Free Republic

TAMPA — Ethan Arbelo will make it onto the “Wall of Fame” after all. The 12-year-old boy’s mom, Maria Maldonado, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, has one kitchen wall covered with photos of friends and relatives who have served in the Marines — brothers Joe, Randy and Edward, cousin Ray, uncle James, Parris Island boot camp buddy Shannon, and Maldonado herself. “In my family, we pass on our love for the Marine Corps to the next generation,” Maldonado said. “He’s been groomed for it since birth. That’s been one of the big disappointments when he got sick — he said,...

... There are allegations that the Marines' top officer, Gen. James Amos, illegally interfered with the judicial proceedings in an effort to ensure harsher penalties. Amos spoke about the video and other incidents last year during a worldwide tour of Marine bases. And in a written statement after the video came to light, he said the Marine Corps would not rest until the allegations were resolved. He appointed a senior officer, Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, to investigate. Waldhauser said Amos told him he wanted those involved "crushed" and kicked out of the Marine Corps. ... A Marine lawyer, Maj. James...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRBwNgfVL58#t=80 This is the amazing story of the OEF enduring tribute for our 89 fallen heroes that traveled from sea to shining sea; Vermont to San Mateo and was finally unveiled in the 5th Marine Memorial Park at the journey's end. The OEF Monument, built by "Rock of Ages Corporation" in Graniteville, Vermont, was made possible by the generous outreach of so many "Friends of the Fifth," Adoptive Cities, and Marine Supporters. Please allow the time to watch this documentary. The 10 day journey of the OEF Monument to San Mateo, home of the 5th Marine Regiment, was delivered by...

There's a big story getting passed around in military circles and beyond from The New York Post that President Obama wants the Marines to start wearing 'girly' caps... As a Marine veteran who knows how these changes actually happen, I can tell you the story is 100% B.S. The bottom line: The President doesn't involve himself in what troops happen to be wearing... "The President in no way, shape, or form directed the Marine Corps to change our uniform cover," said Capt. Maureen Krebs, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps. "We're looking for a new cover for our female Marines...

Despite what you may have seen in other headlines, there will be no change to the male uniform cover. Straight from the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James F. Amos: 1. The President in no way, shape or form directed the Marine Corps to change our uniform cover. 2. We are looking for a new cover for our female Marines for one overriding reason: the former manufacturer went out of business. 3. The Marine Corps has zero intention of changing the male cover.

The Marine Corps is contemplating a uniform change that would create a unisex service cap. The Marines are also exploring whether to have women use a slightly modified version of the hat used by male Marines instead of the distinctive “bucket cap” they now wear. If the unisex design is chosen it would be the first change to that part of the Marine uniform since 1922. A Marine official says that recently the Marine Corps Uniform Board, comprised of non-commissioned officers and officers, discussed a change in the headgear known as a “cover” as a means of streamlining uniform rules...

<p>A change to the Marine Corps’ uniform hats could take the hard-nosed Leathernecks from the Halls of Montezuma to the shops of Christopher Street.</p> <p>“We don’t even have enough funding to buy bullets, and the DoD is pushing to spend $8 million on covers that look like women’s hats!”</p>

A change to the Marine Corps’ uniform hats could take the hard-nosed Leathernecks from the Halls of Montezuma to the shops of Christopher Street. Thanks to a plan by President Obama to create a “unisex” look for the Corps, officials are on the verge of swapping out the Marines’ iconic caps with a new hat that some have derided as so “girly” that they would make the French blush.

Oct. 23, 2013, marks the 30th anniversary of the Beirut Bombing. 241 American and 58 French service members were killed when two trucks filled with explosives crashed into the two barracks buildings. One of the 300 service members who lived in the building shares the story of the attack, his survival and how he lives with the memories.

Col. Daren Margolin has been relieved as head of Security Battalion at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. (Marine Corps) The two-star head of Marine Corps Installations Command has relieved the commanding officer of Quantico’s Security Battalion following an incident involving a personal weapon, Marine Corps officials said. Col. Daren Margolin, a 24-year officer was removed from his post Oct. 18 by Maj. Gen. Juan Ayala due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command, said Capt. Maureen Krebs, a Marine Corps spokeswoman. Krebs said the decision stemmed from a single incident last week involving one of Margolin’s personal...

The Marines send a not so subtle message to the government.

Another open-air memorial in the Washington area is closed and barricaded off: the Iwo Jima Memorial, just across the bridge from D.C. in Rosslyn, Virginia. A source sends along this picture of the barricade set-up at the memorial, which is also called the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial: "I took the picture yesterday afternoon. Those barricades had been there at least a day. People can still walk into the Memorial area, but for many elderly and disabled vets, it is important they be driven and park right next to the statue," the person who took this picture emails. "There has...

CAMP PENDLETON — A large fire on Camp Pendleton Saturday afternoon prompted evacuations at the base hospital and some housing, and sent up an enormous plume of black smoke that could be seen halfway across the county. The blaze broke out about 12:45 p.m. near Lake O’Neil and caused minor damage to four buildings, base officials said. Thirty-two patients were transported to hospitals off base during the fire. No new patients were being accepted late in the afternoon because of a power outage, officials said. Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside took five intensive care and emergency room patients. Naval Medical...

A 26-year-old U.S. Marine veteran, who for the past 325 days has been running across America to raise awareness and support for veterans and their families, suffered a concussion along with a bloodied and bruised face after a stranger assaulted him in Wilmington, Delaware on Wednesday. According to former Marine Sergeant Brendan O’Toole, the unprovoked attack on a downtown street was precipitated by nothing more than a “simple hello and how are you doing.”

Yeah, it’s Army camo. Tell it to the Marines.Bad Pentagon civilian leadership brings about one of two outcomes — really principled, good uniformed leaders emerge, or really corrupt, bad ones. USMC Commandant General James Amos is cementing his image as a really corrupt, bad one by attempts to ‘crush’ Major James Weirick. Weirick is the JAG whistleblower whose revelations about Amos’s perseverating Unlawful Command Influence led to the prosecution giving up on a case — we covered that prosecution collapse last month, and have further coverage (Google search) of the Case of the Micturating Marines. Maj. Weirick, a staff judge...

Retired Marine "Disgusted Devil Dog" comments on my earlier post on "Marine Corps whistleblower faces vengeance from superiors." This is the unvarnished truth. Today's headlines on the Gen. Amos' firing two Marine generals have pushed from the front pages the media spotlight on his own serious problems involving his personal, blatantly illegal command influence in the case of a few Marines urinating on some Taliban corpses. (Why Amos did not allow this case to be handled by non-judicial punishment at the battalion level is a question that we can only hope future historians of the Corps' time in Afghanistan will...

WASHINGTON – Citing a failure to adequately protect their troops from Taliban attackers who penetrated Camp Bastion in Afghanistan last year, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos on Monday took the highly unusual step of firing a pair of two-star generals. The forced retirement of Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus and Maj. Gen. Gregg A. Sturdevant comes more than a year after the attack that killed two Marines, Sgt. Bradley Atwell and Lt. Col. Christopher Raible. The attackers also wounded eight and destroyed six Harrier jets during the assault on Sept. 14-15, 2012. Gurganus was commander of Regional...

The Marine Corps officer who filed a complaint against the commandant for intervening in the Taliban urination cases against eight Marines is now the target of reprisals from superiors, his attorney says. Retired Marine Col. Jane Siegel, who is representing Maj. James Weirick, said superiors have subjected the major to retaliations since it became known that he filed a whistleblower complaint against Gen. James Amos, the commandant and Joint Chiefs of Staff member. “Headquarters Marine Corps is undercutting a hero,” Col. Siegel said. “He did the right thing, and they are trying to bury it and him.” Maj. Weirick, a...

The commandant of the Marine Corps on Monday took the extraordinary step of firing two generals for not adequately protecting a giant base in southern Afghanistan that Taliban fighters stormed last year, resulting in the deaths of two Marines and the destruction of a half a dozen U.S. fighter jets. It is the first time since the Vietnam War that a general, let alone two, has been sacked for negligence after a successful enemy attack. But the assault also was unprecedented: Fifteen insurgents entered a NATO airfield and destroyed almost an entire squadron of Marine AV-8B Harrier jets, the largest...

“If everybody had arms then there wouldn’t be these problems…my son was at … Navy Yard yesterday (9/16/13) and they had weapons with them, but they didn’t have ammunition. And they said, ‘We were trained and if we had had the ammunition we could have cleared that building. Only three people had been shot at that time and they could have stopped the rest of it.’” No 2nd Amendment for the U.S. military? Only Liberals can take violating our Constitutional rights to beyond the absurd. So, Homeland Security gets a couple billion rounds of ammunition, but the military doesn’t get...