Free Republic

A pilot with the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels has been removed from the elite flight demonstration team for failing to meet its standards, military officials confirmed. Maj. Scott Laux, a U.S. Marine Corps aviator, was dismissed from the squadron, the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) confirmed to the Pensacola News Journal on Friday, Nov. 6. In a statement provided to the News Journal, CNATRA confirmed that Laux, who flew the No. 6 jet for the team, would not participate in the team’s remaining performances this season. “Blue Angel #6 was removed from the team for failing to uphold the...

The assistant commandant of the Marine Corps was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon announced Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, Marine Corps Gen. Christopher Mahoney will serve as a senior adviser to Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The position will make Mahoney the second-highest-ranking military officer in the armed forces. He will replace Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, who has held the position since December 2021. Mahoney is a Massachusetts native and was sworn in as assistant commandant of the Marine...

Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano stands accused of damaging an Iwo Jima statue. Credit: Prince William County Police Department A Virginia man has been arrested after allegedly getting caught in an incredibly sickening act that betrays those who bled for our country during World War II. As InsideNoVa.com reported, Prince William County police officers responded to an incident involving the historic Iwo Jima monument in Quantico near Richmond Highway and Fuller Road. The statue is located roughly two miles from Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. Upon arrival, officers found a thug who has since been identified as 27-year-old Miguel Alonso...

QUANTICO, Va. - Authorities have arrested a 27-year-old man accused of using a sledgehammer to decapitate a soldier on the Iwo Jima statue and cause extensive damage to other parts of the monument at Marine Corps Base Quantico, police said. …. Officers responded around 10:13 p.m. Wednesday to the statue near Richmond Highway and Fuller Road in Quantico, where they found Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, of Stafford, actively damaging the structure, according to police. Maldonado Soriano was quickly detained at the scene. Damage to the monument, which included the removal of one depicted soldier's head along with additional destruction, is...

Trump on Tuesday night touted the amount of settlement money his administration has already provided and appeared to urge attendees to get out and vote to keep Congress in GOP control so that additional settlement money can be provided. =================================================================== The first Camp Lejeune water-contamination case will go to trial Oct. 26, with the Justice Department using a questionable expert to argue that the water didn’t cause illnesses at the military base. Meanwhile, the department under President Trump has paid over $421 million in settlements to compensate service members exposed to contaminated water and announced another $175 million in settlements...

Sal covers the reports of 8 marines wounded in an attack on a "non-US Navy" ship. W*T*H: Did the U.S. Military Turn a Civilian Freighter into an Armed Escort?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The public may never know what motivated a 24-year-old Chattanooga man to kill four Marines and a sailor in an attack on Chattanooga's U.S. Naval and Marine Reserve Center last July. Investigators have said Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez was a homegrown violent extremist but have not offered more details about what motivated the attack that began at a military recruiting center and ended when Abdulazeez was shot to death by police who followed him to the reserve center. "We're still trying to make sure we understand Abdulazeez, his motivations and associations, in a really good way," FBI Director...

MESA, Ariz. - A U.S. Marine Corps military aircraft caught fire at Mesa Gateway Airport on Sunday, prompting an emergency response from local firefighting crews. What we know: Mesa Fire & Medical Department units rushed to the airfield around 6 p.m. on July 19 after reports of a fire originating in one of the aircraft's engines. Specialized Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting equipment was quickly deployed to the scene, where crews used advanced foam agents to smother the flames and bring the hazard under control. Officials confirmed that there were no injuries reported among the aircraft's crew or the responding firefighters....

The Marine Corps has denounced comments made by a Marine veteran running for Congress who posted a video of himself in uniform and made threatening comments directed at President Donald Trump. William Upham made the comments in a roughly 6-minute video that was posted on his social media accounts earlier this week. Upham is running for Florida's 5th Congressional District in November as a write-in candidate. In the video, Upham accused Trump of being the "antichrist" and "the enemy of God." Upham also claimed the president is "your enemy and he must be killed." The Marine Corps issued a statement...

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office is asking the public for help in locating the person who donated a real human skull to the Jericho Ministries Thrift Store in Brooksville, Florida, last month. Corporal Michael Terry said that while the Sheriff's Department is looking for answers, it does not suspect criminal activity, telling the Hernando Sun, Nothing criminal in nature. We just want to ensure the people who donated realized it was a real skull, not a prop. [We're] thinking it might have been passed down by a family member. Even with that caveat, I don't think the person who donated...

"I test the Army’s new 30×42mm Precision Grenade Rifle and break down how it’s changing infantry combat. The Squad Support Rifle System or SSRS 30mm grenade launcher. It fires ammunition from airburst rounds to counter-drone and anti-armor munitions, this weapon delivers insane accuracy and firepower. Here’s why it might replace traditional grenade launchers like the M203 and M320 and M32 and become the squad’s most lethal system." Cappy Army

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth led the swearing-in ceremony at the PentagonFox News host Johnny "Joey" Jones reenlisted in the United States Marine Corps on Wednesday during a swearing-in ceremony at the Pentagon."The last job I had in uniform — my job was to get better. It was to heal. It's a very selfish thing. My job was to heal. The Marine Corps paid me to get better, and then I retired. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it was unfinished business," Jones said at the ceremony.Jones, a formerly-retired staff sergeant, served eight years in the Marine Corps and...

On Sunday, Marines from the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli fast-roped from helicopters onto the deck of the Iranian cargo ship M/V Touska to take custody of the vessel, the first seizure of the week-long U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports. The Touska was first disabled by sailors on the Navy destroyer USS Spruance, who fired several shots from its 5-inch MK 45 gun at the vessel’s engine room. Carried out under the cover of darkness, the operation highlighted the capabilities of a small, highly trained group of Marines known as a Maritime Raid Force, or MRF, that specializes in...

The U.S. military recently published photos of Marines in a unit headed to the Middle East equipped with an advanced optic designed to help them shoot down small drones. The April 4 photos show members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU, using a smart scope optic mounted on their M4 carbines as part of training against small drones. Roughly 2,500 Marines in the unit are currently embarked on the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which deployed in March to support operations in the Middle East. When the photos were taken, the Marines were aboard a ship in the Pacific...

Traumatic brain injuries are quickly emerging as the signature wound of the U.S. war with Iran so far, echoing a pattern of post-9/11 wars... More than 200 U.S. troops have so far been wounded in the war, and at least 140 of those were TBI-related injuries... It’s a surge being driven by Iran’s reliance on one-way attack drones and the concussive blasts they deliver in strikes against American troops in countries across the Middle East, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Symptoms of TBI can be subtle at first but often linger for years, or even a lifetime, ranging...

Today, there are nearly 70,000 women serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. More than 10,000 are fighting directly on the frontlines. They are not there because of a quota. They are there because they wanted to serve, and serve they are… The drone revolution: where women excel The character of the fight has altered. No longer is strength the limiting factor. Now it’s precision, focus, and problem-solving. Women fly the latest FPV drones, command unmanned systems units, and conduct intelligence missions in Ukraine. The Khartiia Corps claims a 20 percent increase in female recruits for combat technology positions. Why? Because...

A Marine formerly stationed at Camp Pendleton is accused of stealing a missile system and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the base and selling the military items in Arizona, according to federal court documents obtained by ABC 10News. A federal criminal complaint stated Cpl. Andrew Paul Amarillas faces federal charges of Conspiracy to Possess and Sell Stolen Ammunition and Commit Theft of Government Property in connection with the alleged thefts and sales. Amarillas, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton from Feb. 2022 to Jan. 2026, allegedly used his role as Ammunition Technician Specialist at the School of Infantry West...

The U.S. military has accelerated the deployment of thousands of Marines and sailors to potentially help reinforce its troops fighting against Iran, officials tell Newsmax. Three officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are deploying ahead of schedule from the West Coast. They are expected to sail through the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East region after the Navy was ordered to heighten its posture with additional fire power. The Boxer Amphibious Ready Group includes the USS Boxer amphibious assault ship along with the USS Portland and USS Comstock amphibious...

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) says he believes the 2,500 U.S. Marines headed to the Middle East will be used to seize Iran’s Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. On Friday night, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. military “totally obliterated every military target” on Kharg, through which 90% of Iran’s oil exports pass. The president said the island’s oil infrastructure was left intact, but added that if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he will “reconsider this decision.” Sessions appeared on Tuesday’s CNN News Central, where Kate Bolduan asked the congressman if he would support their deployment in...

The Pentagon has ordered a Marine expeditionary unit with about 2,200 Marines and three Navy amphibious warships from Japan toward the Middle East, a significant new U.S. force movement amid tensions tied to the war with Iran. U.S. officials told ABC News that the deployment centers on the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a forward-deployed force based in Japan that normally operates in the Indo-Pacific. At the center of the movement is the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group, led by USS Tripoli, an America-class amphibious assault ship. USNI News reported that the Tripoli had been operating in the Philippine Sea earlier this...