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KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — Leaving Camp Leatherneck for the last time as a journalist who traveled there half a dozen times over the years, I felt a mix of pride and relief, sadness and uncertainty, emotions all tempered with disbelief that our long war in Afghanistan is at an end. Photojournalist Nelvin C. Cepeda and I are en route home to San Diego, flying with Camp Pendleton Marines who were among the last international forces to pull out of Helmand province. :snip:For the many troops who served at Camp Leatherneck or cycled through to smaller bases, as well as...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Shocked and offended by explicit questions, some U.S. servicemen and women are complaining about a new sexual-assault survey that hundreds of thousands have been asked to complete.</p> <p>The survey is conducted every two years. But this year's version, developed by the Rand Corp., is unusually detailed, including graphically personal questions on sexual acts.</p>

TIJUANA — A Mexican federal district judge in Tijuana on Friday ordered the immediate release of a U.S. Marine veteran behind bars in Baja California on federal weapons charges.

President Barack Obama marked a milestone Sunday on the way to one of the most important, controversial, and riskiest promises of his presidency: winding down the American-led coalition's combat role in Afghanistan in preparation for ending the long war there next year. American and British combat operations formally came to an end in Helmand Province, one of the bloodiest theaters in the U.S.-led war against the Taliban and a primary focus of Obama's 2010 surge of tens of thousands of American reinforcements charged with beating back the revitalized insurgency. But there were no White House statements issued Sunday to commemorate...

Just weeks after three women passed a rigorous day-long test qualifying them to potentially lead US Marine infantrymen for the first time in history, news came that all three women have been asked to leave the course. They were physically disqualified from the training last week for falling behind in hikes while carrying loads of upwards of 100 pounds, says Maj. George Flynn, director of the Infantry Officers Course (IOC) at Quantico, Va.

On October 23, USMC Lance Corporal Sean P. Neal died in Baghdad. He was the second Marine to die in October in the fight against ISIS. Neal was from Riverside, California. He joined the Marines in 2013. According to the Marine Corps Times, Neal was one of approximately 2,300 Marines assigned to "the crisis response unit for US Central Command." He was supporting efforts to combat ISIS when he was died. Precise details surrounding his death have not been released, but the DOD does say it was a "noncombat incident."

The 31st Beirut Memorial Observance Ceremony will be held at the Beirut Memorial in the Lejeune Memorial Gardens aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. Thursday, October 23, at 10:30 a.m. The special ceremony will honor the fallen service members and survivors who served in Lebanon from 1958 to 1984 and in Grenada. Major General Richard L. Simcock, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade commanding general, is scheduled to deliver the Beirut memorial address. Scheduled from Oct 23 2014 10:30 AM EDT to Oct 23 2014 12:00 PM EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- The U.S. military turned over a Marine suspect in the gruesome killing of a transgender Filipino to the Philippine military's main camp in the capital Wednesday, easing a looming irritant over his custody, officials said. Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton had been detained on board the USS Peleliu at the Subic Bay Freeport, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Manila, after he was implicated in the death of 26-year-old Jennifer Laude, whose former name was Jeffrey....

The U.S. Marines who guarded the sprawling complex in northwest Iraq where Saddam Hussein’s 1980s war machine churned out some of the most deadly chemical and biological weapons known to man had a name for one especially mysterious bunker: The Dragon’s Egg. Although the Americans assigned to the Al Muthanna facility until 2008 were forbidden by superiors from peering inside the bunker, they knew the larger complex’s history. From 1983 to 1990, the brutal dictator’s scientists worked there, developing mustard, sarin, VX and Tabun gases for use on Iranian soldiers and Iraqi Kurds. And although it was under the control...

Arlington Now seems to be the best / original news source of this story: BREAKING: Possible Ebola Case at the Pentagon News by ARLnow.com — October 17, 2014 at 10:05 am 48,316 195 Comments (Updated at 12:30 p.m.) Arlington County’s hazmat team is on the scene at the Pentagon due to an possible Ebola case on a tour bus. Medics responded to the Pentagon this morning for a report of a woman on a bus who was sick and vomiting. When they learned that she had recently arrived from Africa, the hazmat team was called out of “a complete abundance...

Jacob Sprinkle had been tied to the Marine Corps since birth, born little more than a short 13 years ago on November 10 — the Marine Corps' birthday. Sadly, Jacob would never live to serve in the Corps, but now, in death, he bears the title of "Marine." More than 100 guests filled the Jonesville, Virginia Lee County High School auditorium tonight to participate in a ceremony posthumously honoring Jacob with the title “Honorary Marine,” an award less than 100 people have ever been recognized with. Nine months prior, friends and family gathered to grieve after his death, tonight they...

"The message of the Sikh faith, although peaceful, has a strong theme of justice and upholding human rights running through it." My dear friend's cousin, Major Kamaljit Khalsi, will be going in front of congress to fight for Sikhs Service in the US Military. We need 100,000 signatures but are only at 5700. Please sign the petition and please share with your friends and family to help everyone. This isn't only for Sikhs but anyone from different faiths that look to join and serve their country." To: We, the undersigned individuals, respectfully call on your Administration to give devout Sikh...

WASHINGTON — A Marine quick reaction force based in Spain will inject a shot of airlift capability into U.S. efforts to fight an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The 100 Marines and sailors from the Special Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response Africa, based in Morón, Spain, were scheduled to pass through Senegal late Wednesday and land Thursday in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. Some 3,200 soldiers will arrive in Liberia late this month to set up treatment centers and help with logistics in the fight against the deadly virus, but the small, fast-moving team of Marines...

MONROVIA, Liberia - Six U.S. military planes arrived in the Ebola hot zone Thursday with more Marines, as West Africa's leaders pleaded for the world's help in dealing with "a tragedy unforeseen in modern times." The fleet that landed outside the Liberian capital of Monrovia consisted of four MV-22 Ospreys and two KC-130s. The 100 additional Marines bring to just over 300 the total number of American troops in the country, said Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the commander leading the U.S. response. Williams joined U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Deborah Malac at the airport to greet the aircraft, which arrived...

The Pentagon is deploying 100 troops from a special Marine response force to West Africa to help fight the Ebola outbreak. "These personnel will arrive in Senegal tonight and in Liberia tomorrow," said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby at a briefing on Wednesday. The 100 troops — mostly Marines, along with some Navy corpsmen — are part of a force of up to 3,600 U.S. troops that could deploy to West Africa to help efforts to stem the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. The outbreak has so far claimed more than 3,000 lives and could infect 1.4...

Veteran Neglect: A Navy and Marine Corps veteran asks a House panel why an administration that says it leaves no one behind has let a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder sit in a Mexican jail for six months. From the famous "latte salute" to the Marine holding the presidential umbrella, President Obama's respect for our men in uniform has been open to question. Unless, of course, they desert their post in Afghanistan to try to join the Taliban, like Bowe Bergdahl. Then you have the parents to the White House and trade the Taliban general staff to obtain their release....

The exact timing or locations of the deployment is unclear, but will happen some time next year. The United States Marine Corps will send 2,100 troops to Kuwait as part of a new special unit designed to respond to crises in the region, a mission that officials claim was planned before the U.S. began conducting air strikes in the region. The new Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) Central Command will be deployed in Kuwait to conduct what it calls “theater sustainment missions,” according to Brigadier General John Love, according to news reports on Monday. It will also be equipped...

Microsoft has made the Kinect motion detection sensor available for use in commercial and non-gaming scenarios for some time, but for some reason it hasn't really caught on. We've heard next to no stories about people using it, although it could always be that they are keeping quiet for a competitive advantage. But a military contractor has come up with something that has the U.S. Marine Corps interested. The Augmented Reality Sand Table is currently being developed by the Army Research Laboratory and was on display at the Modern Day Marine Expo that recently took place on Marine Corps Base...

By now, everyone has seen the pictures of President Obama’s “latte salute,” where he walked off Air Force One and couldn’t even be bothered to switch his cup to his other hand while lazily saluting the Marines at the bottom of the airplane stairs. The Obama apologists are dismissing the criticism, calling it “ridiculousness.” Perhaps the president meant it as an insult; perhaps not. But we know the president is vain – after all, he has already written two books about himself – and he’s also very stage-aware. He knew what he was doing. President Obama was striking a pose....

Should he have switched hands? Dropped the cup? Not drank the coffee? Declared war on coffee growers? Any way, the right woulda whacked him.Since his inauguration, Republicans have criticized President Obama for everything. For launching military strikes. For not launching military strikes. For taking vacations. For being too uptight. For fist-bumping. For being too detached. You name it. Progressives and those who simply like fair-minded political debate have alleged that the actual facts of President Obama’s actions are irrelevant, that Republicans who were determined to oppose everything the president did from Day One would criticize his every move no matter...