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - For the first time in 35 years, all branches of the military met their recruiting goals for 2009. The Army had more than 70,000 people sign up; the Navy had close to 36,000; the Marine Corps got 31,000 new recruits and the Air Force came in with close to 32,000. The high unemployment rate, coupled with increased education costs, is at the heart of the successful recruiting campaign. Recruiting tactics haven't changed. Recruiters still work hard to reach people, especially at high...

<p>PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) - Willard Varnell Oliver, a member of the Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, died Wednesday. He was 88.</p> <p>Lawrence Oliver said his father died at the Northern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System Hospital in Prescott, Ariz. He had been declining health for the past two years.</p>

PRESCOTT, Ariz. – Willard Varnell Oliver, a member of the Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, died Wednesday. He was 88. ... Oliver was part of an elite group of Navajo Marines who confused the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in Navajo. The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. Their work was declassified in 1968. Oliver, who grew up between Shiprock and Farmington, N.M., served in the South Pacific with the 2nd Marine Division...

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Oct. 14, 2009 – Marines here have brought new meaning to the expression “goat rope” by helping local farmers with free veterinary care for their goats, sheep and cows. A girl waits her turn to have her cow treated during a veterinary civil affairs project in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Oct. 9, 2009. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment and 4th Civil Affairs Group provided free medical care for more than 700 cows, goats and sheep. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Scott Whittington  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Marines from 4th Civil Affairs Group, attached...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine reservist convicted in the death of an Iraqi soldier has had his conviction overturned by a military appeals court. The three-judge panel ruled last week that 22-year-old Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes' conviction should be overturned because the judge who presided over his original hearing at Camp Pendleton erred in his instructions to jurors. Holmes, of Indianapolis, was tried in the 2006 stabbing death of Pvt. Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin in Fallujah. A Marine jury convicted Holmes of negligent homicide and making a false official statement in December 2007, but acquitted him of unpremeditated homicide....

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is long gone; Rick Warren, just an Inauguration Day memory. The hordes of ministers around town who were hoping they'd somehow wind up with the first family in their pews have (mostly) given up. The president has been pastorless for quite a while now. Well, sort of. Seventy miles from Washington's prying eyes, Barack Obama has been attending church from time to time at Camp David, where services are led by a 39-year-old Navy chaplain with a famous last name, a compelling life story and a fervent belief in a God who works miracles. Carey Cash,...

KOTALAK, Afghanistan (AFP) – An elderly Afghan woman, her hair dyed red and a black shawl draped over her shoulders, shouts as she aims a gun at US Marines who are arresting her husband as a suspected Taliban insurgent. A Marine points his assault rifle at her and is ready to pull the trigger until the woman drops her rusty pistol. Members of the 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines, accompanied by Afghan soldiers, were sweeping villages for militants early this week as part of Operation Germinate. The aim of the operation was to reduce the threat of home-made bombs -- ...(IEDs)...

Burial of an American Lady Written by Norman Fulkerson    Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Colonel Ripley often referred to Moline as his "queen." On September 25, 2009, a small group of family and friends said their final farewell to Moline Blaylock Ripley. She died at her home in Annapolis, Md., on Saturday, September 12, 2009 at the age of 68. Moline was born in Bluefield, W.Va., on Pearl Harbor day, December 7, 1941, to Arnold Vincent and Edna Pais Blaylock. Her family eventually moved to Radford, Va. where she attended Radford High School and later went on to graduate...

Speaking to a respected Hispanic leader in KCK, Dennis Moore reportedly called decorated and disabled Marine Veteran and Congressional Opponent "White Trash" in a recent (recorded) telephone conversation. The KCK leader, who has formally supported the incumbent congressman, is supporting Daniel Gilyeat's candidacy for the Kansas 3rd District Congressional seat. Dennis Moore called the KCK man after hearing the Hispanic community leader's support had changed. Dennis Moore said he had $7 million for the campaign and could not believe the naturalized citizen was supporting "White Trash" over Moore.