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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (March 17, 2006) -- A Pacolet Mills, S.C., native was honored in a ceremony March 14 for his actions against enemy forces during combat operations in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar. First Lt. Jeffery T. Lee was awarded the Silver Star Medal here for his actions as 3rd Platoon commander, Company A, 2nd Tank Battalion from Nov. 8 to Nov. 11, 2004 in Fallujah. Then a 2nd Lt. Attached to Company C, Lee accepted great tactical risk and continued to engage and destroy the enemy for more than 12 hours despite being low...

TALIFAR, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 24, 2006) – Officers of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade saw the need for a unit whose mission was dedicated to recovering aircraft that had been downed anywhere within the brigade’s area of operation. The problem was, no such specialized unit existed within the Army, so the 96th Aviation Support Battalion had to create one. “I wanted a platoon with DART (Downed Aircraft Recovery Team) and Aviation Support Operations within the company as its primary mission, not as additional duties,” said Maj. Joseph Croccito, Company B commander, 96th ASB, “so I pulled from within...

BALAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 22, 2005) – A unique group of Soldiers are reeling in weapons caches and improvised explosive devices from the streets of Balad … They were the last platoon from their company to start doing patrols. Composed of cooks, communication specialists, medics and a couple of infantry guys, the Soldiers of the Cobra Black One platoon, Company C, 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment initially took to the streets outside of Logistical Support Area Anaconda with not much of a mission. “We were like the black sheep of the battalion,” said Sgt. Alika Naluai, Co. C...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Oct. 13, 2005) -- Nestled amongst the abundance of tents here is a place where nothing short of miracles are performed at the hands of skillful individuals. This rag tag platoon is an assortment of doctors, nurses and hospital corpsman from all over the country. The members of the Surgical/Shock Trauma Platoon, Combat Logistics Regiment 25, 2nd Force Service Support Group (Forward), are an elite group of Marines and sailors designed to take the most serious of emergency medical patients from all over the area of operation. The platoon’s battle is not on the kinetic battle field,...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2005) -- The CH-46 D/E Sea Knight helicopter is one of the Marine Corps’ most valuable assets, providing expedient transportation of critical cargo loads as well as providing troop transportation. Because of the valuables these high-powered machines carry, as well as their importance in military efforts such as the Global War on Terrorism, inspections must be conducted continuously to ensure the safety of the passengers and crew. The Marines who conduct these inspections are called non-destructive inspections technicians. Their job is to perform non-destructive testing of various metals in aircraft structures and...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Aug. 19, 2005) -- When deployments come to an end, most Marines are happy they made it through the grueling months free of injury, but Marines from one platoon have much more to celebrate. They have not only exceeded their mission, but personal goals as well. Motor Transport Platoon, 8th Communication Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II MEF (Forward), recently achieved at 100 percent readiness in maintenance and operations. The Marines of the platoon, which redeploy this month, have completed 66 convoys and driven over 56,000 accident-free miles to various outlying sites and escorting truck...

After more than 40 wars, Dale Dye knows his stuff--and those are just the battles he has fought in films. The veteran of Platoon , Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers began his military-movie-consulting career after racking up three Purple Hearts in the Marines in Vietnam. At age 60, he tweaks scripts, whips actors into shape, directs, and acts; he plays himself on HBO's Entourage, training the main character to be "Aquaman." Not only does he appear as a general in The Great Raid, starring Benjamin Bratt and based on the World War II mission to save 500 American...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 14, 2005 — The 226th Quartermaster Company’s Petroleum Oil and Lubricants platoon took over the 27th Mobile Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division fuel push duties in late February of this year and is still going strong. It pushes Jet Propulsion fuel, type 8, to various bases throughout the greater Baghdad area of operations. "The missions give us a feeling of distinction; we know that what we do is unique. It helps us stick together as a platoon," U.S. Army Spc. Christopher L. King To date, the Petroleum Oil and Lubricants platoon has received more than 2 million...

Today, the terms "the West" and "Western" can refer to America alone, to America and her former European allies, or even simply to white folks. The terms are successors to the terms "Europe" and "European."Most Americans under the age of 40 know little about Europe, and have only the most tenuous relation to the Old World. What they do know, however, is that we bailed the Western Europeans out of two world wars, and then saved them from communism.And yet, today our relationship to Europe, even the concept of "Europe," is typically exaggerated here at home. American socialist writers...

The communications platoon from Headquarters Company, 6th Marine Regiment, held a two-day communications exercise, or CommEx, recently at Camp Bulldog here. First Lt. Greg A. Lizak, a Belmont, Calif., native, said communications "is not like flicking on a light switch and everything starts working. We have to adjust equipment and practice with it." Sgt. Javier Perez, assistant wire chief, said the Marines configured communications equipment to meet the requirements of potential future operations. "We used the CommEx to determine what settings are right for our systems," the San Juan, Puerto Rico, native said. The Marines set up and tested satellite...

I am not a Spaniard. Somewhere, on March 12, I saw the headline, "We are All Spaniards Now." It was an allusion to the Le Monde headline from 9/12, "We are All Americans Now."As we now know, that initial French (and German) sympathy for America was short-lived. In no time flat, the Old Europe of France and Germany sought to appease Islamism, and while claiming to be our allies, to betray us at every step of the way.Not so, the Spaniards. The 1,300 troops they sent to Iraq were largely a symbolic matter, but the symbolism was powerful.After 911, when...