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WASHINGTON — Hailed as “a tested warrior and an innovative strategist,” Gen. Robert Neller accepted command of the U.S. Marine Corps on Thursday morning during a traditional ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington. Neller — who was pinned with a fourth star Thursday — became the Corps’ 37th commandant, taking over for Gen. Joseph Dunford, who held the post for less than a year. Dunford will become the 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday during a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va., replacing retiring Army Gen. Martin Dempsey.

A battle is brewing in Washington over the military's push to open all combat units to women. The Marine Corps is reportedly poised to ask that some positions remain available only to men, following a nine-month study that found units with all genders did not perform as well in combat. The issue is stirring a passionate debate in the military community, pitting the Marine Corps against its own service secretary and creating a bitter divide on the House Armed Services Committee. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who is the service secretary for the Marine Corps, blasted the study of the Marine...

Ray Mabus has made up his mind: there’s no job in the Navy or Marine Corps that’s going to be off-limits to women.With more than a month to go before the deadline, the Navy Secretary made it clear on Monday: he will not be requesting any exceptions to the Pentagon edict that all U.S. military jobs be opened to women.“Nobody’s asking for an exemption in the Navy,” Mabus told an audience at the the City Club of Cleveland. “And I’ve been pretty clear about this for a while – I’m not going to ask for an exemption for the Marines.”That...

Despite considerable backlash from within the service, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said again Monday that the Marine Corps infantry and Navy SEALs will open up to women, no matter what. After receiving heated comments from both male and female Marines who participated in and ran a Marine Corps integration study, Mabus clarified Monday at a forum by the City Club of Cleveland that many of the gender gaps on performance could be closed with more training and leadership. What this means is that he’s sticking to his original plan that all combat jobs in the Department of the Navy will...

The Marines made it known this week that they see the idea of women in combat as a disaster waiting to happen. That contrasts sharply with how the Army has approached the topic. It puts the Pentagon in a potentially tough spot. Washington — This week, the Marine Corps left very little doubt about its view of women in its combat ranks: It does not want them. A study by the corps released Thursday painted a bleak picture of the effectiveness of women in combat, suggesting they are weaker, more prone to injury, less adept at shooting weapons accurately, and...

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has a damning report on the F-35B’s shipboard “Operational Test” trials that occurred last May. It paints a dismal picture of an aircraft that is so far from being “operationally capable” it’s almost comical at this point. As a result, it proves what many of us already know: the Marines’ declaration of F-35B initial operational capability made this Summer was a farce. The F-35B’s Operational Test trials aboard the USS Wasp late last May were widely portrayed as a big success and proof that the troubled aircraft had progressed past many of the issues...

Women in a new Marine Corps unit created to assess how female service members perform in combat were injured twice as often as men, less accurate with infantry weapons and not as good at removing wounded troops from the battlefield, according to the results of a long-awaited study produced by the service. The research was carried out by the service in a nine-month long experiment at both Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Twentynine Palms, Calif. About 400 Marines, including 100 women, volunteered to join the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, the unit the Marine Corps created to compare how men...

One U.S. Marine was killed and 11 were injured when a helicopter made a hard landing during a training exercise at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the Marines said on Thursday. The accident, which occurred around 9 p.m. on Wednesday with a CH-53E helicopter, is under investigation, the Marines said in a statement. A hard landing occurs when an aircraft touches down with greater force and speed than normal, typically after a particularly fast or steep descent, according to the statement. Of the injured, two were hospitalized in stable condition. Nine were scheduled to be released after medical evaluation, the...

Days after Jarrod Haschert asked his "celebrity crush" Rousey to the annual Marine Corps Ball at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, he scored big-time when the mixed martial arts fighter accepted his proposal.

The recent success of two female officers, both West Point graduates, in passing the Army’s grueling Ranger School has bolstered arguments for the full integration of women into the military’s front-line combat units. In becoming the first women to receive the coveted Ranger tab, the two officers proved that women can handle not just the physical challenges but also the psychological and leadership tests posed by the nine-week course. cut As that deadline looms, the Marine Corps is dealing with its own gender-related controversy. In June, Lt. Col. Kate Germano was removed from her position as commander of the Fourth...

The first ever black Marine Corps pilot, who fought endemic racism to rise to the rank of three-star general, has died aged 83. From the moment he signed up to the Navy as a seaman apprentice in 1950 Frank E. Petersen Jr. was under no illusions as to the challenge he faced. The native of Topeka, Kansas, aced his entrance exam but was called a few days later and asked to re-take it because it was thought he had cheated.

A US Marine who foiled a terrorist attack on a French-bound train was shot in the neck while disarming the crazed gunman. The marine, one of two unarmed servicemen, spotted the 26-year-old Moroccan acting suspiciously and heard him trying to arm his weapon in the toilet of the high speed train between Amsterdam and Paris. The gunman got on the train in Brussels and attempted his attack soon after crossing the French border. The 26-year-old Moroccan national, who was known to security services, came out of the toilet brandishing the gun and opened fire. Fortunately, the Marines were nearby and...

A gunman opened fire on board a high speed train in northern France. Eyewitnesses said three U.S. Marines on the train disarmed the gunman. The man was armed with a deadly a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle. Three people were wounded and the gunman is currently in police custody.

Unarmed US Marine 'in critical condition' after Kalashnikov-wielding suspected terrorist on board high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris. An unarmed US Marine who ambushed a Kalashnikov-wielding gunman on a train between Amsterdam and Paris is in critical condition, according to French media reports. The serviceman, who has not been named, was one of two Americans who tackled the 26-year-old Moroccan national to the ground after hearing him load up a gun in the toilet. In the scuffle, one of the Marines was shot and another stabbed. France Info reports one is in a critical condition. Addressing reporters at the station...

A man has been arrested after firing a Kalashnikov rifle on board an Amsterdam-Paris train, according to French media. Le Parisien reports that a Briton and an American are "seriously" wounded. A third person, the French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, was also wounded and is said to have raised the alarm. La Voix du Nord, a newspaper in the Calais region, said a man was arrested on suspicion of firing the weapon on a Thalys train near the northern town of Arras. Police say that have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive and Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister,...

Lockheed Martin test pilot Billie Flynn puts F-35B test aircraft BF-02 into pre-contact position behind a US Air Force KC-135 tanker on the range near NAS Patuxent River, Md., on 5 September 2014. Photo courtesy F-35 Lightning II Program Office. The Marine Corps’ Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will have the stealth of a fifth-generation fighter and a weapons payload surpassing a fourth-generation fighter by the time a software upgrade is ready for fielding in 2017, the Marines’ top aviator said this week. The aircraft’s ability to alternate between accessing contested areas and deliverying heavy fire...

Boulder, CO – -(Ammoland.com)- “You shall not kill.” As a Catholic altar boy and student at St. Jude’s School near Boston, Jack Coughlin learned the Fifth Commandment early in life. As a Marine Corps sniper and devout pro-life Catholic, Coughlin killed for a living. From rooftops, hillsides and shelled-out buildings, he focused the crosshairs on distant individuals, squeezed the trigger and ended their lives. By the time he retired, Coughlin had accumulated 60 confirmed kills in Somalia, Iraq and other foreign battlefields he will not identify. Coughlin, author of the autobiography Shooter ( tiny.cc/40gh1x ) , has little trouble...

The Marine Corps congressional fellow arrested Tuesday on Capitol grounds was carrying two loaded guns, 114 rounds of live ammunition, a military ballistic vest and two knives in his car, court documents state. Gunnery Sgt. Peter James Boby pleaded not guilty Wednesday to three misdemeanor charges in D.C. Superior Court. His wrists and ankles were shackled during the brief arraignment. Boby, who wore a plaid shirt and jeans, was released from custody on his personal recognizance. He told CQ Roll Call he had no comment on the case. Court documents state that Boby approached a Capitol Police barricade on C...

Donnie Dunagan became the youngest-ever US Marine Corps drill instructor in 1952 and consequently completed three tours in the Vietnam where he received, in his words, “holes that god did not give me.” What most people do not know is, among his three purple hearts and Bronze Star history, Dunagan is the famous voice of Bambi; the nasally little fawn on shaky legs that we all know, hold dear and often make reference to when referring to innocence on a grand scale. Dunagan held this secret closely during his tenure as a tough and seasoned drill sergeant, but has always...

The Marine Corp has declared initial operational capability for their first squadron of F-35Bs. The announcement is seen by some as more of PR achievement as the aircraft still has years of testing ahead of it. Others will argue that it represents a major accomplishment for the beleaguered F-35 program. But regardless of who you agree with, the USMC have succeeded at ramming the aircraft through a marker post that has always been a huge point of contention. Commandant of the Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford made the following statement: I am pleased to announce that VMFA-121 has achieved initial...