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War On Terror: The head of U.S. Southern Command has warned lawmakers that IS is radicalizing converts and other Muslims in Latin America and could train and send them north via human traffickers. Gen. John Kelly issued his warning in a hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee on defense appropriations for fiscal 2016. He's concerned that in addition to the Iranian terrorist puppet Hezbollah being active in Latin America, the Islamic State is promoting and recruiting for jihad against the United States in the region. "Last year, IS adherents posted discussions on social media calling for the infiltration...

A man wearing a Marine T-shirt put his arms around an American flag-draped casket Thursday and hugged it. He was one of about 80 people drawn to Our Savior's Lutheran Church Thursday to pay their respects to Jerry Jackson. Many were strangers who didn't know the 58-year-old Marine veteran who died alone, his body found frozen in Indian Mounds Park last month. "That just was so damn tender," Tom Winner said after watching the embrace. Winner, an Air Force veteran who lives a couple of blocks from the St. Paul church, hadn't known Jackson but was moved to attend his...

Subject: Why the Marine Hymn Contain Shores of Tripoli"... Interesting bit of history. This may be one of the more informative history lessons you ever read. Why the Marine Hymn Contains the Verse "To the Shores of Tripoli" Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago the United States had declared war on Islam and Thomas Jefferson led the charge! At the height of the eighteenth century, Muslim pirates were the terror of the Mediterranean and a large area of the North Atlantic. They attacked every ship in sight, and held the crews for exorbitant...

The Marine Corps has authorized MARSOC operators to carry Glock pistols, since most of the elite outfit's members prefer the popular 9mm over the custom .45 pistols the service bought them in 2012. The Corps issued a Feb. 2 Marine Administrative Message, or MARADMIN, that green-lighted Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, or MARSOC, units to use the Glock 19, a proven design used by many units in U.S. Special Operations Command. The reliable, easy-to-maintain 9mm features a polymer frame and a 17-round magazine. The Marine Corps just completed an exhaustive search for a new MARSOC pistol in 2012. The...

When it comes to the historical knowledge and performance of marches, especially for those written by John Philip Sousa, the United States Marine Band is considered a prime resource. That’s why during the month of March, “The President’s Own” will be hosting “Sousa’s March Mania,” a tournament pitting 32 marches against each other for the Marine Band online community to determine which one is the favorite. Every day through April 6, marches will compete head to head while Marine Band friends and fans vote which ones advance in the tournament. Participants can listen to the competing marches below, download and...

The newly established Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has dispatched a remains recovery team to the Cambodian island of Koh Tang, where three Marines were left behind following the final battle of the Vietnam War. The excavation site is believed to hold the remains of Lance Cpl. Joseph Hargrove, Pfc. Gary Hall or Pvt. Danny Marshall, according to official documents from DPMAA’s predecessor, the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command. The three-man gun team was left behind in the confusion of a troop withdrawal following a brutal May 15, 1975, battle between about 200 U.S. Marines and entrenched...

April 20, 2012 SECNAV Boots Two Sergeants for Lying At Haditha Court-Martial Neal Puckett Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has ordered administrative separation processing of two squad members who testified against SSgt Wuterich in January and admitted lying to NCIS and on the stand about the November 2005 shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha.  During the January 2012 court-martial of the squad leader, SSgt Wuterich, Sgt’s Humberto M. Mendoza and Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified on the stand that they lied to NCIS during the investigation, the Article 32 investigations and withheld information.  Their motivation to do so was...

Eight suicide bombers managed Friday to get onto a sprawling Iraqi military base where hundreds of U.S. Marines are training their Iraqi counterparts, but were killed by an ISF counter attack almost immediately.

(Reuters) - Islamic State insurgents took control on Thursday of most of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, officials said. Al-Baghdadi, about 85 km (50 miles) northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, had been besieged for months by the radical Sunni Islamist militants who captured vast swathes of Iraq's north and west last year. "Ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district has fallen under the control of the insurgents," district manager Naji Arak told Reuters by phone. Militants attacked al-Baghdadi from two directions earlier in the day and then advanced on...

ISIS fighters seized most of Ramadi – where 300 US Marines are stationed training Iraqi Forces.Al-Asad base is near the city – where 300 Marines are stationed.The US Marines at Al-Asad airbase has been under frequent attack since January. But today ISIS seized large swaths of the city. UNCONFIRMED: There are initial reports of ISIS attack/capture of al-Asad air base in which there are over 300 U.S. marines— Chemi Shalev (@ChemiShalev) February 12, 2015 The al-Asad air base is near the town of al-Baghadai in Western Iraq, apparently captured a few hours ago by ISIS— Chemi Shalev (@ChemiShalev) February 12,...

HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS, WASHINGTON — The Marine Security Force left the American embassy in Yemen for the movement to the airfield as part of the "ordered departure" with only personal weapons. All crew served weapons were destroyed at the embassy prior to movement. None of them were 'handed over' in any way to anyone. The destruction of weapons at the embassy and the airport was carried out in accordance with an approved destruction plan. Upon arrival at the airfield, all personal weapons were rendered inoperable in accordance with advance planning. Specifically, each bolt was removed from its weapons body and...

Meghan Kelly just reported that Marines were ordered by the state department to remove clips and surrender weapons before leaving the Yemen Embassy. She reports that it is unprecedented, backed up by Jack Keene. Marines under that order are furious.

Houthi rebels took all U.S. Embassy vehicles parked at the Yemeni capital's airport and wouldn't allow departing U.S. Marines to take their weapons with them, a top airport official in Sanaa said Wednesday. The actions come after the United States, along with Britain, suspended operations at their respective embassies and moved out staffers because of the instability in the Arab nation.

Three Former Marine Corps Scout Snipers Talk About Their Profession As the movie American Sniper headed for wide release in mid-January, we checked in with three former Marine Corps snipers for their thoughts on the profession, how it changed them, America’s deadliest marksman Chris Kyle, and advice for aspiring snipers. Caylen Wojcik Former 1st Marine Division Scout Sniper School instructor; deployed as a chief sniper during Operation Iraqi Freedom II; over 100 combat missions; severely wounded by enemy rocket fire during Operation Phantom Fury; founded Central Cascade Precision; now with Magpul Dynamics. Jason Mann Twenty years in the USMC,...

Early in 1996, the Marine Corps started a new organization called the Commandant’s Warfighting Laboratory, later changed to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, which had the charter to lead the Corps in experimentation with new technologies, techniques, tactics and procedures. It was led by Colonel Tony Wood who was already established as one of the Corps’ most brilliant forward-thinkers and fuelled by a healthy science and technology budget and the full support of the Commandant, General Charles Krulak. The “Lab” quickly set out to test a broad range of emerging technologies along with advanced warfighting experiments. One of those experiments...

Center for Security Policy (CSP) official Tommy Waller, who fought against Islamic jihadists "on their turf" in Afghanistan and elsewhere, said his military training did not include instruction in the ideology of the enemy, a deliberate omission that puts America in "great peril." Waller, a Marine Reserve major, speaking via Skype at the National Press Club on Jan. 16, said he was speaking as an employee of the CSP, a conservative national security group in Washington, D.C., which released that day a new report, The Secure Freedom Strategy: A Plan for Victory Over the Global Jihad Movement. The plan, designed...

This is from Freedom OutPost. Mr Steven R. Hogan I applaud your backbone and your addressing the disgrace that Obama really is. I also greieve with you at the loss of your son and his comrades in arms. I also despise the way Barack Hussein Obama has tied the hands of the military with this bull shi@ rules of engagement. Barack Hussein Obama is strutting around, boasting of his ending the war in Afghanistan. However, let’s be reminded of one United States Marine’s father reply to a condolence letter from Obama, in which he rebuked the idiot-in-chief over the rules...

President Obama said there is “much to be thankful for” during Kwanzaa, which runs from Friday to Jan. 1, 2015. “Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. Today begins a celebration highlighting the rich African American heritage and culture through the seven principles of Kwanzaa — unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith,” Mr. Obama said Friday. The Kinara is the candleholder that is used in Kwanzaa, a holiday created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, who was born Ron Everett. He is now professor and chairman of the...

America’s $400 billion, top-of-the-line aircraft can’t see the battlefield all that well. Which means it’s actually worse than its predecessors at fighting today’s wars. When the Pentagon’s nearly $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finally enters service next year after nearly two decades in development, it won’t be able to support troops on the ground the way older planes can today. Its sensors won’t be able to see the battlefield as well; and what video the F-35 does capture, it won’t be able to transmit to infantrymen in real time. Versions of the new single-engine stealth fighter are set to...

Downtown Los Angeles might look like a scene out of “Call of Duty” next week, but military officials say don’t be alarmed. It’s a drill. Military helicopters will be buzzing over the downtown skyline. Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton armed with chalk-firing nonlethal rifles will converge at undisclosed locations in Los Angeles — all in an effort to get “urban realism” training. Military officials will not disclose exactly when the training will occur in Los Angeles, hoping to dissuade potential spectators. But they don’t want people to panic. “The last thing we want is for people to see Marines...