Free Republic

The Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church's behavior in demonstrating at the funeral of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder was protected speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution. The Court of Public Opinion must hold the demonstrators to a different standard. Lance Corporal Snyder swore to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. He died defending the very rights of the people who violated his and his family's right to mourn. I too took that same oath. As a retired Marine Colonel, please allow me to defend my Marine Lance Corporal...

Link toCommandant's Message:Neat Story; definitely esprit de corps. (NEWSER) – Two former Marines will demonstrate their solidarity in this weekend's Marine Corps Marathon, where Bryan Purcell will act as the "legs" of Eddie Ryan, an Iraq veteran who was paralyzed in combat, AOL News reports. Ryan, 26 was shot twice in the head in 2005, and while he's recovered far more than doctors expected, he can't yet walk on his own. HBO featured him in a show about vets, and the segment touched Purcell, who was inspired by Ryan's goal to run a marathon. "As soon as I saw that...

Semper Fi

Kristopher Greer, a 25-yr old Marine from our small community in Tennessee was killed in Afghanistan on August 8. His funeral was yesterday. Attendance at the funeral was remarkable. The highway was blocked, no parking spaces left at the church, had to walk or take a shuttle. It appeared as if the entire community was there plus many others from all around. You could not get into the service. Although his death is the saddest thing that can happen to a family and a community, it was overwhelming to see the Welcome Home he got and the way the entire...

War On Terror: Attempts to punish the Haditha Marines and Navy SEALs for their courage and bravery under fire failed. Now some would reward timidity and cowardice with a medal for "courageous restraint" under fire. A nonsensical proposal circulating in the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Forces in Afghanistan would give a medal to soldiers in battle who show restraint in the use of deadly force in situations where civilian casualties might result. This will not protect civilians as much as it will endanger the lives of our troops. Our soldiers are already disciplined and trained not to wantonly...

At a time when the fate of a U.S. Marines' Futenma base in Okinawa is dominating headlines, a documentary is shedding light on the troops and the training they undertake before living on foreign soil. Director Yukihisa Fujimoto went to South Carolina's Parris Island, one of the marines' main training facilities, to document the 12-week process used to convert pimply boys and girls into fighting men and women in "One Shot One Kill," now screening in Tokyo. Fujimoto, a critic of the many U.S. military facilities in Japan, including the Futenma air station, said he was motivated to shoot the...

<p>Military Justice: The first of three Navy SEALs charged with abusing a captured jihadist has been cleared. Why has this administration taken the word of terrorists and let American heroes twist in the wind?</p> <p>The acquittal of Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, 29, of Blue Island, Ill., by a six-member U.S. military jury in Baghdad on Thursday is good news and the correct verdict.</p>

Law: American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is. People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's alleged bimbo eruptions than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with Climate Gate, the public option and the antics of billionaire athletes. An administration consumed with apologies has said the architect of 9/11's massacre, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, must be given all the...

Military: Two U.S. congressmen take the lead in proclaiming the obvious — that those who attack this country should be punished and not those who risk their lives to defend it. The Navy SEALs are a special breed of patriot and warrior. This highly trained and select group — the best of the best — is a daily participant in the long twilight struggle against the enemies of freedom that President Kennedy warned us about. Kennedy formally created the SEAL (sea, air, land) outfit as an elite force capable of combat operations in any environment. It was a team of...

The head of the US Marines said on Thursday he opposed ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military, the first top officer to break openly with President Barack Obama over the issue. General James Conway told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he disagreed with Obama's plan to repeal the ban. "My best military advice to this committee, to the (defense) secretary, and to the president would be to keep the law such as it is."

Tom Stone: John Murtha forgot Semper Fi By: Tom Stone OpEd ContributorFebruary 19, 2010 In this Sept. 13, 2006, file photo, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Murtha, an influential critic of the Iraq War whose congressional career was shadowed by questions about his ethics, died Feb. 8. He was 77. (AP) I have waited until the burial of Rep. John Murtha, D-PA, to allow an appropriate amount of time for the grieving of his family and the accolades of his accomplishments to subside before writing to put forth what is, in my opinion,...

DELARAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Hundreds of U.S. Marines were engaged in a second day of fighting on Monday with Taliban insurgents as they tried to clear a militant stronghold in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, U.S. officials said. Thirteen insurgents were killed in the early hours of Monday when the Marines called in a Hellfire missile strike from an unmanned Predator drone, U.S. Marine Major Dale Highberger, second in command of the operation, said. Around 10,000 U.S. Marines moved into Helmand in spring last year, more than doubling the numbers of other NATO forces in the province, who had reached what...

When you leave Wal-Mart after making a purchase, you walk past a scanner that sets off an alarm if you haven't paid for something.And if the alarm goes off at this Wal-Mart, Ed Bauman will want to talk to you.Ed Bauman, Wal-Mart greeter, says "I'm getting too old for this stuff."Too old to be punched in the head by a customer who exception to Bauman's questions.Ed says "when he swang, he got me right here," pointing to the back of his head.The 69-year-old greeter was at the entrance when a man in red shorts, identified as Skyler Lowery set...

War On Terror: As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed receives the benefits of U.S. justice, three Navy SEALs face court-martial for allegedly punching a captured terrorist who hanged Americans from a bridge in Fallujah. Apparently our efforts to impress the world about the marvels of our criminal justice system require us to give foreign terrorists such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man who invented the manned cruise missiles that flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and plowed into a Pennsylvania field on its way to the Capitol Building, the full rights and protections of the American citizens he conspired...

War In Iraq: The press is salivating over the prospect of an Iraqi My Lai in the town of Haditha, with ABC trotting out Rep. John Murtha to brand U.S. troops war criminals just in time for Memorial Day. Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," and with the matter still under investigation, Murtha, D-Pa., decided it would be sentence first and trial later when he proclaimed Marines responding to an attack in the town of Haditha on Nov. 19 guilty of murder of at least 15 Iraqi civilians. The incident began as a Marine convoy of Kilo Company, Third Battalion,...

No, health care is not a right. Fair and balanced is not a right. Equal time is not a right. Free housing, free food, free education, free beer, etc, are not rights. Abortion is not a right. Gay marriage is not a right. “Entitlements” are not rights. In fact, no one is entitled to anything taken from others, including our tax dollars. And illegal aliens have no right to be here at all, much less rights to entitlements, free housing, free food, free health care, free education, or anything else. The rights to life, liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of...

Subject: Have you seen this ?? This guy's video on youtube has been so popular that Obama called him personally. He said that he was very disturbed with the video and invited him to the White House.. Obama also said he wanted the White House to handle the Press and not to talk about the video or the White House visit. That's interesting. Watch it now. This may be the best six minutes invested in your future You may have to turn your Sound Control up some. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

With "JAG," "Navy CIS," "MASH," and other military television shows being quite popular, one might consider with how military service has enhanced the fame of veteran actors in Hollywood or vice versa. During our distinguished history, some Hollywood actors have taken a break from their careers while they defended our country oftentimes to battle in war. These hereos include Charles Bronson, Gary Cooper, Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Clarke Gable, Lee Marvin, Elvis Presley, and Jimmy Stewart. More recent editions of entertainment veterans include "Limp Bizkit" lead singer Fred Durst who did service with the United States Navy. Up until...

He enlisted in the Marines in 1942 and fought at Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and Okinawa, earning a Bronze Star for bravery. While in uniform, he married Lorraine Paley, who survives him, as do their daughters, Mary Kaufman Carde of Los Angeles and Amy Kaufman Burk of Mill Valley, Calif.; their son, Frederick, of Manhattan; and seven grandchildren.

[Watch incredible video highlighting contrast] This is a remarkable video. It clearly demonstrates the difference in how two presidents are greeted by the United States Marines. The jarheads’ greeting for President Bush is deafening. The greeting for President Obama is, well, polite. Semper fi, indeed.