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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — May 11, 2005 in Iraq was just one of the many days in the past that proved why Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles are necessary for marine forces. Aaron Mankin, who was a Marine combat correspondent at the time, would probably agree after his experience that day when an improvised explosive device destroyed the 26-ton amphibious assault vehicle he was in. The blast inflicted second- and third-degree burns over 25 percent of then-Lance Cpl. Mankin’s body, also permanently damaging his lungs after he inhaled the heat, flames and debris. He has since...

November 10, 2008 marks the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. To celebrate this occasion Go Daddy is proud once again to release a special birthday tribute to the Corps. For those of you who served or are serving in other branches of our military, please accept this salute to the Marines also as a salute to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. The reason I prepared this salute to the Marine Corps was simply because I served in the Corps and it was in the Corps that I grew up and became a man. Please...

Marine Corps Commandant General James T. Conway reflects on the Corps' 233 year history.

During the summer of 1982, in the wake of a presidential directive, Marines went ashore at Beirut, Lebanon. Fifteen months later, on 23 October 1983, extremists struck the first major blow against American forces – starting this long war on terrorism. On that Sunday morning, a suicide bomber drove an explosive laden truck into the headquarters of Battalion Landing Team 1/8, destroying the building and killing 241 Marines and corpsmen. Extremists have attacked our Nation, at home and abroad, numerous times since that fateful day in Beirut. Their aim has always been the same – to kill as many innocent...

The U.S. Senate has shot down an amendment by a South Carolina senator to pull more than $2 million earmarked for Berkeley school lunches, ferry service and police communication equipment and transfer it to the Marine Corps. After the Berkeley City Council called the U.S. Marines "uninvited and unwelcome intruders," Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced the Semper Fi Act on Feb. 6 to rescind the funds earmarked for Berkeley in the 2008 fiscal year Omnibus Appropriations bill. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 41-57 to defeat DeMint's amendment, prompting DeMint to say that he is "extremely disappointed that the U.S. Senate...

Excusing Berkeley by: Bethany Stotts The Berkeley City Council's decision to declare its local U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office “unwelcome and uninvited intruders” has sparked considerable controversy throughout the nation. With S. 2596, also known as the Semper Fi Act, now in the Senate and with 12 cosponsors, this controversy seems to have intensified, prompting news articles critical of Senator Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) proposed “retaliation.” Should the legislation pass, the city of Berkeley would lose $2.3 million in earmarks. The threatened loss of $975,000 (a subset of the total amount) for the University of California Berkeley’s Matsui Center for Politics...

WEST POINT -- World War I ended days after he enlisted, and his request for active duty in Vietnam in 1966 was denied on account of his age -- after all he was 68. But, Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller was a force to be reckoned with in every other war and armed conflict between those times. Long before he retired as a lieutenant general, he had become a Marine Corps living legend. Yesterday, a grateful hometown honored its hero, remembered that he is the only Marine ever to receive five Navy Crosses for bravery and expressed thanks that he was...

Before he left to train for a second tour of duty in Iraq, Marine Cpl. Joseph E. Stevenson III of Downers Grove wrote a letter to his family, in case he did not return. Stevenson, 20, died in his sleep on Oct. 28 at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Stevenson was buried last week with full military honors. His parents, Barbara Ann and Joseph E. Stevenson Jr., have given the media permission to reprint their son's letter over the Veterans Day weekend. Letter is kinda long, so go to the link http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=75390

The National Museum of the Marine Corps has become one of Virginia's top tourist destinations, attracting more than 600,000 visitors to the Quantico site after one year. The Marine Corps will celebrate the museum's success on its first anniversary Saturday. "Originally, we were expecting between 250,000 and 500,000 visitors," said Chris Vassil, a media relations assistant at the museum. "We expect to end this year with over 600,000 visitors, which puts it in the top visited destinations in Virginia." The museum is expected to rank as the fifth most visited attraction in Virginia for 2007, according to the Virginia Association...

VIDEO: Semper Fidelis

Looking at the calendar this morning, I noticed an entry -in my late wife's handwriting-for tomorrow's date: USMC- Semper Fi.

From the Halls of Montezuma To the Shores of Tripoli; We fight our country's battles In the air, on land and sea; First to fight for right and freedom And to keep our honor clean; We are proud to claim the title of United States Marine. Our flag's unfurled to every breeze From dawn to setting sun; We have fought in ev'ry clime and place Where we could take a gun; In the snow of far-off Northern lands And in sunny tropic scenes; You will find us always on the job-- The United States Marines. Here's health to you and...

Marine Brotherhood I saw something today that taught me volumes about the brotherhood of Marines. As I stood in line to grill my sandwich, I watched a young corporal preparing two meals to-go. There was nothing really special about the meals . . . except this. It was obvious to me that this Marine was carefully selecting different things for each tray. One was for him, the other was for his buddy who stood guard at the gate. He carefully selected meat and cheese, meticulously grilled and wrapped them, then chose sides. I was moved by the obvious care with...

Letters in Response to Capt. Lund and Code Pink • Editors, Daily Planet: Thank you for printing the letter by Captain Richard Lund. I work in a building on University Avenue. I am a woman, I am a mother, I am the wife of a veteran, I am a liberal, I am a democrat, I am a staunch opponent to this war, and I am an enemy of President Bush. And I am ashamed. Wars aren’t created by the military, they are created by politicians and their self- serving constituents. The Code Pink protest is an insult to the sacrifices...

First the Marine Corps made Chuck Norris an honorary Marine. Now the Corps wants all Marines to follow in his footsteps. All Marines must now qualify for their tan belt in the Corps' version of martial arts by the end of 2007, Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway said in a recent Corps-wide message. The move mostly affects those who joined before 2001, when the service made the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program part of basic training and the Basic School, said 1st Lt. Brian P. Donnelly, a spokesman for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. The Corps originally hoped to have all...

The night started like many for John Lovell, a 71-year-old ex-Marine and helicopter pilot who served two presidents. Late dinner alone at a Plantation Subway shop -- veggie sub, soda, oatmeal cookie. Wednesday night, though, Lovell's meal was interrupted by an armed robbery. Two gunmen stormed into the sandwich shop at about 11 p.m., robbed the cashier and tried to shove Lovell -- the lone customer -- into the bathroom. Two bullets later, one gunman was dead, another was wounded and Lovell was being hailed as a hero. ''There's no such thing as an ex-Marine, and he typifies this,'' said...

Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP) -- Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash. He immediately grabbed the person's wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened. "I guess he thought I was an easy mark," Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday. He's anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden...

I'll never forget the day I heard my younger brother, Wieland, was killed in Vietnam. It was a day like no other. No family should have to feel what my mother, other brother, Aaron and I did that day. And yet so many do, every day, every year. "I'm going to miss you, be careful" At the height of the Vietnam War, both of my brothers, Wieland and Aaron, enlisted in the U.S. Army. As a veteran myself, I understood their desire to serve, and I concurred with their decision to enlist. After all, the U.S. Air Force turned my...

Maj. Douglas Zembiec, a Marine Corps officer profiled in the Los Angeles Times magazine in 2004, was killed while leading a raid on insurgents in Baghdad, officials reported Friday. Details of his death on Thursday were sketchy. In an age when many prefer military personnel to be diffident and reluctant to engage in violence, Zembiec was proudly a throwback. "One of the most noble things you can do is kill the enemy," he once said. Zembiec, 34, received a Bronze Star with a V for valor for leading an infantry company in repeated assaults against insurgents in the Sunni Triangle...

Dear American Soldier in Iraq: There are a few things you should know about how tens of millions of us back home feel about you and the fight you are waging. These things need to be said, especially now, given the fact that the head of one of America's two major political parties has announced that the war in Iraq is lost. This war has not been lost. What has happened is that many Americans, for all sorts of reasons -- some out of simple fatigue, some because they do not believe that war solves anything, some out of deep...