Free Republic

I had the privilege tonight of observing how the USMC brings home their dead. The thought hit me that I have no idea, nor have I ever seen how our Soldiers are treated. I just hope we are at least as respectful. Tonight as we arrived at the Louisville airport, the aircraft captain announced that there was a USMC Sgt on board the aircraft who was on escort duty. The captain asked all onboard to remain seated til the Sgt had left the aircraft. As we pulled into our gate I observed a lot of people moving around in the...

OK, my son is at Parris Island right now and as of today has one month to graduation. He is hanging tough. But he wrote me and asked for more letters, more news. My fingers are about worn out sending and writing stuff. He likes Marine jokes and I sent him a few but I am running out of ideas. I would like you guys to submit Marine positive humor that I can send him to encourage both him and the other men in his platoon. We need to encourage these guys. Jokes are welcome. Letters are welcome. Help me...

The voice of the pilots is clear – the platform is working exceptionally. The F-35 is a platform with the ultimate level of sophistication, made simple. And therein lay the beauty of the F-35, and just why it will be so deadly, it’s simple. The combined F-35 fleet now has over 75,000 flight hours, yet many continue to question the performance and value of the aircraft. Much of this can be expected given early program challenges, and the reality that many of the F-35s capabilities are classified. Add that many do not grasp the war the F-35 was designed to...

Full Title: Everybody should read General John Kelly’s speech about two Marines in the path of a truck bomb Eight years ago, two Marines from two different walks of life who had literally just met were told to stand guard in front of their outpost’s entry-control point. Minutes later, they were staring down a big blue truck packed with explosives. With this particular shred of hell bearing down on them, they stood their ground. Heck, they even leaned in. I had heard the story many times, personally. But until today I had never heard Marine Lt. Gen. John Kelly’s telling...

Full Title: John Kelly, Trump’s Homeland Security pick, gave a remarkable speech 4 days after his son died serving in Afghanistan On Veterans Day in 2010, inside an unremarkable hotel ballroom in St. Louis, Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, delivered what the Washington Post described as “a passionate and at times angry speech about the military’s sacrifices and its troops’ growing sense of isolation from society.” That he was able to speak at all was remarkable. Four days earlier, Kelly’s 29-year-old son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, stepped on a land mine while leading a patrol in southern Afghanistan....

Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, predicted last week that the Ebola virus will not be contained in West Africa, and if infected people flee those countries and spread the disease to Central and South America, it could cause “mass migration into the United States” of those seeking treatment. “If it breaks out, it’s literally, ‘Katie bar the door,’ and there will be mass migration into the United States,” Kelly said in remarks to the National Defense University on Tuesday. “They will run away from Ebola, or if they suspect they are infected, they will...

New limits are being imposed on media access to the detention center at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the commander of the military's Southern Command said Thursday, outlining rules that will limit what journalists can see and how often they can visit the already highly restricted site. Journalists will be allowed to visit the center on tours that will be organized once per quarter, lasting no more than a day, and they will no longer be able to visit inside the two detention center camps where a majority of the 107 current prisoners are held, Marine Corps Gen....

Marine Corps combat veteran Stefan Meza says he literally put his life on the line to preserve and protect our freedoms. But after serving three tours of duty in two different wars, the aspiring police officer now believes his own rights were violated at Santa Rosa Junior College over something he said to a friend in class. Go Trump. It was those two words Meza said that got a sharp reaction from his yoga teacher who had been taking roll. "She told me not to make political comments in class and I said 'Yes, ma'am. It won't happen again. My...

Lt. Gen. James Mattis (USMC) is known as one of the most accomplished commanders in recent history and as one of the finest Marines to walk this planet. He also is a dedicated reader, and credits some of his success in the middle east to studying the works of those who had gone before him. This list is assembled from this list of required reading for CENTCOM USMC officers

The Senate Armed Services chair vowed to help move Mattis through the upper chamber's confirmation process. McCain, who will chair Mattis's confirmation hearing, told the Washington Examiner that he would write the bill to grant Mattis a waiver of the seven-year rule. Not all lawmakers agreed on that Thursday night. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a former Hillary Clinton supporter, said she is against changing that rule in order to accommodate Mattis. "While I respect Gen Mattis's service, I oppose a waiver-civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy," Gillibrand tweeted.

For the first time in history, the F-35B took off from a ship with a full-load of weapons. Integrating the F-35B will change tactics on-board amphibious assault ships The Marine Corps F-35B Short-Take-Off-and-Vertical-Landing Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter took off from a Navy amphibious assault ship for the first time with a full load of weapons -- in preparation for its planned deployment in 2018. The aircraft flew from the Navy's first America-Class Amphibious Assault Ship, the USS America, to Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., where it dropped live precision guided weapons on mock targets in the desert. The F-35B dropped...

(General Mattis is being considered to be the Secretary of Defense. What a great way to start rebuilding our military. His nickname is Mad Dog Mattis) Story from Dr. Pierce: "A couple of months ago, when I told General Krulak, the former Commandant of the Marine Corps, now the chair of the Naval Academy Board of Visitors, that we were having General Mattis speak this evening, he said, Let me tell you a Jim Mattis story. General Krulak said, when he was Commandant of the Marine Corps, every year, starting about a week before Christmas, he and his wife would...

TOPEKA, Kan. — A U.S. Navy destroyer warship has been named in honor of a Topeka three-star general who became the first black aviator, first black general and first black base commander in the Marine Corps. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that the destroyer, which is under construction, would bear the name of Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen Jr., according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Petersen enlisted in the Navy in 1950, and left in 1952 to accept a commission as a second lieutenant and become the first black pilot in the Marine Corps. He flew over 350 combat...

Just before Marine Gen. James 'Mad Dog' Mattis was getting ready to deploy with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to Iraq in early 2004, one of his colleagues asked him about the importance of reading for military officers who sometimes found themselves "too busy to read." The legendary general sometimes referred to as "The Warrior Monk" carted around a personal library of 6,000 books with him everywhere, and he had plenty to say on the topic. His response went viral over email... Here's what he wrote, on Nov. 20, 2003: ... The problem with being too busy to read is...

AKRON, Ohio (AP) - Police say an Ohio man is in stable condition after he set himself on fire following what witnesses described as a rant about post-election protests. Akron Police Sgt. Dennis Woodall says the 69-year-old man was wearing a U.S. Marine Corps uniform when he set himself ablaze Saturday morning on a city street.

When Corporal Ryan Stickney and 200 of his fellow Marines prepared to return to their families after Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a logistics error forced them to turn to a surprising source for a ride home: Donald J. Trump. Today, Stickney would like to say "thank you." Stickney (left), was a squad leader in a TOW company of a Marine reserve unit based in Miami, FL and spent approximately six months in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War between 1990 and 1991. Upon his unit’s return to the United States, the former Marine says the group spent several weeks...

Days of Elijah, by our brave young men! May God bless and protect them all.

These are the days of Elijah.

Full title: 'Faith Warriors:' Video of Marines Delivering Powerful Rendition of Christian Worship Song 'Days of Elijah' Goes Viral A powerful video of nearly 500 U.S. Marines at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California declaring "there is no God like Jehovah" in an inspirational rendition of the Christian worship song "Days of Elijah," is taking the Internet by storm. Merrie Pardee Baldwin, the Christian volunteer who first posted the video of the worshipful Marines to her Facebook page Sunday, told The Christian Post in an interview Friday that she is hoping the video inspires Americans to pray for...

I and others just got this email from our Pastor: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 07:11:43 AM Good Morning rainy, thank God, Maine As an honorably discharged Veteran of the United States Marine Corps I want to thank all of you who voted for Donald John Trump to be President of These United states of America. You, ladies and gentlemen, fellow patriots and lovers of the Republic have given, we Veterans, the greatest “Thank You For Your service” ever, you have given us a CIC that loves us and will not use us indiscriminately as cannon fodder to make the war...