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WASHINGTON, April 29, 2009 – The Marine Corps commandant today confirmed a suspected case of what the U.S. Homeland Security Council now is calling H1N1 flu, but has been known as “swine flu,” at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif. A male Marine reported to a medical clinic on base over the weekend complaining of flu-like symptoms. Initial test results indicate the H1N1 virus, and the service is waiting for further results from testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway said. The Marine, along with...

CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq (July 7, 2006) -- After more than a month of living out of armored vehicles and combating insurgents daily near Fallujah, nearly 100 U.S. Marines recently returned to this region in western Al Anbar province to continue security and stability operations. After months of life “on the road” throughout Fallujah, Marines from the Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based D Company, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, have returned to western Iraq to help their parent battalion maintain security and stability. “This is a lot quieter area than what we came from - every day we were guaranteed something would...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President Bush will spend much of his day with Marines and sailors, attending church and joining them for lunch at the base in Twentynine Palms, CA. Last night in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs, GWB helped pull in nearly $2 million for the RNC at the Toscana Country Club. Tomorrow, after a speech on immigration in Orange County, the President heads for Las Vegas and a fundraiser for Nevada Congressman Jon Porter. From the podium, the President mentioned dignitaries in attendance such as Dug Sundheim, California Republican Party chairman; Bruce McPherson, Secretary of State; Sen....

President Bush will visit the Coachella Valley and the Twentynine Palms Marine base next weekend. Bush will attend a Republican National Committee fundraiser at the Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells on April 22. Tickets to the dinner cost $25,000, said Palm Desert Mayor Jim Ferguson, a longtime Republican activist who received an invitation but is not attending. Bush will spend the nights of April 22 and April 23 in Rancho Mirage, said Alex Conant, a White House spokesman. However, the White House is not yet divulging where in Rancho Mirage the president will stay, he said. On April 23,...

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif., Sept. 13, 2005 – For more than 140 years, the Armed Services YMCA continues to increase quality of life for service members and their families by offering support to communities and families. For director Anita Neu-Fultz and her staff at the Combat Center ASYMCA, that goal is paramount and unwavering as they volunteer to help others year-round. "Many people do not even know the Armed Service YMCA even exists," said Neu-Fultz. "They hear YMCA, and they think of sports programs and hotels and gyms and pools. But not many realize what we actually do here. We are...

Two years ago when the US first invaded Iraq, Brenda Freeman, and about fifteen of her close friends, went all around the city of Thousand Oaks, just 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles, and hung yellow ribbons along a couple streets to show support for her son who was a Marine in the 1st Expeditionary Force that had just crossed into Iraq. Just hours later, city officials removed the thousands of ribbons hung around the city and brought them back to Brenda's house. In protest, she contacted the former Mayor Andy Fox, and got permission to rehang all of the...

Enemies beware of M198's wrath: Fox 2/11 test fires CWC 729's HowitzersSubmitted by: MCLB BarstowStory Identification #: 20049316850Story by Lance Cpl. Nich R. Babb MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif.  (Sept. 2, 2004) -- After being in Iraq for the first months of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Marines of Fox Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, stationed at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., tested 19, M198 Howitzers at the Prospect Range Aug. 27, that were rebuilt by Maintenance Center Barstow's Cost Work Center 729 at the Prospect Range. The battery was attached to the 31st...

INDIANAPOLIS - A Marine from Indiana whose smiling, cigar-smoking image helped symbolize the fall of Baghdad a year ago suffered severe head injuries in fighting this week in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah. AP Photo Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch, 36, of Terre Haute, marked Friday's one-year anniversary of the fall at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Surgeons removed a piece of shrapnel that lodged near his optic nerve when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into his tank Tuesday in Fallujah, his wife said Friday. "He had to have his right eye removed. He's very concerned about that," April...

<p>Before shipping out to Iraq, the Marines are undertaking what amounts to a massive deprogramming of their own troops, teaching them to ask questions first and shoot later in an effort to win over local residents.</p> <p>TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -- On a bright winter afternoon in California's high desert, Staff Sgt. Adam Walker gathered his platoon's newest Marines to give them their marching orders for when they get to Iraq: Be nice.</p>

<p>Red, white and blue flags were the accessory of choice for many of the parade-goers who lined the streets in this military town on Saturday.</p> <p>"I’m totally pro-military. I’m supporting the troops and my family," said an excited Sylvia Lopez,who had a small flag sticking out of her hair to match her red, white and blue outfit.</p>

Marine Lance Cpl. Eduardo Velez welds together a portion of fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border near Naco, Ariz., on Thursday. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) BISBEE -- The Marines have landed. Although they are not taking a beach from an enemy, they are working along the border to help slow drug smugglers from entering the United States from Mexico. Nearly 60 members of Marine Wing Support Squadron 374 from Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California arrived late August for a monthlong deployment. Their mission is to improve a portion of the border road and install more fencing in support...

<p>TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - After an emotional homecoming, the first wave of Marines to return to this desert base from combat missions in Iraq now face the difficult challenge of readjusting to life stateside.</p> <p>A group of 69 troops were greeted by tears and embraces from some 200 relatives and friends Saturday night after a 40-hour trek from the Middle East. The soldiers, most of them deployed since January, were the first of 1,500 Marines expected to return to Twentynine Palms this week.</p>

Proving Saddam's Death Could Take Weeks By MATT KELLEY .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - For the U.S. military in Iraq, determining whether Saddam Hussein is dead or alive has taken a back seat to more pressing matters such as securing Baghdad and searching for weapons of mass destruction. White House chief of staff Andrew Card said this week he believes Saddam is dead. If Card is right, what's left of the deposed Iraqi leader's body is probably buried in tons of rubble in one of two huge bomb craters in the Iraqi capital. U.S. military teams have investigated...

NEAR KARBALA, Iraq, Mar 24, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The Army's 3rd Infantry Division dashed north Monday toward the Shiite holy city of Karbala, only 50 miles south of Baghdad, but was stalled by a sandstorm that blew out the desert in the afternoon. To the south, British troops were engaged in artillery exchanges with Iraqi forces on the outskirts of Basra, British military officials said. British troops have remained outside the city, the second largest in Iraq, unable to move through it because of pockets of resistance. A British spokeswoman at U.S. Central Command said the resistance...