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If you still wondered what kind of opposition POTUS Donald Trump faces on a daily basis to any and all of his efforts to staunch the flow of illegal immigration and regain operational control over our southwest border, this will serve as just the latest example. In a highly improper and extremely controversial move, the Marine Corps’ top commander, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller, let a pair of internal memos leak to NBC News and the Los Angeles Times in an attempt to embarrass his commander-in-chief over is decision to shift some Pentagon funding to border wall...

Lance Corporal Jacob Miles Lagoze was deployed to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012 as a combat camera in the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. He was assigned to shoot and edit footage of the combat for media networks, recruitment videos, and other propaganda.The United States had already been at war in Afghanistan for seven years when he enlisted in 2008. Three years later, along with Marine cameraman Justin Loya, Lagoze had filmed what the Corps wanted. “But then we kept shooting,” he said.After his service time in the Helmand province, Lagoze took his footage and arranged a 70-minute documentary, “Combat...

Exactly 233 years ago this week, two of America’s founding fathers documented their first exposure to Islamic jihad in a letter to Congress; like many Americans today, they too were shocked at what they learned. Context: in 1785, Muslim pirates from North Africa, or “Barbary,” had captured two American ships, the Maria and Dauphin, and enslaved their crews. In an effort to ransom the enslaved Americans and establish peaceful relations, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams -- then ambassadors to France and England respectively -- met with Tripoli’s ambassador to Britain, Abdul Rahman Adja. Following this diplomatic exchange, they laid out...

Memo: Marines Forced to Cut Readiness to Pay For Hurricane Damage, Unplanned Expenses By: Megan Eckstein Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller speaks with a Marine during an exercise in Bridgeport, Calif., Feb. 11, 2019. Gen. Neller observed mountain warfare cold weather training and discussed ways to optimize training. This post has been updated to include a statement from Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. The Marine Corps is facing “fiscal challenges without precedent” this year due to unexpected expenses forced on the small service by the Pentagon, the White House and Congress, and the commandant is looking...

The commandant of the Marines has warned the Pentagon that deployments to the southwest border and funding transfers under the president’s emergency declaration, among other unexpected demands, have posed “unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency.” In two internal memos, Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said the “unplanned/unbudgeted” deployment along the border that President Donald Trump ordered last fall, and shifts of other funds to support border security, had forced him to cancel or reduce planned military training in at least five countries, and delay urgent repairs at bases. The border deployment and funding transfers, as well as...

BRIDGEPORT, Calif. Authorities in California searched for a sixth day Saturday for a missing Marine after he failed to return from a backcountry skiing trip through the Sierra Nevada. First Lt. Matthew Kraft began trekking a section of the rugged Sierra High Route on Feb. 23 and was scheduled to complete it on Monday or Tuesday near Bridgeport, a town northeast of Yosemite National Park, 1st Marine Capt. Paul Gainey said. Kraft is an infantry officer who received survival training in the field. "He has the skills to survive in austere environments, and we're hoping for the best here," Gainey...

A celebrated book and a major museum exhibition revealed the harrowing tale behind the image of a wounded Marine. Their version was wrong. ============================================================== The fighting in Hue City, Vietnam, was as intense and confusing as anything the Marines there had ever seen. It was mid-February 1968, and American and South Vietnamese forces were desperately trying to counter a surprise onslaught that became known as the Tet offensive. First Battalion, Fifth Marines had breached the city’s historic Citadel. Radio communications were out. From front-line positions, Marines ran back a block or two to give updates to commanding officers and to...

Don’t Let Anyone Tell You that We Never Leave a Fallen Comrade Behind, There’s Too Much Proof Otherwise July 15, 2018 Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman, USMC - (left) a painting (not included) not long after being commissioned as a 2LT - (right) Bonnyman's remains approximately 75 years later found on Tarawa Atoll in the South Pacific The Battle of Tarawa was a battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II fought on 20–23 November 1943. It took place at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. It’s estimated...

Washington, D.C. Antifa leader Joseph “Jose” Alcoff, also known as “Chepe,” was arrested and charged with multiple felonies in Philadelphia on Jan. 10 in connection to the Antifa mob attack against two Marines in November. Alcoff faces 17 charges, including multiple counts of aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation, conspiracy and terroristic threats, and one count of robbery while inflicting serious bodily injury. An affidavit filed in the case reveals that The Daily Caller News Foundation’s reporting on Alcoff’s connection to violent Antifa groups was an integral factor leading to his arrest.

It has been more than two months since two United States Marines said they were assaulted in Philadelphia by a “mob” just blocks from the controversial We the People Rally, and now a third man has been charged in the attack. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has charged 37-year-old Washington, D.C., resident Joseph Alcoff with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation, and conspiracy — all felonies — among other charges. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently out on bail. Alcoff joins codefendants Tom Keenan and Thomas Massey in the case. Both Keenan and Massey were arrested at the end of...

A cocky female Soldier who thought she could “whoop any Marine” at her Forward Operating Base in Iraq was given a lesson in what a real boxing match looks like- and was a sore loser afterward. A video shows the female Soldier -who allegedly said she could beat any Marine at the Iraq-based FOB- square up against a male US Marine, who seemed more than comfortable taking her on. The Soldier learned a valuable lesson that day, though it isn’t known how much of that lesson was retained after the Marine knocked her around like a ragdoll.

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va. – R. Lee Ermey, the actor and former U.S. Marine drill instructor who achieved iconic status after appearing in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday.

R. Lee Ermey will be laid to rest with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery at 10:00 a.m. January 18, 2019. Ronald Lee Ermey (Gunnery Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket and reality TV) was born in Kansas but moved to the Yakima Valley in his early teens going to schools in Granger while the rest of his family attended classes in Zillah. A feisty kid with a penchant for getting into trouble, when he was 17, a judge offered him juvenile detention or the military. Ermey chose the Marines. You may recall he died back in April but his Arlington Cemetery...

The Obama-era policy of integrating women into ground combat units is a misguided social experiment that threatens military readiness and wastes resources in the service of a political agenda. The next defense secretary should end it. In September 2015 the Marine Corps released a study comparing the performance of gender-integrated and male-only infantry units in simulated combat. The all-male teams greatly outperformed the integrated teams, whether on shooting, surmounting obstacles or evacuating casualties. Female Marines were injured at more than six times the rate of men during preliminary training—unsurprising, since men’s higher testosterone levels produce stronger bones and muscles. Even...

I hope this sort of shameless vanity post is OK... let me know if not. Some of you may recall a friend of mine, a retired USMC col, who went on Fox News and Fox Business and elsewhere after he wrote a scathing letter to Roger Goodell about the NFL kneelers in 2017: YouTube Now, he's done a video in support of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion Association... for anyone who may be interested. "Founded to foster connections, fellowship, social communications and support to those Marines, Sailors and the families who have served, are serving or have supported, the...

The United States Marine Corps (All Hail Chesty Puller. Oorah!) is making a bit of history today. When the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion of aspiring Marines began training at Parris Island this morning it included one all-female platoon, complete with female drill instructors. The rest of the platoons will be composed of men. The details are complicated and it’s not 100% integration for all activities, but the battalion will definitely be mixing the genders for a number of activities as they move through basic training. (The Hill) At training starting Saturday, one of the battalions at the Recruit Depot...

For the first time in its history, the Marine Corps will integrate female and male platoons during boot camp. Unlike the other services, the Marine Corps has not fully integrated women and men during recruit training. Instead, at Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, the first three battalions are all-male, while the fourth battalion is all-female. "On January 5, 2019, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, will start their training cycle with one female platoon and five male platoons," the Marine Corps said in a statement Friday, first reported by ABC News. While the change is...

….The details of the charges against Whelan from a special court-martial that resulted in his discharge for bad conduct two years later add to an increasingly complex picture of the 48-year-old former Marine, whom Russian officials have accused of spying. His case grew more perplexing on Friday after Ireland became the fourth nation to acknowledge him as a citizen and seek consular access.

A tribute to those who have fallen and those who honor them. http://www.espn.com/core/video/iframe?id=25231107&endcard=false

Another Philadelphia man who is believed to be active in the Antifa movement has turned themselves in to face charges related to an alleged assault and robbery near the 'We the People' rally in Old City on Nov. 17. Thomas Massey, 32, of West Philadelphia, surrendered on Nov. 28 to face charges for the alleged incident on the 100 block of Chestnut Street, in which a group of U.S. Marine reservists some blocks from the rally they were assaulted by a group of men and women calling them "Nazis" and "white supremacists." One complainant said their phone was stolen.(snip)...