Free Republic

Virginia Beach: Fort Story will dedicate Coffman training school The new Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance School training building at Fort Story will be dedicated during a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. today in honor of Clovis C. ‘‘Buck’’ Coffman, a retired Marine colonel who was highly decorated in Korea and Vietnam. The school is being memorialized in honor of the longtime Virginia Beach resident, who died in 2001. Coffman, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1949, fought in Korea with the 1 st Marine Division, spending 35 months in combat. He was wounded four times in battles that included the...

The U.S. Special Operations Command is looking for “leap-ahead” technologies that can give its troops a decided advantage over their adversaries in wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced in January that the command—made up of elite, unconventional warfare units from the Army, Navy and Air Force and headquartered at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base—is being strengthened so that it can play a bigger role in U.S. military operations. Currently, SOCOM consists of about 47,000 personnel, including Army Special Forces, Rangers and specialized helicopter, psychological operations and civil affairs units; Navy SEAL (sea,...

CAMP PENDLETON -- When Americans think of the U.S. military's elite, Army Rangers and Navy SEALs come to mind--not the Marine Corps' Force Reconnaissance. That could change with a decision by the Marine Corps to drop what some saw as organizational aloofness and join the other military services in coordinating special warfare operations. In another sign that the war on terrorism is reshaping the U.S. military, officials from the Marine Corps and the U.S. Special Operations Command recently met to discuss how Force Recon and other Marines trained in special operations can help as the war enters its next phase....

Tales of battle - Marines meet the enemy at firefight on Afghanistan's Route 1GIDGET FUENTES Staff WriterCAMP PENDLETON ---- Near a desert road in Afghanistan last fall, Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Haislar's first real view of combat came through a night scope on his vehicle, 200 yards from a truck bulging with suspected terrorists. For Marine Gunnery Sgt. John A. Dailey, the enemy was just feet away from the barrel of his MP-5 submachine gun. Bill Wechter / Staff Photographer Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Haislar, 21, sits beneath the 25mm chain gun mounted on the light-armored vehicle, nicknamed 'Rusty...