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An ex-Marine pulled out a pocket knife after five people, including a young girl, allegedly tried to rob him late Monday evening in Midtown. That girl died. Another one of the alleged assailants is in critical condition. Investigators are calling the case one of self-defense. They say no charges will be filed against the victim in the case.

Here’s a “column” Jesse MacBeth wrote for the Arizona State University's student online paper, the Web Devil. It is a response to an earlier ASU article which can be found here.Anyone who has seen his video interviews, heard his (probably paid) anti-war speeches or read his anti-war screeds, maybe surprised at his earlier attitude towards US soldiers:Guest Column: I never wanted to protestby Jesse MacbethSpecial to The State PressFriday, April 23, 2004There are several things I would like to mention that Lucia Bill and Brian Clapp of The State Press failed to mention or distorted to fit their opinions.But before...

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2006 – For the past two and a half years, veterans of wars past have been helping heal the latest generation of wounded troops every Friday in a basement steakhouse here. Members of Disabled American Veterans help a wounded servicemember before the final Friday night dinner for wounded troops at Fran O'Brien's steakhouse in downtown Washington, D.C. Groups like DAV and Helping Our Heroes Foundation bring dozens of wounded troops out to the Friday dinners, which now will be held at various locations in the nation's capital, beginning May 5. Photo by Paul X. Rutz  (Click photo...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (May 4, 2006) -- Sgt. Maj. Bradley A. Kasal feels he did what any good Marine would’ve done. That includes taking enemy rifle fire on Nov. 14, 2004, absorbing a grenade blast and refusing medical attention inside Fallujah’s “House of Hell” during Operation Al Fajr (New Dawn). For his extraordinary heroism and leadership in Fallujah, Iraq, as the Weapons Company first sergeant for 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Kasal was awarded the Navy Cross during a ceremony here Monday. “The word hero is tossed around pretty loosely these days,” said Maj....

FORT JACKSON, S.C. - Navy sailors are trading sea legs for land combat as the U.S. Army is opening its largest training base to help them survive when sent into Afghanistan or Iraq. The Navy is sending thousands of men and women to support Army units in those regions and wants its sailors to hone their fighting skills. "Hit the ground and brace yourself with your weapon!" senior drill instructor Warren Brown yelled at a dozen trainees slithering across a mud-soaked field. "Look around, pick yourself up and go! You're under fire!" After struggling up from the mud with her...

Marines Try to Recruit 78-Year-Old Woman Sat Mar 25, 4:28 AM ET SAUGUS, Calif. - Sonia Goldstein was flattered by the nice recruiting letter asking her to consider becoming one of "the few, the proud." But at age 78, she believes she's just a little old to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. "I couldn't believe it," Goldstein told KCAL-TV on Friday. "My girls were sitting here ... we were in hysterics, we laughed so hard." The letter told her the corps could use her unique language skills, but also warned that life as a Marine would test her physical...

A new U.S. Army Alaska policy penned this week forbids soldiers from carrying privately owned concealed weapons in public, despite being stationed in a state with one of the most liberal concealed weapons laws in the country. The move, officials said, is in response to several incidents involving soldiers and their personal concealed weapons. "In the last six to eight months, there has been a number of incidents involving soldiers and privately-owned concealed weapons that indicated a need to look at this policy," said Maj. Kirk Gohlke, U.S. Army Alaska public affairs officer. Gohlke noted the trial of three Fort...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two Kansas City-area women are fighting to get their children back after serving their country overseas. When Dena Stephenson went off to war, her 6-year-old daughter, Kristina, went to stay with her father. Stephenson followed the military's Family Care Plan, which gave temporary power of attorney and guardianship of her child to the father. "Once I came back from deployment, naturally, my child wanted to be with me nonstop," Stephenson said. Stephenson said she was supposed to get Kristina back when she returned home, but now the girl's father is asking for 50-50 custody. "I don't...

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (March 15) - Carlos G. Rojas didn't know what to think when the military life insurance checks started showing up at his office. He didn't know anyone who would have named him a beneficiary, and the checks totaled $200,000. He called Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, which pays death benefits to military families, and the customer service representatives insisted the money was his and he should cash the checks, he said. Rojas couldn't do it. "It's not like picking up a penny you just found," said Rojas, a 29-year-old marketing consultant. "Somebody's life was connected with that money."...

LOS ANGELES - Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," has died. He was 81. Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the cable network TV Land, which airs "The Andy Griffith Show," and another Knotts hit, "Three's Company." Unspecified health problems had forced him to cancel an appearance in his native Morgantown in August 2005. The West Virginia-born actor's half-century career included seven TV series and more than...

<p>Several Marines from Camp Pendleton have been arrested in San Diego on charges of providing stolen body armor — intended for troops in Iraq — that was later sold on the Internet.</p> <p>U.S. Customs officials teamed with the Navy's Criminal Investigative Service to break the ring.</p>

Member of Marines not 'sort of person UW wanted to produce'The University of Washington's student senate rejected a memorial for alumnus Gregory "Pappy" Boyington of "Black Sheep Squadron" fame amid concerns a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the right kind of person to represent the school. Student senator Jill Edwards, according to minutes of the student government's meeting last week, said she "didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce."

William J. Hetherington has been incarcerated in Michigan prisons for more than 20 years for having sex with his wife Linda. In 1986, he became the first man in Genesee County convicted of the new Michigan crime called spousal rape. Linda was not a battered wife; she testified at the trial that he had never beaten her in their 16 years of marriage. Hetherington was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force, received a National Defense Service Medal, and had no police record of any sort. The sentencing guideline for this new offense was 12 months to 10 years but,...

WASHINGTON - They are the Pentagon's new "rules of engagement" _ the diamond ring kind. U.S. Army chaplains are trying to teach troops how to pick the right spouse, through a program called "How To Avoid Marrying a Jerk." The matchmaking advice comes as military family life is being stressed by two tough wars. Defense Department records show more than 56,000 in the Army _ active, National Guard and Reserve _ have divorced since the campaign in Afghanistan started in 2001. Officials partly blame long and repeated deployments which started after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and stretched the...

I received a piece of mail last week that got my attention because it involves North Dakota’s most decorated soldier. Cass County Veterans Service Officer Jim Brent, who will celebrate his 10th year in that position on Wednesday, sent along information about Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble, a Lakota Sioux who grew up in Wahpeton, N.D., and distinguished himself while serving his country in World War II and Korea. This was the first time I’d heard of Keeble. In two wars, he was awarded five Purple Hearts for wounds, two Bronze Stars, one with “V” for valor, a Silver Star...

SAN DIEGO - If I could, I'd begin this with my son's account of what happened to him and the men of his Bravo Company unit at 14:30 on Dec. 22, 2005. Roman and his squad were on foot patrol somewhere in the south of Baghdad. An insurgents' bomb exploded. That much I know. But I can only tell my side of this story right now. And it begins with a call from an Army captain. "Is this Susan Diaz?" a man's voice said when I answered the phone in my office here at home the day before Christmas Eve....

FORT CARSON, Colo. (Jan. 24) - A military jury recommended a simple reprimand Monday for an Army officer who killed an Iraqi general by stuffing him headfirst into a sleeping bag and sitting on his chest during an interrogation. As soldiers applauded in the courtroom, Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. hugged his wife after hearing the surprisingly light sentence, which will be reviewed by Fort Carson's commander, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Mixon. The commander cannot order a harsher sentence, defense attorney Frank Spinner said. Welshofer, 43, was charged with murder, but was convicted over the weekend of negligent homicide...

JAG, we are told, mistakenly thought the open-tip round was the same as hollow-point ammunition, which is banned. The original open-tip was known as Sierra MatchKing and broke all records for accuracy in the past 30 years. The difference between the open-tip and the hollow point is that the open tip is a design feature that improves accuracy while the hollow point is designed for increasing damage when it hits a target. About 10 days ago, the Army JAG in Iraq ordered all snipers to stop using the open-tip 175-grain M118LR bullet, claiming, falsely, it was prohibited. Instead of the...

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Last modified Tuesday, January 17, 2006 6:24 PM PST U.S. rejection of request for custody of Marines charged with rape sparks protests By: TERESA CEROJANO - Associated Press CARMEN, Philippines -- The United States on Tuesday refused a Philippine request to hand over four Marines charged with rape, provoking anti-American protests in the capital and the Muslim south, where U.S. troops began annual counterterrorism training of Filipino soldiers. In a letter to the Philippine government, the U.S. Embassy invoked the bilateral Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows large-scale U.S. training in the country, and vowed to keep...

Ayman Taha, a Berkeley graduate who was described as athletic, a speaker of many languages, and a friend to all who met him, had only to write his dissertation to earn his PhD, his father said. But three years ago, Taha, a budding economist and the son of a Northern Virginia couple, Abdel-Rahman and Amal Taha, joined the Army to serve in the Special Forces. About a year ago, he was sent to Iraq. On Friday, as Staff Sgt. Ayman Taha, 31, was preparing a cache of munitions for demolition in the town of Balad, the explosives detonated and he...