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Photographer Joe Rosenthal admitted that when he took a shot of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, he had no idea that he had captured something extraordinary. He was setting up for a different shot when he spotted the group of men planting the flag and quickly took a snap without even looking through the viewfinder. The chance photo would become iconic overnight and go on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

The U.S. Marine Corps will no longer require prospective officers to pass a punishing combat endurance test to graduate from the service’s Infantry Officer Course. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller quietly made the shift to standards in November, altering the test from a pass/fail requirement to just one of many exercises measured as part of overall IOC evaluation, the Marine Corps Times first reported on Thursday. The course is considered among the military’s toughest training programs, with about a quarter of all students failing to complete it, according to the Washington Post. Most of the 30-plus women who have...

Major who led unit calls for more public apology The United States Marine Corps has finally exonerated a group of special forces Marines accused of war crimes in connection to a 2007 ambush in Afghanistan. Major General Frederick M. Padilla, speaking on behalf of Commandant General Robert B. Neller, sent a letter to Rep. Walter Jones (R., N.C.) acknowledging that seven members of the Marine Corps' first special forces unit acted appropriately when they returned fire following a suicide bombing and ambush from enemy forces. Padilla quoted from a 2008 Marine Corps Court of Inquiry, saying the Marines "acted appropriately"...

CBS Minnesota Local WCCO reports that United States Marine Woody Williams will be representing a group of 15 Medal of Honor recipients at tonight’s Super Bowl LII between the New England Patriots and Philadephia Eagles. Williams, aged 94 years-old, will do the official coin toss to determine who starts the game with the ball.Williams said he hopes that the coin toss and the game will in some way unite the nation to “respect our country” and the flag.“To be honored in this way, it’s just almost like a miracle,” Williams said. “It really is because you don’t ever dream or...

What’s a guy got to do to get ahead around here? That is what the ambitious and hard-working U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton must be asking himself today — especially after U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy’s nationally televised speech Tuesday night. The way Moulton sees it, he does all the work and Kennedy, his rival, gets all the attention. Some feel that on a level-playing field it is Moulton who should have been chosen to give the official Democrat Party response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address — not Kennedy. Moulton, an Iraqi War veteran, has recruited some 19...

In his last phone call home, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. told his father what was troubling him: From his bunk in southern Afghanistan, he could hear Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to the base. “At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” the Marine’s father, Gregory Buckley Sr., recalled his son telling him before he was shot to death at the base in 2012. He urged his son to tell his superiors. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s...

I just got off the phone with my son. He and his brother enlisted together, went through basic training and now are at SOI. They are in week one. He told me about the weapons system upgrades the Marines are getting in the next few years. Both he and his brother were homeschooled and part of their curriculum was shooting. I bought of them AR’s when they were 10 and 11 years old, they are 15 months different in age. He told me they are getting better night vision, suppressed weapon systems, and upgraded rifles in the next few years....

With its official operational date fast approaching, Japan’s first Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade kicked off the bilateral Iron Fist 2018 exercise on Friday with an opening ceremony alongside its Marine Corps hosts. It wasn’t a time for long speeches. Over the next month, 350 soldiers with the Japan Ground Self Defense Force will train closely with Marines to hone skills that will run the gamut from amphibious reconnaissance and fire-and-maneuver assaults to close-air support and staff planning. They will fire mortars and artillery, land on beaches aboard rubber boats and assault craft and attack and defend “friendly” land from foes...

The U.S. Marine Corps has picked the Heckler & Koch M27 as its new infantry rifle. Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller confirmed the selection in an interview with Military.com. The new rifle is part of a wider overhaul of the Marines’ infantry gear. Jarheads are also getting new communications equipment, body armor, suppressors and night-vision optics.

American bravery, why we fight and God Bless these souls forever especially in this cold.

“The Battle of Chosin INSURMOUNTABLE ODDS. UNFORGIVING CONDITIONS. UNYIELDING COURAGE. Film Description On Thanksgiving Day 1950, American-led United Nations troops were on the march in North Korea. U.S. Marine and Air Force pilots distributed holiday meals, even to those on the front lines. Hopes were high that everyone would be home by Christmas. But soon after that peaceful celebration, American military leaders, including General Douglas MacArthur, were caught off guard by the entrance of the People's Republic of China, led by Mao Zedong, into the five-month-old Korean War. Twelve thousand men of the First Marine Division, along with a few...

Federal authorities on Friday charged a 26-year-old Modesto man with planning a terror attack on San Francisco’s Pier 39 after an undercover investigation that unfolded in recent weeks. Everitt Aaron Jameson, a tow-truck driver and discharged Marine, was charged in a criminal complaint filed at the U.S. District Court in Sacramento with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization — in this case the Islamic State. ...... Jameson explained that he also desired to use explosives and described a play in which explosives could ‘tunnel’ or ‘funnel’ people into a location where Jameson could inflict casualties,” McKinney...

A 95-year-old former Marine and his daughter took down a would-be robber, after the punk attempted to break down their back door and steal their money on the night of December 4, 2017. The man known simply as “Fred” told police his dog started barking late at night, alerting his attention to the back of the house. Then, he saw somebody trying to break through his back door.The World War II veteran was suddenly face-to-face with the alleged degenerate, Gary Wells. Wells is a 53-year-old West Allis, Wisconsin resident.   "I was almost standing nose to nose with him. That was...

“I wasn’t scared. I was so damn mad,” the veteran of the war in the Pacific told reporters. The 95-year-old was able to wrestle alleged burglar, Gary Wells, to the ground before the homeowner’s daughter ran downstairs to help fight the thief off. Fred’s motivated 51-year-old daughter Mary then took off after Wells, chasing the burglar for six blocks before catching and holding him for police. “I was mad because of what he did to my dad,” Mary said. “We jumped over two fences and ran through 12 yards,” the Marine’s daughter added.

Marine Corps Col. Wesley Fox, who received the Medal of Honor for successfully leading his company through an enemy attack during the Vietnam War and retired decades later at the mandatory age of 62, died the evening of Nov. 24 in Blacksburg, Va. He was 86. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society confirmed his death Monday but did not provide a cause. As a boy growing up in rural northern Virginia and watching his older cousins leave to fight in World War II, Fox always planned to join the military, he said in an interview preserved by the Library of...

The U.S. Navy has always been an innovator. It pioneered the Global Positioning System, developed nuclear propulsion, and deployed the first operational laser weapon. The recently commissioned USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is brimming with bleeding-edge technology. Its stealth design, Integrated Power System, and long-range gun firing capabilities make it the most sophisticated ship in the world. Likewise, the lead ship in the new carrier class USS Gerald R Ford (CVN-78) features many technological advances including an electromagnetic aircraft launch system. However, the Department of the Navy is not always in a rush to phase out and replace assets that continue to...

Has anyone heard of the Marines taking over CIA HQ in Langley last week?

link only due to copyright request

The remains of a World War II Marine who was killed in the South Pacific arrived at San Jose International Airport Friday to be returned to his family in Gilroy. The Masoni family has waited since 1943 for Frank Masoni to return home. Masoni was a Marine cook in the South Pacific but was sent into action and killed in the battle of Tarawa. His family thought his body was never recovered until the military conducted a DNA test matching it to an unknown Marine buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Turns out, it was...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/marine-drill-instructor-gets-10-years-for-abusing-recruits/ar-BBEPedt