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On January 3, 2020, near Baghdad's airport, a U.S. air raid targeted Qasem Soleimani, commander of Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (“IRGC’s”) terrorist arm. He was killed instantly. To understand how important this is, one needs to understand who Qasem Soleimani (1957-2020) was. Soleimani, a one-time construction worker and weightlifter, joined the IRGC after the 1979 revolution and soon headed one of the IRGC’s main cadres. Khomeini assigned Soleimani to suppress a Kurdish movement in Mahabad, Western Azerbaijan. Soleimani's brutality earned him command over a Quds Guard Corps unit in Kerman. The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) gave Soleimani opportunities...

Lots of tweets and videos showing smoke rising. Akbars claiming “Many casualties and aircraft destroyed” Reports say a suicide car bomb hit the front gate.

With all the media focus on the caravan, the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi murder, and later the pipe bombs, there was scant coverage of the tragic Beirut US Marine Barracks bombing October 23, 1983. We had proof positive intelligence the orders for that bombing came direct from Tehran, but we never responded. It is well to review the events surrounding this tragedy and why we never responded. On that day, 241 of our finest military personnel were killed, with scores more seriously injured. Almost simultaneously, a similar attack was carried out at the French military headquarters, killing 58 French paratroopers....

Marine Corps law enforcement personnel who meet specific federal qualifications are now authorized to carry their own concealed firearms on base -- even when off duty, a three-star general announced. Marine Corps law enforcement professionals can now carry privately owned weapons "for personal protection not in the performance of official duties," a new service-wide message released Tuesday states. While the new rules apply only to Marine law enforcement personnel, Lt. Gen. George Smith Jr., head of Marine Corps Plans, Policies and Operations, indicated that additional concealed carry policies could be in the works.

Marine commanders did not act on dozens of pleas for additional manpower, machinery and time. When a training exercise ended in death, leadership blamed the very men they had neglected.

Pro-Iran militia have stormed the US embassy in Baghdad for a second day, with US marines firing tear gas on the militants this morning following demands for American blood in retaliation for airstrikes on Iraq. Yesterday thousands of demonstrators - many of them Iran-backed militants - rushed through the heavily fortified Green Zone after US air strikes killed 25 members of the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah in air strikes Sunday night. One furious militant said: 'God willing if this fire reaches inside the embassy, we will not spare a single employee.' The pro-Iran demonstrators finally ended their siege today after commanders...

The Pentagon directed at least 100 crisis response Marines to reinforce the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday following violent protests — and released photos and videos of it all. U.S. Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAFTF-CR-CC) 19.2, prepare to deploy from Kuwait in support of a crisis response mission, Dec. 31, 2019. The SPMAGTF-CR-CC is designed to move with speed and precision to support operations throughout the Middle East. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Robert G. Gavaldon)

I thought I would share this. I figured like me others might appreciate something pleasant and patriotic. My two oldest sons enlisted together two years ago. They went to basic and ITB together and are 0331 machine gunners. They always wanted to be Marines. They were homeschooled and are fine young Christian men. Needless to say they never shot less than expert in any qual and both were top of their companies in basic and SOI. They had both planed to try for 0317 once they became Lance Corporals however the older one recently was married and decided that he...

The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) is now deployed after picking up Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on Thursday, a defense official confirmed to USNI News. Made up of amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5), amphibious transport dock USS New York (LPD-21) and dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD-51), the Bataan ARG took aboard the Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., ahead of the expected deployment six-month deployment. Ordinarily, ARG/MEU deployments are announced by the Navy and Marines. However, in this instance there was no public notification of the departure. A U.S. 2nd Fleet spokesperson told USNI...

Investigators are looking into an apparent hazmat situation at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Ft. Myer, Virginia, after a number of people began feeling sick after opening a letter, officials said. Arlington Fire, one of the units responding to the scene, said "11 people started feeling ill after the letter was opened" in an administration building. Three patients were hospitalized and were said to be in stable condition. #Update: Ft Myer Hazmat, 11 people started feeling ill after letter was opened in consolidated admin building. 3 were transported. Condition not known. Ft Myer PIO enroute. — Arlington Fire (@ArlingtonVaFD) February...

Screen grab of video shows sailors and Marines at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida lined up in tribute as the parents of slain Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson drove onto the base. (Benjamin and Sheila Watson via Facebook) Hundreds of sailors and Marines stood in long lines on both sides of a road at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, in a silent and moving tribute Sunday as the parents of slain Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson drove onto the base. Benjamin and Sheila Watson posted a 10-minute Facebook video of their slow ride past the saluting service members. The only sounds...

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — The voter who was verbally attacked by Joe Biden urged the former vice president to drop out of the race and called him too old while speaking to reporters after the campaign event. [cut] “He’s been in the Congress all of his life, and all of these problems like high drug prices and all of that — where in the hell has he been for the last 50 years?”

Private Luke Quinn – The Unlikely Celebrity of Harpers Ferry Posted on June 16, 2018 by ECW Guest Post When Private Luke Quinn arrived in Harpers Ferry, Virginia on October 18, 1859 he likely did not imagine that he’d never leave. He certainly could not have imagined that he’d be popularized in the small town with a namesake pub, an interesting monument and an unrestful sleep in St. Peter’s Cemetery. Here’s a quick look at the lively afterlife of the most unlikely celebrity of John Brown’s Raid… Little is known about Private Luke Quinn prior to his untimely death. From...

Gov. Kay Ivey tweeted that Lowndes County Sheriff John Williams had been “tragically killed” in the line of duty and that she offered her prayers and sympathy to his family and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department. Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham told news outlets that Williams was shot at a gas station in the community of Hayneville, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Montgomery. Details remained sketchy as law enforcement agents converged on the community. Video from WSFA-TV showed a heavy law enforcement presence late Saturday outside a QV gas station. Alabama Law Enforcement Agency spokesman Cpl. Jess Thornton...

****Devil Dogs: Hero Marines of WWI**** For my Freeper family.... If you are moved by 'Heroes'....real Heroes.... and would like to spend one hour totally blown away by what happened at Belleau Wood France in June of 1918...you will not find a better, more beautiful done, more moving tribute than this documentary. I highly recommend it. Semper Fi Challenge you to stay dry eyed. (From Comments) What an incredibly touching and beautiful story and such a fascinating tale of this man’s life’s work to bring to present day the stories and artifacts long lost in the forest on the battlefield...

Happy Birthday Marines. Past, Present, and Future. Semper Fi.Message from the Commandant for 2019

Great dedicated USMC song and video.Happy Birthday U.S. Marines!Semper Fi!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIVTZ5JQaR8&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0d0GWu9_2XAWPbaBWYk7YmiDwnjWs8iay9DrP5p9g120dtkX39Dr9ep_o  

The FReeper Canteen Presents.... ~ Happy 244th Birthday, United States Marine Corps!! ~ 10 November 1775 - 10 November 2016 Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. Marine Corps Birthday: (excerpt from Warrior Culture of the U.S. Marines, copyright 2001 Marion F. Sturkey) All U.S. Marines are gung-ho. But, few can match the vision and total commitment of the famous 13th Commandant, Gen. John A. Lejeune. In 1921 he issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921. Gen. Lejeune's order summarized...

“Marines can carry an all-black, plain, standard or collapsible umbrella at their option during inclement weather with the service and dress uniforms,” according to a new All Marine Corps message, the site reported. Previously, only female Marines were allowed to use umbrellas while in their service or dress uniforms. They are required to carry it in their left hand so they are free to salute with their right.

A Utah Marine who died during World War II was accounted for in September, the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Wednesday, almost 76 years after he was killed in battle. Pfc. Robert J. Hatch, of Woods Cross, was 21 years old when he was killed on Nov. 22, 1943, fighting the Japanese on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, according to a news release. It was the third day of the battle for the island. About 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded in the...