Military Articles and Press Releases Options

[Marine]

MCLB Albany celebrates National Kids Day
Submitted by: MCLB Albany
Story Identification #: 200581683741
Story by Lance Cpl. Rose A. Müth



MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE ALBANY, Ga. (Aug. 11, 2005) -- In areas all over America there are children being celebrated for their youth, spirit and imagination. Since 2001, National Kids Day has helped communities and families come together to help celebrate the gift of spending time together.

With National Kids Day usually celebrated on the first Sunday of August, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany celebrated in style on July 29 at Thomason Gym.

“National Kids Day is about family and quality time,” said Paula Caserio, MCLB Albany Youth and Teen Center director. “This is the third year we have held the event and the attendance rate keeps growing every year.”

Since the event is only a few years old, planning the event takes time to advertise and promote on and off base.

“We start planning the event about six months in advance with the Boys and Girls Club of America to get everything prepared for the actual event,” Caserio said. “We usually contract the vendors out about two to three months before the event.”

With various vendors around Albany attending the event, the information passed was geared to help inform parents of different things children can be involved in.

“We had the Albany Police Department Drug Unit, Outdoor Adventures, Wild Adventures, Preventative Education and Alcohol and Substance Abuse counselors, and some other vendors come out to the event,” Caserio said. “After the event was held in the gym, we had a pool party for the older kids at the base pool to help include them in the celebration.”

Policemen with the Albany Police Department set up a static display of drugs to help show parents what different drugs looked like and what kind of devices are being made with simple items found in the house to utilize the drugs.

“The drug display was very interesting,” said Staff Sgt. Derrick Washington, Financial Management Branch, Supply Chain Management Services, Logistics Command. “This was a good time for the kids to come out and see some different things and learn different stuff. To see how people made the devices for the drugs is really interesting.”

With National Kids Day being recognized as a time for families to come together and to spend meaningful time with each other, many families aboard MCLB Albany attended the event despite the state wide tax-free weekend at the surrounding shopping areas.

“I would say this year was very successful even thought it started on the tax-free weekend for back to school shopping,” Caserio said. “We try to plan more events for the children - young and old, and to give information to parents to help provide a better environment for their children, give them resources they can have or someone they can contact and have things for them to do with their children here also.”

Although National Kids Day is being celebrated nationally on Aug. 7, the event was held inside the gym due to the heat and thunderstorms usually encountered this time of year.

“The first year we held the event at Covella Pond and it was really hot outside,” Caserio said. “So we decided to bring the event indoors and the vendors and participants were relieved. But this year’s event went well and we are already looking forward to next year.”

For more information on National Kids Day, go to www.kidsday.net or call Paula Caserio at 639-7930.
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf...39?opendocument

[Marine]

Marine daughter displays exceptional strength
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification #: 2005818131320
Story by Lance Cpl. Alec Kleinsmith



MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, CALIF. (Aug. 10, 2005) -- Ryley R. McLaughlin looks like any typical 2-year-old girl. She's outgoing, animated and has an energy level many adults would love to possess. But unknown to most, she is one of the many children in our country who suffer from mental and physical disabilities.

Fortunately for Ryley and her parents, there is a program offered to military families aboard Camp Pendleton that offers guidance and support to aid families trying to raise handicapped children.

Military families have a support system to lean on in the Exceptional Family Member Program - a non-profit organization which allows parents of disabled children to come together and share their experiences with each other.

"Parents use the program to network with other families so they can exchange parenting tips," said Samantha J. Holt, the family programs coordinator for Camp Flashhh (Families laughing and sharing happiness, hugs and hope), a separate program offered by the Armed Forces Young Men's Christian Association, which works in conjunction with EFMP and its participating families.

Through the EFMP and Camp Flashhh, families participate in free field trips, such as visiting museums, going to baseball games and bowling.

"The program also puts parents in a comfort zone because they know that they are in an organization with other military families who are dealing with similar parenting issues," said Holt.

The EFMP is geared primarily toward children and young adults, but adults with disabilities are not exempt from participation.

Some families even have a disabled parent as well as a disabled child, said Jenny L. Troyer, the Operation Hero facilitator for Camp Flashhh.

The program caters to almost every kind of disability, whether the disability is something as minor as asthma or as serious as Down's syndrome.

There are currently 30 families active in the EFMP, but there are more families who meet the programs criteria who could benefit from the available resources.

"Unfortunately, many junior Marines are afraid to enroll in the program because they are apprehensive about asking their staff NCOs for time off from work to participate in the different field trips and events the EFMP and Camp Flashhh offer," said Maj. Bret M. McLaughlin, 44, a logistics officer with I Marine Expeditionary Force and Ryley's father.

McLaughlin and his wife Deb know from experience that the EFMP is an extremely helpful resource. They have two daughters who are a part of the program, and on Aug. 10 the family was treated to complimentary tickets to Sea World San Diego courtesy of Camp Flashhh.

During the field trip, Ryley and her sister, Taylor Bower, 13, were treated to views of graceful dolphins, enormous killer whales and friendly sea lions.

What makes Ryley's trip to Sea World all the more prominent is the fact that Ryley was born prematurely and only weighed 2 lbs., 10 oz.

"During week 17 of my pregnancy, the doctors spoke to us about possibly terminating Ryley due to complications from the pregnancy," said Deb McLaughlin.

Instead the family kept their hopes high, and Ryley was finally brought into the world.

Now almost three, Ryley suffers from pulmonary stenosis and atrial septal, both heart defects affecting blood flow and appetite.

Mentally, Riley has speech-delayed disorder, which limits her to 15 spoken words and some sign language.

Fortunately for the McLaughlin family, the EFMP is there to help ease some of the obstacles that naturally comes with raising disabled children, such as increased medical care and personal attention.

When Maj. McLaughlin was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, Mrs. McLaughlin found the EFMP to be helpful, but found most of her support through communicating with other military families in her neighborhood.

"The Pendleton EFMP has been extremely helpful in providing valuable resources to families for their disabled children," said Deb McLaughlin. "We just wish more people knew about the program."

For more information on the Exceptional Family Member Program and the Camp Flashhh program, go to camppendletonasymca.org or call 725-5363.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf...E7?opendocument

[Marine]

Reservists watch towers fall, fight back
Submitted by: 2nd Force Service Support Group
Story by: Computed Name: Cpl. C. J. Yard

Story Identification #: 200582033848




AL ASAD, Iraq(August 20, 2005) -- “I watched it happen. I felt helpless. My friends and I wanted to help out, but I couldn’t go because the fire department, where I’m a volunteer fire fighter, was on stand by. I had to go with the fire department if they went.”

This is the beginning of Lance Cpl. Michael Sprung’s story of what became his journey to becoming one of the few and the proud.

Sprung, a 29-year-old truck driver with Transportation Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 2, 2nd Force Service Support Group (Forward), recalled what happened that fateful September day that rocked the nation onto its heels.

The reservist from Rutherford, N.J., said he wanted to do anything he could to help. He even called the Red Cross to donate blood.

“They used the main road in my town as a route for the medical evacuations,” said Sprung. “For like a half an hour, it was a parade of ambulances. My wife was stuck in the city for three or four days. You couldn’t get in or out of the city at all.”

It wasn’t until he was Christmas shopping that same year when he saw the recruiters in the mall and had approached them to talk about his brother joining.

“The next thing I knew, they were talking to me about joining,” said Sprung. After that he enlisted and made the transition to the reserves keeping his job as a volunteer fire fighter and working for Nestle.

Not quite the same story, but Lance Cpls. James B. Brady and Christopher R. Fazio, both natives of Waretown, N.J., were both in high school when terrorist-hijacked planes smashed into the World Trade Center.

“You could see the smoke from my high school,” said Fazio. “The announcement came over the loudspeaker. It seemed like the right thing to do. Me and a couple of friends were thinking about joining. We were all going to go active-duty.”

Due to problems that arose with his family, Fazio found that joining the Marine Reserves would be the best way for him to serve his country.

“One of our buddies coerced us to join,” said the 21-year-old Brady.

New Jersey police officer J. M. Cabrera was beginning what he recalled as a very surreal 23-hour day of work when he saw what was happening in the distant horizon.

“As I pulled into the command center I was watching the flames from the first tower,” said the staff sergeant with 6th Motor Transport Battalion of Red Bank, N.J., augmented to CLB-2, along with Sprung, Fazio and Brady. “By the time I had got on the roof of the station the first tower had gone down. It was crazy.”

The day had begun just like any other for Cabrera, leaving for work, but when the radios and cell phones went out his initial reaction was shock and disbelief.

“You never thought something like this could happen,” said the 15-year Marine Corps veteran.

Cabrera, who missed fighting in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm by just a couple months, went into the city to help sift through the rubble and deliver supplies to the workers who had already been cleaning up and searching for those who were still in the buildings with a part of the 6th Motor Transport Battalion.

“My wife wanted to help out, but there were just too many people,” said Cabrera. “They had more volunteers than stuff that needed to get done. Literally, people were getting in the way of each other.”

Sprung and Cabrera said their wives were supportive in their decision to do their part in the Global War on Terrorism.

“My wife is supportive and has been through it all,” said Sprung. “She’s even supportive of me wanting to change [Military Occupational Specialty] to infantry.”

Cabrera said his wife knew that she was marrying a police officer and Marine.

“She knew who she was marrying,” said Cabrera. “The difference of being here is the bad guys are different and it’s forty degrees hotter. She doesn’t like being at home by herself with the baby, though.”

Brady said his family, and mainly his dad, can not stop bragging about all the good things he and his fellow Marines are doing here. However, they realize the imminent danger the young men and women face everyday they leave the base.

“They don’t like the danger we’re in,” said Brady, who survived a mine strike that hit his logistics vehicle system. “They’re supportive though, and that’s what helps us here. My dad is constantly telling everybody about what we’re doing here.”

Insurgents have been using mine strikes and Improvised Explosive Devices to hinder the progress of Coalition Forces, and by planting these make-shift bombs and fleeing the scene have become a faceless enemy to the Marines.

“It’s hard because we’re seeing our friends being injured,” said Fazio. “It’s more frustrating than anything because we can’t see who’s shooting the [Indirect Fire] or setting the mines and IEDs.”

“Out here we’re the targets,” added Brady, who was in Reserve Officer Training Corps in high school. “We’d take action if we saw who was doing all of it, but you never see them. It is pretty hard to drive while dodging mortars and worrying about hitting a mine or IED. The [Military Police] have been doing a great job of patrolling before we head out on our convoys, though.”

Brady said that he feels people focus on the negatives too much and do not see all of the positive things coming from their job.

“We’re here to do a job: give freedom to these people,” said Brady. “We’re getting that job done.”

Making that job safer for the Marines has been the use of the Marine Armor Kits, improving the structure of the vehicles used by the Marines, Sailors and Soldiers traveling the treacherous roads between the bases of Coalition Forces.

“This time around things are a lot safer because of the up-armor kits,” said Cabrera, who was also deployed during the beginning of the war in 2003. “The vehicle hardening has been a life-saver.”

Despite the rough times the three lance corporals faced during their time deployed, all three feel they need to come back to continue their supportive roles in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I’ve already made up my mind,” said Sprung, who used a picture of all the fire fighters who died Sept. 11 as motivation during his time at recruit training. “I’m going to be coming back out here no matter what.”

For more information about the Marines or news reported in this story, contact by e-mail cssemnfpao@cssemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil.

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000....80?OpenDocument

[The_Bammo]

A great deal can be learned from military disasters, glad you appreciate that fact.

PART ONE
PREWAR PLANS AND PREPARATIONS

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Chapter I: The Philippine Islands
Since the third century, the Philippine Islands had been under foreign influence, first from Hindu-Malayan empires in Sumatra, Indochina, and Borneo, and then from the Chinese beginning with the early Ming dynasty. Shortly after 1400 Mohammedanism was introduced, and for more than one hundred years all of the islands south of Luzon, and the southern portion of that island, were subject to the Mohammedans of Borneo. During this period, the Japanese established a loose control over northern Luzon and maintained a trading post at Aparri, on the north tip of the island.


European interest in the Philippine Archipelago began with the visit of a Spanish expedition under Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. But it was not until 1565 that the Spaniards established a permanent settlement in the Islands, on Cebu. Five years later they conquered Manila and then gradually extended their control over many of the Islands. late in the sixteenth century the military ruler of japan, Hideyoshi, claimed suzerainty, over the Islands. This claim was apparently neither intended nor taken seriously, but the Spanish did pay "tribute" for a short time to avoid trouble, secure trading rights in Japan, and protect the Jesuit missionaries there. Until 1898, despite unsuccessful efforts by the Portuguese and Dutch and one successful effort by the British (1762-1764) to wrest the Islands from her, Spain ruled the Philippines.

The impress of these centuries of foreign influence and control gave to the Philippines a strange mixture of Oriental and Occidental institutions. The original inhabitants were pushed back into the mountains and the Malayans became the dominant racial type. From later invasions came the Mohammedan religion and the Moslem customs prevalent in the south; from China came the impetus to trade and commerce, still largely controlled by the Chinese; and from Spain came the dominant religion, Christianity, the Roman law, and other features of Western civilization.

The United States seized the Philippine Islands from Spain in May 1898 after Admiral Dewey's victory in Manila Bay, during the Spanish-American War. Formal title to the Islands was granted the United States by the Treaty of Paris in December of that year. By the acquisition of the Philippines the United States at one step advanced its frontiers nearly 7,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean and "gave hostages to fortune in a sense which the American people have never fully realized."[1] Possession of the Islands made the United States an Asiatic power, with full responsibility for maintaining the peace and status quo in that area.

The government of the Islands was placed in the hands first of a Philippine commission and later of a governor general, both appointed by the President of the United
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States. The Filipinos, once their opposition ended, were allowed an increasingly large measure of self-rule and elected the members of the lower house of the legislature, the Philippine Assembly. In 1913, they were granted free trade with the United States, and three years later, in the Jones Act, were permitted a limited autonomy.
A succession of able American governors established a happy relationship between the two countries, and a steadily increasing sentiment for Philippine independence found ready support in the American Congress. A bill for Philippine independence was passed by Congress, over President Hoover's veto, in January 1933, but vetoed by the Philippine legislature. It was passed again, with some changes, as the Tydings-McDuffie Act, on 24 March 1934, and this time approved by the Philippine legislature.

The Tydings-McDuffie Act provided for the recognition of Philippine independence after a ten-year transitional period. During these ten years the United States would be allowed to "maintain military and other reservations and armed forces" in the Islands, and the President of the United States would have the power "to call into the service of such armed forces all military forces organized by the Philippine Government."[2] When the transitional period was over, the United States would abandon all military installations in the Islands.

The Tydings-McDuffie Act left open the question of naval reservations, but authorized the President to negotiate with the Philippine Government for American naval bases in the Islands. The closing date for such negotiations was set at two years after the recognition of independence. Until then "the matter of naval reservations and fueling stations," the Act provided, "shall remain in its present status."[3]

A year after the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act, the Filipinos adopted a liberal constitution based on the American model and established an interim government known as the Commonwealth. Elections in which Manual Quezon was chosen as president followed soon after, and before the end of 1935 the Philippine National Assembly met to draft plans for local defense.

The Islands
Comprising almost 7,100 known islands and islets, the Philippine Archipelago lies approximately 500 miles off the Asiatic mainland and extends 1,150 miles almost due north and south from Formosa to Borneo. Strategically situation in the geographic heart of the Far East, the Islands are centrally located in relation to Japan, China, Burma, French Indochina, Thailand, Malaya, and the Netherlands Indies. They lie athwart the trade routes leading from Japan and China through the South China Sea to southeast Asia and the rich supplies of oil and minerals in the Indies. Vital areas in Japan and along the Chinese coast are within quick striking distance by sea and air of the Philippines. Over 5,000 miles from Honolulu and 7,000 miles from San Francisco, Manila, the chief city and capital of the Islands, is only 1,800 miles from Tokyo. Formosa and Hong Kong are less than 700 miles distant, Singapore 1,500 miles, and Truk in the Caroline Islands 2,100 miles.[4] The Caroline, Marianas, and the Marshall Islands, stretching across the Central Pacific, lie along the

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United States lines of communication with the Philippines.


SIGNING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMONWEALTH, 23 MARCH 1935. Seated, left to right: George H. Dern, Secretary of War; President Franklin D. Roosevelt, signing the Constitution of the Philippine Commonwealth; Manuel L. Quezon, President, Philippine Senate; standing, left to right: Brig. Gen. Creed F. Cox, Chief, Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department; Frank Murphy, Governor General of the Philippine Islands; Cordell Hull, Secretary of State; Key Pittman, Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senate; Pedro Guevara, Philippine Resident Commissioner; Miguel Cuaderno, Vice President, Philippine National Bank, Manila, P.I.; Manuel Roxas, Representative, Philippine Legislature, Delegate, Constitutional Assembly; Francisco A. Delgado, Philippine Resident Commissioner.
The land area of the archipelago totals about 115,000 square miles. Only 460 of the Islands have an area greater than one square mile, and only eleven boast an area greater than 1,000 square miles. These eleven islands account for 94 percent of the total land area in the archipelago. The largest and most important is Luzon (40,420 square miles) in the north, where Manila is located. Next in size to Luzon is Mindanao (36,527 square miles) in the south, followed by the islands in the central group, the Visayas: Samar, Negros, Panay, Leyte, Cebu, and others.[5]

The climate of the Islands is tropical, with an average yearly temperature
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between 78° and 80° F. The year may be divided generally into dry and wet seasons, which come at different times on the east and west coast because of shift in the seasonal winds or monsoons. From June to September, when the monsoon blows from the southwest, the weather offers little difficulty to the landing of a hostile military force on the favorable beaches along the east coasts. The period of the northeast monsoons, October through April, is the best time for landings along the western China Sea coasts. most of Mindanao, a portion of the Visayas, and southern Luzon have no dry season and no pronounced maximum rainy season.
The people of the Philippines are mostly of Malayan stock, and in 1941 numbered 17,000,000. In that year, Cebu and central Luzon were the most heavily populated areas, and Manila, with 684,000 inhabitants, was the largest city. There were nearly 30,000 Japanese nationals in the Islands, more than two-thirds of whom were concentrated in Davao, the chief port of Mindanao. The 117,000 Chinese constituted the largest foreign group in the Islands; on Luzon there were almost 9,000 American civilians.

Over sixty-five dialects are spoken in the Islands. When the United States acquired the Islands, a small percentage of the people spoke Spanish; after forty years of American occupation about 27 percent spoke English and 3 percent Spanish. Of the many native dialects, Tagalog, the language of the wealthy and influential resident of central Luzon, was chosen as the basis for a national language in 1937, although twice as many people spoke the Visayan dialect. While the many dialects have certain similarities, it is not possible for the natives in different parts of the Islands to understand each other readily. This fact made the recruitment of Filipinos for military service on a national scale difficult, since troops recruited from one island often could not understand their American or Tagalog officers, or troops from other islands.

The Philippines are predominantly agricultural, the principal crops being rice (the chief element in the Filipino diet), copra, sugar, hemp, tobacco, and corn. The far-ranging mountain areas are a source of gold and silver, and of the more important base metals, such as iron, chrome, manganese, copper, and lead. Sixty percent of the Philippines is covered by forest, much of it hardwoods. The fishing banks off Manila Bay and the Sulu Archipelago supplement the Filipino diet and are the basis of one of the more important industries in the Islands. Even after many years of American occupation there was little manufacturing in the Philippines, most of the inhabitants being engaged in home industries or in the processing of agricultural products such as sugar, hemp, and coconuts.

With interisland and coastal shipping carrying the bulk of Philippine products, there was no great need for roads and railroads. Only on Luzon was there a road and rail net adequate to support large-scale military operations. of the 14,270 miles of highway in the archipelago in 1940, more than half were in central and southern Luzon. There were only 50,000 motor vehicles in the Islands; the Filipinos relied on the powerful carabao, or water buffalo, for transportation as well as labor. The two railway systems in the Islands, the government-owned Manila Railway Company on Luzon and the American-owned Philippine Railway Company on Panay and Cebu, had a total of 840 miles of narrow gauge track.
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Most of the principal towns and cities were linked by telephone, telegraph, or radio, and all parts of the archipelago by the government postal system. The American-owned Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company connected manila with most important towns on Luzon, as well as the principal population centers on Panay, Negros, Cebu, and Mindanao. in addition, forty provincial governments operated their own telephone systems so that many small towns and villages had at least one telephone joining them with Manila. Cable connected Manila with Guam, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, and four transoceanic radio stations provided communication with the outside world.
The Philippine Islands are largely mountainous, with elevations as high as 10,000 feet. Narrow coastal plains can be found on most of the islands, and there are numerous short, swift-running streams. large plain areas and navigable rivers are few. on every island are sand beaches, some of them extensive, but few open on lowlands where there is space for military maneuver.

Luzon, with one tenth of its total area a large plain, and another 5,000 square miles forming a magnificent river valley, is the one island in the Philippines whose terrain permits military operations on a large scale. in the north, closed in by mountains on the east and west, is a valley extending southward for over 120 miles and with an average width of 40 miles. Flowing north through the valley is the Cagayan River. Along the west coast is a narrow plain offering only limited opportunities for military operations. A road runs along this coast from the tip of Luzon towards Manila. Southern Luzon is a volcanic region, part plain and part mountain, with numerous deep indentations forming bays and gulfs, and with many beaches suitable for the landing of a military force.

The central portion of Luzon is composed of a plain extending north about 120 miles from Manila Bay to the Lingayen Gulf. With mountains to the east and west, the plain is well protected from invasion except at its two extremities. it is the most highly developed economic area in the Philippines and the one most suitable for mobile warfare.[6]

The three most important military highways on Luzon are Routes 1, 3 and 5--two-lane, all weather roads with concrete or asphalt surface. Each enters the capital and each has numerous access roads linking Manila with all parts of the island. of the 704 miles of railroad on Luzon in 1941, about half were in the central plain, which, in addition, contained 250 miles of private railway lines. All of the road, with the exception of a short stretch above Manila, was single track.

From the South China Sea the southern entrance to the central plain is through Manila Bay, one of the finest natural harbors in the Far East. Opening out from a 12-mile-wide entrance between high headlands, the bay expands toward the low-lying plain to a width of thirty miles. Thirty miles from the entrance lies Manila, and to its north and south are other harbors large enough to shelter seagoing vessels. Mariveles, just inside the northern entrance, is an excellent and easily reached anchorage, and the headland of Sangley point, where the Cavite naval base was located, has always been recognized as one of the finest ports in the bay.
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MANILA HARBOR. The Bataan peninsula, partly shrouded in fog and clouds, is visible twenty-five miles across Manila Bay.
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On either side of the entrance to manila Bay are high volcanic peaks covered with luxuriant tropical foliage. North of the entrance is the Bataan peninsula; to the south is Cavite Province. From a military point of view, the more important and more easily defended of the headlands is the Bataan peninsula, a rocky extension of the Zambales Mountain range which separates the central plain of Luzon from the China Sea.
Across the entrance to Manila Bay are several small islands. The largest and most important, Corregidor, lies two miles off Bataan and, with Caballo, separates the entrance into the North and South Channels. Shaped like a tadpole with its tail to the east, Corregidor measures three and one half miles in length and one and one half miles at its widest point. One mile south of the tip of the tail is Caballo, less than one third the size of Corregidor. In the South Channel, about a mile from the southern headland, lies El Fraile, a rock about 200 by 100 yards jutting up into the entrance of Manila Bay. Just outside and to the south of the entrance is Carabao, the fourth of the small islands whose location in Manila Bay gave them a strategic importance out of all proportion to their size. In the history of American plans for the defense of the Philippines, these islands loom large.

The Philippine Army
Before the establishment of the Commonwealth Government in 1935, no effort was made to prepare the Philippines for their

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own defense. The United States had assumed all obligations for national defense and maintained a garrison in the Islands for that purpose. This garrison numbered about 10,000 men, half of whom were Philippine Scouts, a U.S. Army unit in which the enlisted men, with some exceptions, were native Filipinos and most of the officers American. After 1913 the Philippine garrison was called the Philippine Department, a regular U.S. Army establishment commanded by an American general officer. The Philippine Constabulary, first organized in 1901, was the national police force, but by training and organization had a military character. Thus, except for their experience with the Constabulary, the Filipinos had had no military tradition upon which to build a national army.[7]
One of the first problems of the newly established Commonwealth Government was to make provision for the defense of the archipelago. Such a task required a man with proven military and executive ability, and, since there was no likely candidate in the Philippines, the President-elect Manuel L. Quezon turned to the United States for help. In the summer of 1935, he induced his friend, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, then Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, to become the military adviser to the new government in its effort to organize a national army.[8] President Roosevelt's consent was readily obtained and arrangements quickly concluded.

MacArthur's title in his new assignment was Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government; his mission to aid in the "establishment and development of a system of national Defense." The authority given him was unusually broad. He was authorized to deal directly with the Secretary of War and the Chief of Staff and, "in all cases not specifically covered," to use his own judgment. "Your mission must be accomplished---," he was told," ways and means are largely left to you."[9] Although there was no official connection between the Philippine Department, the U.S. Army command in the Islands, and the Officer of the Military Advisor, the department commander, Maj. Gen. Lucius R. Holbrook, was informed that assistance to General MacArthur was "the most important peacetime mission of your command."[10]

General MacArthur selected Majs. Dwight D. Eisenhower and James B. Ord as his principal assistants. With the aid of a special committee from the Army War College, they prepared a plan to provide the Philippine Commonwealth with a system of national security by 1946, the date the Islands would become independent. This plan called for a small regular army, a conscription system, a ten-year training program of two classes a year to build up a reserve force, a small air force, and a fleet of small motor torpedo boats to repel an enemy landing. The tactical organization of this army was to be based on divisions of approximately 7,500 men. Armament and
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equipment for the new army was to be of a type suitable to the economy and terrain in the Philippines.[11]
The staff of the Military Advisor was always small. In addition to the officers he took with him, General MacArthur secured the services of four other officers from the Philippine Department when he reached Manila. He also employed as a civilian assistant a retired naval officer, Sidney L. Huff, to advise in naval matters. On the death of Colonel Ord in an airplane accident in 1938, Lt. Col. Richard J. Marshall was chosen to replace him. In October 1937, Capt. Hugh J. Casey joined MacArthur's staff to advise in engineer matters, and later Maj. William F. Marquat was designated antiaircraft officer. All of these men remained with General MacArthur through the war years.[12]

The first legislative measure of the Philippine National Assembly was the passage, on 21 December 1935, of the National Defense Act, which embodied the plan proposed by General MacArthur. In explaining the bill to the Assembly, President Quezon emphasized that the defense program must be carried out economically and should be "passively defensive." It would be impossible to reasons of economy, he declared, to develop an adequate fleet in the short time allotted and with the money available.[13]

The National Defense Act provided for a regular force of 10,000 men and a reserve force which was expected to reach 400,000 by the middle of 1946. The regular establishment was also to include the Philippine Constabulary, then consisting of about 6,000 men, so that more than half of the regular army from the start consisted of partially trained men. All Filipinos between the ages of twenty-one and fifty were liable for military service. After a 5 1/2-month training period Filipinos would become a part of the reserve force. There were to be two classes a year, each to consist of 20m000 men with the regulars serving as training cadres. For the training of junior officers a military academy patterned after West Point was to be established at Baguio on Luzon. It was expected to graduate about 100 officers each year.[14]

For military purposes the Commonwealth was divided into ten military districts with functions comparable to those of the prewar corps areas in the United States. Each district had an approximately equal population, and each was to provide initially one reserve division and ultimately three. Luzon, together with several outlying islands (Mindora, Palawan, Masbate), had five military districts; Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago together constituted another; and the Visayas four more. In each district the military commander was responsible during peacetime for training and for
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the preparation of defense plans; in time of war for the defense of his district. The provincial governor was responsible for the enforcement of the recruitment and mobilization laws.[15]
Although the district commanders were responsible for defense plans, the Office of the Military Advisor drew up the plans for all the major islands--Luzon, Cebu, Negros, Panay, Leyte, Mindanao, Bohol, Mindoro--as well as many of the small ones. Since these plans were to be employed by the Philippine Government after that nation had received its independence, they were based on the assumption that there would be no U.S. Army forces in the Islands and that all forces would come from the Philippine Army. The plans of the Military Advisor also called for the establishment of seacoast defenses along the seven straits which give access to the inland waters of the Philippine Islands.[16]

The defense of the coast line--longer than that of the United States--posed an extremely difficult problem. The National Defense Act made no provision for a navy but established in the army an Off Shore Patrol This organization was to consist of fast motor torpedo boats of a British design. Contracts for thirty-six of the vessels, to be completed by 1946, were placed with British shipbuilders under specifications that called for a boat 65 feet long, with a 13-foot beam, three 12-cylinder engines, and a speed of 41 knots. Armament would consist of two torpedo tubes, depth charges, and light antiaircraft guns.[17] "A relatively small fleet of such vessels," said General MacArthur, "... will have distinct effect in compelling any hostile force to approach cautiously and by small detachments."[18]

The National Defense Act also made provision for an air force, to be utilized primarily for coast defense. By 1946 the Commonwealth expected to have a fleet of approximately 100 fast bombers, supported by other tactical types. They would be used with the Off Shore Patrol to keep hostile craft away from the Philippine coast.

The basic concepts which determined the nature and organization of the Commonwealth military establishment are perhaps best explained by MacArthur himself. The underlying principle, he said in a speech in 1936, was to create a defensive force of such strength as to make an invasion so costly in lives and money that "no Chancellory in the World, if it accepts the opinions of the military and naval staffs, will ever willingly make an attempt to willfully attack the Philippines ..." The Islands. MacArthur pointed out, had "enormous defensive advantages" in their geographical separation from possible enemies, mountainous character, heavy forests and jungles, narrow beaches and limited communications. Luzon, the probably objective of an enemy, he reminded his listeners, had only two areas in which "a hostile army of any size could land." "Each of these," he added, "is broken by strong defensive positions, which if properly
--11--

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
manned and prepared would present to any attacking force a practically impossible problem of penetration."
When the development of the Philippine Army was completed, MacArthur believed it would be strong enough to oppose successfully "any conceivable expeditionary force." It would have a great advantage also in being assigned only one mission: defense of the homeland. Each unit of the army would operate over ground it knew well and which had been "deliberately selected and organized for defense."

The absence of a battle fleet in the plan of defense, MacArthur explained, was due to the defensive mission of the military establishment. The major duty of a large navy, he pointed out, was to protect overseas possessions. For the Philippines, which had no colonies, the only naval task was that of inshore defense. This defense would be provided by "flotillas of fast torpedo boats, supported by an air force," whose task would be to deny the enemy an opportunity to bring its forces close enough to Philippine shores to debark his troops and supplies. All these preparations, he believed, would, by 1946, place the Islands "in a favorable posture of defensive security."[19]

The development of the Philippine Army was slow. The year 1936 was devoted to the building of camps, organization of cadres, and the special training of instructors, drawn largely from the Constabulary. The commander of the Philippine Department provided Philippine Scouts as instructors and detailed U.S. Army officers to assist in the inspection, instruction, and administration of the program. By the end of the year instructors had been trained and camps established.

The first group of 20,000 men was called up on 1 January 1937 and by the end of 1939 there were 4,800 officers and 104,000 men in the reserves. Infantry training was given at camps scattered throughout the Philippines; field artillery training was concentrated in the vicinity of the U.S. Army's Fort Stotsenburg near Angeles, about fifty miles north of Manila, and specialized training was given at Fort William McKinley just south of Manila. Coast artillery instruction was carried on at Fort Stotsenburg and at Grande Island in Subic Bay by personnel supplied largely by the American commander at Corregidor.[20]

One of the greatest difficulties encountered in the organization of the Philippine Army was the creation of a satisfactory officer corps. in the Constabulary were Filipino officers with excellent training and experience, but their interests lay in law enforcement rather than military training. Some of the best officers came from the Philippine Scouts; these men rapidly became senior officers in the Philippine Army. The great problem was to train junior officers to command the training camps and reserve units once these were formed. Since no graduates could be expected from the projected military academy at Baguio for four years the most promising men in each semiannual class of reservists were selected for an additional six months' training as noncommissioned officers. The best of these were chosen for officer training and
--12--

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
became 3d lieutenants upon graduation from Officer Candidate School. Senior ROTC units in colleges and universities were established to provide additional junior reserve officers.
The air program of the Philippine Army, though its development was slow, met with few serious obstacles. The first Philippine Army airfield was built just outside of Manila, and by the time the first runway was completed three trainers were available for pilot training. This course was supplemented by courses in military flying and technical training given in the United States to selected air force students. By 1940 the Philippine Army Air Corps had about forty planes and one hundred trained pilots. Practice in light bombing and gunnery had been given, and the entire instructional system, General Eisenhower observed later, was "on a very sound basis."[21]

The program for the building of a fleet of motor torpedo boats did not progress well. Only two had been delivered by the end of 1939 when the war in Europe destroyed any hope of securing additional boats from England. An effort was made to produce the torpedo boats locally by purchasing the engines and the right to build from the British design, but by October 1941 only one boat had been completed. Meanwhile, with the assistance of the U.S. Navy, the training of boatmen and mechanics continued.[22]

No military plan for the defense of an archipelago such as the Philippine Islands could have had serious prospects of success against a determined enemy with a powerful fleet without great reliance on more effective naval support than that provided by patrol boats. The Philippine Government had neither the industrial capacity nor the wealth to build and support a navy which could compete with that of a first class naval power. President Quezon had frankly admitted this in November 1935. Such naval support could come only from the United States. No provision, it is true, had been made in the Tydings-McDuffie Act for the use by the U.S. Navy of naval bases in the Islands after 1946. But such a possibility had not been specifically denied and it was undoubtedly believed that arrangements for their use would be made at a later date. Certainly, the Philippine Government did not anticipate that the United States would stand idly by if the security of the Philippines was threatened.
--13--

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[Marine]

Base safety: No water-related deaths on Okinawa for 492 days
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification #: 200582223523
Story by Sgt. Ethan E. Rocke



CAMP FOSTER,OKINAWA, Japan (Aug. 19, 2005) -- A strong water safety campaign started in April of last year combined with sea condition warnings have contributed to a drop in water fatalities, base safety officials said.

Today the number of consecutive days without an ocean fatality involving a Status Of Forces Agreement member reached 492.

Shawn M. Curtis, the Marine Corps Base Camp Butler occupational safety and health specialist, said he believes the command’s efforts are at least partially responsible for the streak.
From January 2000 until April 15, 2004, 17 SOFA members perished in Okinawa waters, according to Curtis.

The last SOFA drowning incident on Okinawa occurred April 15, 2004 when two service members drowned in strong currents off of Zampamisaki, also known as Bolo Point, one of the most dangerous sites on the island, accord ing to Curtis.

For the past 16 months, base safety officials have saturated the community with water safety information.

Incoming SOFA personnel watch a 15-minute water safety video at the mandatory newcomers’ brief every Monday and Wednesday.

The Armed Forces Network has been a strong ally in the campaign, filling television and radio airwaves with valuable water safety information, Curtis said.

“AFN is our biggest supporter,” he said. “People are getting tired of seeing the same commercials, but that means they’re working.”

Three new commercials are currently in production, Curtis added.

One of the best resources available to the community is the sea condition (SC) warning system, Curtis said.

The system, which breaks down into four tiers: no condition, caution, warning and red, is a means of informing and advising Okinawa-based SOFA personnel on heightened or hazardous sea conditions.

“No condition,” according to Curtis, is the most ideal and safest condition in which to enter the water.

Under SC-caution, only experienced personnel who can accurately assess local conditions should enter the water, according to Kadena Air Base’s Web site.

Under SC-warning, only those who have extensive experience in water activity should enter the water if they believe themselves capable of handling the conditions.

When the waters are classified as SC-red, SOFA members should not enter the water for any reason.

In the 17 water fatalities of SOFA status personnel from January 2000 to April 15, 2005, 80 percent occurred during heightened sea conditions, according to Curtis.

Two recent incidents in which experienced surfers were swept out to sea during heightened conditions reinforce the effectiveness of the system, Curtis said.

Aug. 5, an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crew from Kadena Air Base’s 33rd and 31st Rescue Squadrons rescued the 19-year-old son of an Okinawa Marine after the teen was swept out to sea while surfing off of Kanesku Beach Park, near Kadena Marina.

July 16, a Japanese Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a sailor stationed on Okinawa after he was swept out to sea while surfing off of Ikei Island.

The sailor said he and a friend were surfing together when they were swept out. The sailor’s partner, a surfer with 26 years of experience, barely managed to swim back to shore after about 30 minutes. The sailor wasn’t as fortunate. He spent three hours at sea before being rescued.

“I didn’t think he made it,” the sailor said, talking about his surfing partner. “I couldn’t see him anywhere, and I feared the worst.”

The sailor’s morbid thoughts quickly turned to the sobering reality of his own situation.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Not at 26 years old; that’s too young. I’m going to make it back in.’”

When the winds pick up on Ikei Island, the currents can be treacherous, Curtis said. The area has been designated one of the seven most dangerous sites around the island. Large signs at the seven locations posted by base safety personnel warn beachgoers of the dangers.

The incident at Ikei could have been avoided if the sailor and his friend had not made some significant mistakes, according to Curtis.

The Ikei site was unfamiliar to the sailor and his partner, and the two went out alone and entered the water despite the fact that no one else was surfing.

“If the locals aren’t out or there’s nobody else in the water, there’s probably a good reason why,” Curtis said. “It’s probably dangerous conditions.”

Sea conditions vary from one side of Okinawa to the other. The East China Sea side of the island may have different conditions from the Pacific Ocean side.

Because of this broad classification, the SC system has met with some criticism and controversy. Many water enthusiasts complain that the system is not precise enough, but the system is in place for good reason, according to the sailor.

“I’ll definitely be checking the sea conditions when I go out in the future,” he said.
Current sea conditions can be found on the Kadena Air Base Web site at www.kadena.af.mil under “weather.”

In the event of an ocean emergency on Okinawa, anyone can dial 118 from any phone to initiate an immediate emergency response, Curtis said.

Base safety: No water-related deaths on Okinawa for 492 days
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification #: 200582223523
Story by Sgt. Ethan E. Rocke



CAMP FOSTER,OKINAWA, Japan (Aug. 19, 2005) -- A strong water safety campaign started in April of last year combined with sea condition warnings have contributed to a drop in water fatalities, base safety officials said.

Today the number of consecutive days without an ocean fatality involving a Status Of Forces Agreement member reached 492.

Shawn M. Curtis, the Marine Corps Base Camp Butler occupational safety and health specialist, said he believes the command’s efforts are at least partially responsible for the streak.
From January 2000 until April 15, 2004, 17 SOFA members perished in Okinawa waters, according to Curtis.

The last SOFA drowning incident on Okinawa occurred April 15, 2004 when two service members drowned in strong currents off of Zampamisaki, also known as Bolo Point, one of the most dangerous sites on the island, accord ing to Curtis.

For the past 16 months, base safety officials have saturated the community with water safety information.

Incoming SOFA personnel watch a 15-minute water safety video at the mandatory newcomers’ brief every Monday and Wednesday.

The Armed Forces Network has been a strong ally in the campaign, filling television and radio airwaves with valuable water safety information, Curtis said.

“AFN is our biggest supporter,” he said. “People are getting tired of seeing the same commercials, but that means they’re working.”

Three new commercials are currently in production, Curtis added.

One of the best resources available to the community is the sea condition (SC) warning system, Curtis said.

The system, which breaks down into four tiers: no condition, caution, warning and red, is a means of informing and advising Okinawa-based SOFA personnel on heightened or hazardous sea conditions.

“No condition,” according to Curtis, is the most ideal and safest condition in which to enter the water.

Under SC-caution, only experienced personnel who can accurately assess local conditions should enter the water, according to Kadena Air Base’s Web site.

Under SC-warning, only those who have extensive experience in water activity should enter the water if they believe themselves capable of handling the conditions.

When the waters are classified as SC-red, SOFA members should not enter the water for any reason.

In the 17 water fatalities of SOFA status personnel from January 2000 to April 15, 2005, 80 percent occurred during heightened sea conditions, according to Curtis.

Two recent incidents in which experienced surfers were swept out to sea during heightened conditions reinforce the effectiveness of the system, Curtis said.

Aug. 5, an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crew from Kadena Air Base’s 33rd and 31st Rescue Squadrons rescued the 19-year-old son of an Okinawa Marine after the teen was swept out to sea while surfing off of Kanesku Beach Park, near Kadena Marina.

July 16, a Japanese Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a sailor stationed on Okinawa after he was swept out to sea while surfing off of Ikei Island.

The sailor said he and a friend were surfing together when they were swept out. The sailor’s partner, a surfer with 26 years of experience, barely managed to swim back to shore after about 30 minutes. The sailor wasn’t as fortunate. He spent three hours at sea before being rescued.

“I didn’t think he made it,” the sailor said, talking about his surfing partner. “I couldn’t see him anywhere, and I feared the worst.”

The sailor’s morbid thoughts quickly turned to the sobering reality of his own situation.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Not at 26 years old; that’s too young. I’m going to make it back in.’”

When the winds pick up on Ikei Island, the currents can be treacherous, Curtis said. The area has been designated one of the seven most dangerous sites around the island. Large signs at the seven locations posted by base safety personnel warn beachgoers of the dangers.

The incident at Ikei could have been avoided if the sailor and his friend had not made some significant mistakes, according to Curtis.

The Ikei site was unfamiliar to the sailor and his partner, and the two went out alone and entered the water despite the fact that no one else was surfing.

“If the locals aren’t out or there’s nobody else in the water, there’s probably a good reason why,” Curtis said. “It’s probably dangerous conditions.”

Sea conditions vary from one side of Okinawa to the other. The East China Sea side of the island may have different conditions from the Pacific Ocean side.

Because of this broad classification, the SC system has met with some criticism and controversy. Many water enthusiasts complain that the system is not precise enough, but the system is in place for good reason, according to the sailor.

“I’ll definitely be checking the sea conditions when I go out in the future,” he said.
Current sea conditions can be found on the Kadena Air Base Web site at www.kadena.af.mil under “weather.”

In the event of an ocean emergency on Okinawa, anyone can dial 118 from any phone to initiate an immediate emergency response, Curtis said.

Base safety: No water-related deaths on Okinawa for 492 days
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification #: 200582223523
Story by Sgt. Ethan E. Rocke



CAMP FOSTER,OKINAWA, Japan (Aug. 19, 2005) -- A strong water safety campaign started in April of last year combined with sea condition warnings have contributed to a drop in water fatalities, base safety officials said.

Today the number of consecutive days without an ocean fatality involving a Status Of Forces Agreement member reached 492.

Shawn M. Curtis, the Marine Corps Base Camp Butler occupational safety and health specialist, said he believes the command’s efforts are at least partially responsible for the streak.
From January 2000 until April 15, 2004, 17 SOFA members perished in Okinawa waters, according to Curtis.

The last SOFA drowning incident on Okinawa occurred April 15, 2004 when two service members drowned in strong currents off of Zampamisaki, also known as Bolo Point, one of the most dangerous sites on the island, accord ing to Curtis.

For the past 16 months, base safety officials have saturated the community with water safety information.

Incoming SOFA personnel watch a 15-minute water safety video at the mandatory newcomers’ brief every Monday and Wednesday.

The Armed Forces Network has been a strong ally in the campaign, filling television and radio airwaves with valuable water safety information, Curtis said.

“AFN is our biggest supporter,” he said. “People are getting tired of seeing the same commercials, but that means they’re working.”

Three new commercials are currently in production, Curtis added.

One of the best resources available to the community is the sea condition (SC) warning system, Curtis said.

The system, which breaks down into four tiers: no condition, caution, warning and red, is a means of informing and advising Okinawa-based SOFA personnel on heightened or hazardous sea conditions.

“No condition,” according to Curtis, is the most ideal and safest condition in which to enter the water.

Under SC-caution, only experienced personnel who can accurately assess local conditions should enter the water, according to Kadena Air Base’s Web site.

Under SC-warning, only those who have extensive experience in water activity should enter the water if they believe themselves capable of handling the conditions.

When the waters are classified as SC-red, SOFA members should not enter the water for any reason.

In the 17 water fatalities of SOFA status personnel from January 2000 to April 15, 2005, 80 percent occurred during heightened sea conditions, according to Curtis.

Two recent incidents in which experienced surfers were swept out to sea during heightened conditions reinforce the effectiveness of the system, Curtis said.

Aug. 5, an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crew from Kadena Air Base’s 33rd and 31st Rescue Squadrons rescued the 19-year-old son of an Okinawa Marine after the teen was swept out to sea while surfing off of Kanesku Beach Park, near Kadena Marina.

July 16, a Japanese Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a sailor stationed on Okinawa after he was swept out to sea while surfing off of Ikei Island.

The sailor said he and a friend were surfing together when they were swept out. The sailor’s partner, a surfer with 26 years of experience, barely managed to swim back to shore after about 30 minutes. The sailor wasn’t as fortunate. He spent three hours at sea before being rescued.

“I didn’t think he made it,” the sailor said, talking about his surfing partner. “I couldn’t see him anywhere, and I feared the worst.”

The sailor’s morbid thoughts quickly turned to the sobering reality of his own situation.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Not at 26 years old; that’s too young. I’m going to make it back in.’”

When the winds pick up on Ikei Island, the currents can be treacherous, Curtis said. The area has been designated one of the seven most dangerous sites around the island. Large signs at the seven locations posted by base safety personnel warn beachgoers of the dangers.

The incident at Ikei could have been avoided if the sailor and his friend had not made some significant mistakes, according to Curtis.

The Ikei site was unfamiliar to the sailor and his partner, and the two went out alone and entered the water despite the fact that no one else was surfing.

“If the locals aren’t out or there’s nobody else in the water, there’s probably a good reason why,” Curtis said. “It’s probably dangerous conditions.”

Sea conditions vary from one side of Okinawa to the other. The East China Sea side of the island may have different conditions from the Pacific Ocean side.

Because of this broad classification, the SC system has met with some criticism and controversy. Many water enthusiasts complain that the system is not precise enough, but the system is in place for good reason, according to the sailor.

“I’ll definitely be checking the sea conditions when I go out in the future,” he said.
Current sea conditions can be found on the Kadena Air Base Web site at www.kadena.af.mil under “weather.”

In the event of an ocean emergency on Okinawa, anyone can dial 118 from any phone to initiate an immediate emergency response, Curtis said.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf...D0?opendocument

[Marine]

Minneapolis, Minn., native pounds the street providing care for 3/25
Submitted by: 2nd Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200581842152
Story by Cpl. Ken Melton



HADITHA, Iraq (Aug. 18, 2005) -- While patrolling through the streets of Iraq, Marines and sailors often find themselves under the watchful eyes of the city’s residents. One corpsman seems to receive more stares than anyone else.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Chan Vang is only 4 feet 11 inches tall. However, height does not interfere with his job as a “devil doc” with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment.

“I feel like I work twice as hard when it comes to patrolling,” the Minneapolis, Minn., native said. “Along with the extra load I have to carry, I have to take extra steps to keep up, but it’s my choice to be here and I don’t mind.”

Vang joined the Navy in 1998 with hopes of seeing the world and helping people along the way. He got his chance when he deployed to the hostile environment of Iraq’s Al Anbar province in March 2005. He and other medical personnel have helped dozens of people including other sailors, Iraqi civilians, Iraqi soldiers, and Marines on numerous occasions.

One such occasion that he vividly remembers occured in May 2005 when a squad with Mobile Assault Platoon-7. The unit suffered losses when insurgents used a hospital as a refuge while they attacked the unit with small-arms fire and a suicide car bomb.

“It was really hard to be trying to save people who you knew on a personal level,” the 1991 North Community High School graduate said. “I knew I had to be strong for them and they knew I would do the best job I could do.”

Vang was assigned to I Company in July and began conducting patrols as part of a permanent military presence in the city of Hit. Though he is often frustrated by the enemy’s cowardice, he is still happy to be here helping the Iraqi people.

As the missions continue, Vang knows his contributions are not overlooked and by helping the people of Iraq, they can form an organized and stable nation.

He has seen fallen comrades from both services and his job as a “devil doc” requires him to fight alongside them and try to save as many lives as he can.

“They treated me like another rifleman until someone got hurt or needed help and it was my time to shine as a corpsman,” Vang said smiling. “I thank them for treating me like an equal, like a Marine, in spite of my size.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf...95?opendocument

[The_Bammo]

Medical Marijuana
August 21, 2005

Oklahoman James T. (name withheld) is an ex-Marine, family man, business owner, Mason and community volunteer.

James was badly injured during military duty.

Large doses of Oxycontin were prescribed. He found himself unable to function in his daily life.

James discovered medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana allowed him to lower the doses of Oxycontin and still experience sufficient pain relief. He could work again, provide for his family and enjoy his daily life.

James began to grow his own medical marijuana.

A horrible day came. The police broke into his house and arrested him. He now faces a prison sentence of 2 years to life!

If this man gets the minimum of two years, it will cost Oklahoma tax payers approximately $46,000, for the prison expenses alone!

Do you want your medical options limited? I don’t, because I know medical marijuana works

We can change Oklahoma law to make medical marijuana available. We can do it right here, right now!

Contact Senate Pro Tem Mike Morgan 405-521-5565. Ask him to approve a medical marijuana interim study.

Are you a potential medical marijuana patient or health care professional? Contact us immediately.

Anyone can help.

Contact (405) 714-1236, howzkeepa@hotmail.com or Web site http://okmedicalmarijuana.org/

— Jeff Pickens



I think this would be a prime example of supporting a Vet.

Get the Semper Fi spirit going and support this Marine Veteran.

[Marine]

  Medical Marijuana
August 21, 2005

    Oklahoman James T. (name withheld) is an ex-Marine, family man, business owner, Mason and community volunteer.

    James was badly injured during military duty.

    Large doses of Oxycontin were prescribed. He found himself unable to function in his daily life.

    James discovered medical marijuana.

    Medical marijuana allowed him to lower the doses of Oxycontin and still experience sufficient pain relief. He could work again, provide for his family and enjoy his daily life.

    James began to grow his own medical marijuana.

    A horrible day came. The police broke into his house and arrested him. He now faces a prison sentence of 2 years to life!

    If this man gets the minimum of two years, it will cost Oklahoma tax payers approximately $46,000, for the prison expenses alone!

    Do you want your medical options limited? I don’t, because I know medical marijuana works

    We can change Oklahoma law to make medical marijuana available. We can do it right here, right now!

    Contact Senate Pro Tem Mike Morgan 405-521-5565. Ask him to approve a medical marijuana interim study.

    Are you a potential medical marijuana patient or health care professional? Contact us immediately.

    Anyone can help.

    Contact (405) 714-1236, howzkeepa@hotmail.com or Web site http://okmedicalmarijuana.org/

— Jeff Pickens



I think this would be a prime example of supporting a Vet.

Get the Semper Fi spirit going and support this Marine Veteran. 

Sorry Tom, it's a medical fact that pot causes emphysema and/or lung cancer as bad or worst than tobacco. I'm not going to back something which will in the end up leaving the guy choking to death.

For years pot heads deny it is unhealthy but so did tobacco smokers. I'll tust the doctors on this one.

[Marine]

Messages From The Troops
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next>
Thank you all for your support as we defend our great Nation during the Global War on Terrorism! Nothing compares to the caring messages from home. Every bit matters to our soldiers deployed to danger zones like Iraq and Afgahnistan, but the best feeling in the world is returning home as I did from Iraq this past spring and seeing the support from our friends and families. Thank you!
CPT Mark Zimmerman, Forksville, PA


I really appreciate all those out there who support us and what we're doing. We all signed up and volunteered to do our job and I know that what we're doing is right regardless of the political excuse for going in. I spent time in Qatar and am now in South Korea for a year and regardless of the price I want the entire world to be able to experience the freedoms that we all enjoy as Americans. It really does help though knowing that good people like you are behind us and supporting us. It just makes it that much easier. Thank You for all your support and may we always "Let Freedom Ring."
SSgt Charles Foster USAF, Roosevelt, UT


I'm currently deployed to Balad, Iraq, and I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us here. The packages and letters are a reminder that we have people back in the States cheering us on! Your support brings smiles to the faces of those deployed. Thank you for all that you do!
USAF, Greenville, SC


I just wanted to say thank you for all the support. I just came back from R & R leave and every body made me feel so welcomed and I was thankful to be an AMERICAN. Thank you all so much.
Joshua Matthews CPL. U.S. ARMY, Farmington, MO


I would like to thank every one for the support. It means a lot to us. Not a single thank you goes unnoticed. It's sometimes overwhelming the support we get, it makes us feel good inside and it keeps us going. God Bless the USA!
Brandon Collier/SPC/ARMY, San Saba, TX


I just got back from Afghanistan. Thank you for all the letters. It really makes a difference! Without most conveniences, a simple letter goes a long way. I can't express enough gratitude towards everyone who supports us, especially when coming home. I truly feel like a hero when thanked, even though I do what I do because I'm an American and that's just what Americans do for their country - " sacrifice." Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Thank you for the letters!
Patrick Corder/SPC/Army Infantry, Lomita, CA


Support means the world to the people in uniform. The men and women all over the world from Korea to Iraq couldn't carry out their mission without strong community support. Thank you for supporting Americans in uniform.
Robert Martin-Magee, A1C, USAF, Springfield, VA


I just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that we greatly appreciate all the support. The packages, and letters we have received have been incredible. We all have volunteered to serve and do it with great pride and patriotism! Thank you and May God Bless America!
John Rayburn/SGT/Army, DFW, TX


I'd like to thank all of those who support us while we are deployed. It's comforting to know that even though I'm far from home people still care.
SSgt Kristopher Provencher USAF, Manchester, NH


Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers. Let it be known that even the smallest thank you does not go unnoticed. Knowing that we have people supporting us on the home front is always reassuring and it also boosts the moral of the troops. Being so far away from family is very tough and trying at times. Thank you again for everything that you have done and continue to do for everyone in the armed services.
Sliauter, Kelley SPC US Army, Atlanta, GA


I would like to send out my greatest thanks and gratitude to everyone across America for your continued support. You all lift us up so much, and just knowing that you support us makes the burden that we carry a little easier. Thank again.
Spc. Steven G. McGrath, U.S. Army, Nashville, TN


Fellow Americans, Thank you for all of your support. It is great knowing you are behind us, it keeps us going when times are tough. God bless you all & God bless America!
CLANCY/CPT/USA, SYOSSET, NY


Thank you. It makes me feel great that there are people who cares for us.
Castro, Hector/Spc,/Army, Brooklyn, NY


To all the Americans supporting our troops, we thank you. We get deployed to some of the most remote locations and yet we still have in the back of our mind that our country loves us and thanks us. We do appreciate what you are doing at the home front. I also want to thank my wife and my 2 year old son. I will see you guys for christmas.
Steven M. Hernandez, SrA, USAF, Orlando, FL


Our Supporters, I wanted to thank everyone that is supporting the troops stationed overseas and forward deployed. I have served in Panama, Desert Storm, OIF 1 and am now in Afghanistan. Receiving a letter or care package from someone who you do not know brings what we do to light. Our lives are filled with unknowns, but knowing that America does support us makes all the difference in the world. Thank you again America. With Love and Compassion. Semper Fidelis.
Russell, Travis A. SSgt. USMC, Lewiston, ID


Hi. Thank you to all for your support of us here in the Iraq/Kuwait OIF AOR through your constant and generous outpour of prayers and care packages. As a chaplain assistant, I have the opportunity to see many troops from all branches of the armed services and relay to them both the packages and your prayers/letters of support. Your many acts of thoughtfulness and kindness do not go without notice! You are our heroes! God bless. SSgt Allen Jackson (USAF Reserve)...HOOAH!
Allen Jackson,SSgt, US Air Force, Tacoma, WA


Thank you for the overwhelming support. I made it home safe after 6 months in Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mark Odell/MA1/USN, Lemoore, CA


I wanted to say thank you to all of my family and friends in Oak Hill, WV for sending birthday cards and letters of encouragement during my second deployment to the desert. My first deployment with 3-18 Field Artillery put me in Taji, Iraq and LSA Anaconda. My second tour has put me here in Bagram, Afghanistan with the 25th Signal Battalion as the S3(FWD). The Oak Hill Church of the Nazarene has been a huge support group for my mom and family during this difficult time. The members have sent cards, letters, and even provided a contact to assist me with calling home. I also wanted to thank a very special person in Lawton, OK for all of her help and support. Again, thank you all!
Heath Hayslett, 1LT, Army Signal Corp, Oak Hill, WV


I want you all to know that I am safe and thanks for all of the support. I love you Mom, Dad, Matt, Deja.
Paul Lizer/SGT./Army, Hagerstown, MD


WOW this is a great website! Thank you America. Just know that while you sleep we will continue to defend freedom. Please don't forget those that gave all! God Bless America! GO Guard! OIF 3 / CP Victory.
LaMartz / SGT / ARNG, Carmel, IN



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http://www.defenselink.mil/americasupports...oops/index.html

[Marine]

Weapons Company, 1/3 performs force on force training
Submitted by: MCB Hawaii
Story Identification #: 200581918268
Story by Cpl. Megan L. Stiner



MARINE CORPS TRAINING AREA BELLOWS, Hawaii (Aug. 16, 2005) -- Slowly they make their way up the dusty street in a staggered column, maneuvering with radio communications as well as hand and arm signals, on the lookout for the ambush they anticipate ahead.

Once contact is made, the columns quickly moved into a sweep with hammerhead fighting position in order to lay down fire and subdue the enemy.

The Marines of Combined Anti-Armor Team Platoon, Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, trained at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Tuesday, in the scenario described above.

The differences between CAAT Platoons and other infantry units that perform patrols through dangerous streets, is every move they make is in a CAAT vehicle rather that on foot.

The Marines inside the Humvee must coordinate and be ready to make sudden moves at a second’s notice. These maneuvers take organization and concentration in order to work properly. For the Marines in the vehicles, that was the focus of the training this week.

“We learn a lot from the more experienced Marines when it comes to techniques and the best way to do things,” said Pfc. Benjamin D. Birch, machinegunner, CAAT Platoon, Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. “It isn’t hard to take it all in, since we have good, solid leadership that lets us know what to do in different situations.”

According to Birch, a Pensacola, Fla. native, since arriving to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, and becoming a part of CAAT platoon, he has understood that everything he is doing is preparing him for his unit’s upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

Once the vehicles had practiced moving into the various fighting positions, while on the move, they circled up their vehicles and waited for further word while their section leaders received orders to perform force on force missions through the narrow dirt roads in the training area.

The Marines of CAAT Platoon were split into two sections in order to perform the force on force training. Once the mission ordered by Lt. Ziad Fakhoury, platoon commander, CAAT Platoon, Weapons Company, 1/3, the action began and CAAT 2 began to patrol through the training area.

Contact was made twice, and the ambushes were successful, which meant it was now CAAT 1’s turn to patrol and CAAT 2 to set up an ambush and wait.

The biggest setbacks during the training evolution were through failing communications, which was evident once the missions were completed and the critiques began.

After the entire cycle was complete, the Marines received an after-action report and the strategies that they had used throughout the day were evaluated. This provided them with feedback -- both positive and negative — about the performance of both sections.

“This training is really important right now,” explained Cpl. Leroy Diaz, machinegunner, CAAT Platoon, Weapons Company, 1/3. “Although the roads in Afghanistan will be very narrow and harder to maneuver in, the techniques we are becoming familiar with now will help us out in the long run.”

Diaz, a veteran of Iraq, said the training being performed now is to familiarize the newer Marines with the way the Company conducts operations as well as familiarizing them with the vehicles and methods they will be using during deployment.

“We still have cold- and hot-weather training in California coming up, to prepare us for Afghanistan,” explained the Hemphill, Texas native. “Each upcoming week will become more and more intense in order to get us ready to go.”

Although many of the Marines in CAAT Platoon are new to the unit, many of them understand the importance of what is ahead of them, and they are preparing themselves for what the more experienced Marines have already been through.
“I know Afghanistan is different from Iraq,” said Birch, “But I know the more experienced Marines are doing all they can to get us ready to go, and I listen to everything they correct me on. I’m excited about going to Afghanistan, because I feel confident in our platoon — and this is what I signed up to do.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf...01?opendocument

[Marine]

Marines reach for Radio Reconnaissance Platoons
Submitted by: II Marine Expeditionary Force
Story by: Computed Name: Sgt. Stephen M. DeBoard
Story Identification #: 2005825145134




MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.(Aug. 24, 2005) -- To Marines, certain tools of the trade are necessary to ensure victory: the rifles, bombs and knives of combat; the wrenches and hammers of fixing and building; the shovels and barbed wire of entrenchment and defense. The usefulness of these tools, the ability of Marines to employ them in defeat of an enemy or accomplishment of an objective, is amplified greatly by another tool: intelligence. Knowing where the enemy is and what he is doing allows the infantryman, mechanic and engineer to craft a strategy specific to the precise picture on the ground.

Gathering this intelligence usually falls to highly specialized units of reconnaissance Marines. The “recon” community is small and tightly knit. Parallel to this community, however, there is a smaller group of Marines who gather a specific brand of information called signals intelligence, or SigInt. This mission falls to the leathernecks of radio reconnaissance platoons. One such platoon is here with 2nd Radio Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

Radio reconnaissance platoons, or RRPs, are units organic to radio battalions. They draw Marines from the SigInt and linguist military occupational specialties, said 26-year-old Sgt. Jason D. Martinez, RRP platoon sergeant, 2nd Radio Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

“We’re basically signals intelligence Marines with recon training,” said Martinez.

RRP serves as the eyes of the commander on the battlefield, said Martinez, gathering SigInt to paint a picture of where the enemy is, what he is doing and how he is communicating.

“The mission is to basically provide a radio battalion asset where it’s not feasible for the entire battalion to go forward. We send in a six-man team that is capable of producing a view of the battlefield for the commander,” he said.

Not just anyone from the battalion can walk into RRP. Radio recon holds an intensive indoctrination for its Marines, described by Martinez as more involved than the one held by battalion or force reconnaissance units.

The reasoning for the difficult indoctrination is to prepare the RRP Marines for the physical demands of serving and training with other recon units from around the Corps, said Martinez. This includes several highly-coveted schools as part of the RRP training pipeline.

“We go through the amphibious reconnaissance school, jump and [Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape] school. From there they’ll go into more mission-specific stuff, to become analysts, or better qualified with language skills,” he said.

The indoctrination consists of five main events. On the first day of the indoctrination is a PFT. The candidate must achieve a first-class PFT. From the PFT course the candidates go directly to the pool, for a 500-meter swim in full camouflage utility uniform, a 25-meter underwater swim and retrieving and towing a 10-pound brick to simulate a rifle with full magazine.

The next day, Marines run a “boots and utes” run – running in camouflage trousers and boots -- to the obstacle course, which they must complete two times back-to-back in under six minutes. After a break, they do another boots and utes run, this time six miles, with mock rifles.

Directly from there is a strenuous 30-kilometer land navigation course. For the duration of the course, which can last up to three days, candidates will have on their back an 80-pound rucksack and a mock rifle. This course is an individual effort on the part of the Marine, who is sent out into the woods for the duration of the land navigation course alone, with only a two-way radio for use in an emergency.

“It’s a big judge of their character when they’re out there on their own,” said Sgt. Edward A. Tague, RRP operator, 2nd Radio Battalion, II MEF. “They’ll sit down to take a break and all kinds of crazy thoughts start running through their heads. It’s then they decide if they’re going to finish.”

Of the class of 13 Marines that began the indoctrination used in this story, only three remained one day into the land navigation course. All three were thoroughly exhausted from the days of physical effort exerted in completing the previous events.

One of those Marines, Cpl. Joshua N. Trigg, RRP candidate, reflected on the past four days’ events.

“Basically, everything wears you down before this,” said Trigg. “Eighty pounds, lots of miles. It’s rough. The last mile is miles away.”


http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000....2d?OpenDocument

[Marine]

Marine Who 'Wouldn't Quit Fighting' Is Honored

By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer

Aaron Austin died in Fallouja repelling an attack. His Silver Star will go to his parents.

On the last night of his life, Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin joined a prayer session with other Marines hunkered down in a bullet-riddled neighborhood in Fallouja, Iraq.

Austin, a 21-year-old machine-gunner, asked God for protection not for himself but for his fellow Marines of Echo Company of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton.

The next morning, insurgents attacked from three directions, firing thousands of rounds from AK-47s and other firearms and hurling dozens of grenades.

With the Marines in danger of being overrun, Austin exposed himself to enemy fire in order to throw a grenade at their position 20 meters away. The grenade helped repel the attack, but Austin was mortally wounded.

For those who knew Austin, his action was no surprise. Today, in a simple ceremony at the Texas Panhandle War Memorial in Amarillo, Austin's parents will receive the Silver Star, awarded posthumously to their son.

Sgt. Maj. William Skiles, who was with Austin that brutal morning in Fallouja, will present the award — the nation's third-highest medal for bravery in combat.

"All the Marines stepped up, and Aaron led the way," Skiles said.

Austin's mother, De'on Miller, said she understood her son's actions during the firefight on April 26, 2004. Loyalty, she said, was at the core of her son's personality.

"He loved the people he was with," Miller said from her home in Lovington, N.M. "That was Aaron: When he was loyal, he put his entire heart into it. He wouldn't quit fighting."

Austin's Silver Star is the third for a Marine from the "Two-One," one of the units that led last year's assault on the insurgent stronghold.

Lt. Ben Wagner remembered the prayer session the night before Austin was killed. "Aaron was praying for the safety of the other Marines," he said. "That was his personality, concerned with others, not himself."

The Marines were searching buildings in the war-torn Jolan neighborhood when they came under attack in one of the bloodiest clashes between the U.S. military and insurgents that spring.

Austin helped evacuate the wounded and led other Marines onto a roof to operate a machine gun. When the insurgents kept advancing, he took a grenade from his vest and moved into the open for a better throwing position.

"Several enemy bullets struck Lance Cpl. Austin in the chest," said the official Marine Corps account. "Undaunted by his injury and with heroic effort, he threw his hand grenade at the enemy on the adjacent rooftop."

The grenade hit the bull's-eye and forced the insurgents to halt their attack.

When the battle was over, Marines erected a makeshift memorial to Austin in one of the buildings they had fought to defend.

Austin joined the Marines after graduating from high school, which had been marked by his love of parties and football (although he quit the team in solidarity when his cousin had a run-in with the coach).

His parents supported the decision, deciding the Marines would give him discipline and direction.

When he would call home from Iraq — where he was also part of the 2003 assault that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime — Austin avoided talking about combat and the chances of death. But his voice had a tone of foreboding, his parents said.

"All I ever wanted was for Aaron to come back. That's all I wanted," said his father, Doug, who owns a small grocery store.

Aaron Austin was buried near his father's Amarillo home.

Among fellow Marines, Austin was known for his laugh and his confidence.

"There's no place I'd rather be than here with my Marines," Austin told the Los Angeles Times two days before the firefight. "I'll always remember this time."

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded the 1st Marine Division during the spring 2004 offensive, said this week that Austin "represented the very best of us."

"They don't write the foreign policy," Mattis said of Austin and other Marines, "but they faithfully serve our country, even at their peril."

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Heroes%...ion/07_05/1.htm

[Marine]

Marine receives Purple Heart

Story by Sgt. Stephen D'Alessio

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq -- “Duck.” That’s what Gunnery Sgt. Easton’s family told him when he left for Iraq the second time.

Gunnery Sgt. William Easton, staff non commissioned officer-in-charge of 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance’s detachment to the division commander’s personal security detachment, received a Purple Heart, April 8, for an injury he sustained from a roadside explosion.

An improvised explosive device (IED), used by insurgents as a way to inflict damage from a distance, rocked through two convoys as they passed one another in opposite directions on a dirt road near the base, March 13. Easton and his team were providing security on the road from within their Light Armored Vehicles and Humvees.

Thanks to their heavy armor and new individual combat protective gear, he and his team were only minimally injured, according to Easton.

“It felt like Hank Aaron hitting his 715th homerun when I got hit,” Odenton, Md. native said in jest.

Easton suffered a laceration on his cheek and a baseball-sized bruise on his ribs, while one of his Marines sustained more threatening wounds. Immediately, Easton tended to his Marine and continued his security mission

“As soon as the other convoy was alongside of us, the trigger man saw his opportunity and set the bomb off,” said the 40-year-old Easton. “We just reverted to our training and handled the situation. The most important thing was taking care of the other guys who were hurt more badly than I was.”

When Easton called home for the first time after his incident, he had some explaining to do.

“I got on the phone with my wife and told her ‘Honey, I got blown up,’” said Easton. “It took about five to ten minutes to cool her down so I told her a funny story about what happened.”

Before the security convoy was interrupted by the blast, Easton had planned to buy a Marines t-shirt for his grandson from the base exchange across the Euphrates River.

“I told her he wasn’t getting the shirt anytime soon and she cracked up laughing,” said Easton.

For now, Easton will continue leading his Marines in security missions to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. His status as a Purple Heart recipient will be an heirloom for his grandson, much like the medal passed on Easton by his father.

“My father earned the Purple Heart in Vietnam,” said Easton. “Like father, like son.”


http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Heroes%...ion/05_05/2.htm

[Marine]

Brooklyn renames street for heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom

Story by Sgt. Beth Zimmerman

NEW YORK (April 29, 2005) -- On a sunny afternoon in Brooklyn almost a year ago, friends and family of Lance Cpl. William White renamed the section of Pilling Street he grew up on as "Marine Lance Corporal William Wayne White Street." Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said during the ceremony, "Future young people and families will see his sign, and they will know he gave his life so you and I could live here every day."

In February of last year, the Washington Heights community gathered at the intersection of 180th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue to honor another Marine's memory. They renamed the southwest corner of 180th Street "Staff Sergeant Riayan Agusto Tejeda Street." "We want to honor his memory," City Councilman Miguel Martinez said of Tejeda, a Washington Heights native originally from the Dominican Republic. "So we all remember that no matter where you were born," continued Martinez, "there's an opportunity to serve this country."

Next week, Brooklyn service members and families will name another street after service members who fought in the war on terrorism. But unlike the streets named after White and Tejeda, who both died while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, this street will serve as a memorial for service members who have fought and who will fight in OIF. The official renaming ceremony for "Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom" Street is scheduled for May 5 in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

According to the Be Proud Foundation, a Brooklyn group that supports and recognizes Russian service members, the street renaming "will mark the first time in U. S. history that a street will be dedicated to American Armed Forces...during wartime."

"I want to honor these people now, not six (or more) years later," said Raisa Chernina, founder of Be Proud. Her organization worked with Russian American Service Members of Armed Forces (RAS) to get the street's new name approved. Marine Sgt. Alex Presman, who was medically retired from the Corps last year, started RAS with Chernina's help. Presman was a reservist with 6th Communication Battalion in Brooklyn before losing his foot in Iraq in 2003. The 27-year-old Brooklyn native is originally from Minsk, Belarus. Be Proud and RAS have stressed the importance of honoring the service members currently fighting.

"It is crucial that we do not hesitate to declare our gratitude for men and women in uniform," stated Chernina is a press release, "as they did not hesitate to risk their lives for us."

The corner of Corbin Place and Oriental Boulevard will be renamed, "Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom." The renaming ceremony starts at 11:00 a.m., and it will include Marines from 6th Comm, veterans from previous wars, and Curtis Sliwa, founder and President of the Guardian Angels, as the Master of Ceremonies.

"It doesn't matter how much money we have, or how good business is," said Chernina. "These kids, the ones serving...they're more important than anything."

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Heroes%...ion/05_05/3.htm

[Marine]

‘World’s most dangerous man’ volunteers expertise
Submitted by: MCB Quantico
Story Identification #: 20058269133
Story by Cpl. Jonathan Agg



MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (Aug. 17, 2005) -- The relationship between the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and the “World’s Most Dangerous Man” became more formal Aug. 17 as the Martial Arts Center of Excellence welcomed back the newest MCMAP subject-matter expert.

Ken Shamrock, the first titleholder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and former mixed martial arts world champion, returned to Quantico to teach his first clinic with Marines since the Corps designated him a MCMAP subject-matter expert for integration and combat conditioning training earlier this summer.

The honor was bestowed upon Shamrock in recognition of his selfless and ongoing support of the Marines’ unique mixed martial arts discipline. Since 2001, Shamrock has volunteered his considerable skill and expertise to Marines on Okinawa, Japan, and here at no cost.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Shane Franklin said Shamrock’s continuing support has a tremendous impact on his Marine students.

“He motivates the young Marines,” said Franklin, staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the Martial Arts Center of Excellence. “They’ve all seen him fight on TV and pay-per-view, so they see a degree of credibility when you’ve got a guy who is a four-time world champion in mixed martial arts saying, ‘You’ve got a good program. Let me see if I can give you anything that may help.’ It’s something special. How many people get to train with a mixed martial arts heavyweight champion? It’s a unique experience.”

Franklin said Shamrock’s volunteer service is a remarkable act of generosity, as world-class fighters of his caliber typically charge from $2,500 per day to $5,000 for a two-hour session. As policy, the MACE does not pay fees to visiting experts or celebrities.

“He does it for free out of a sense of civic responsibility,” said Franklin. “Guys like Ken who know the difference between sport fighting and what we need to be able to do as combatants are great. The principles he teaches all relate to what we do. He understands that we are fighting with a flak, helmet, deuce gear, and preferably with a rifle and bayonet.”

Shamrock has expressed an interest in increasing his appearances to three clinics annually at various Marine Corps installations, and is currently considering participating in a United Service Organization-sponsored trip to visit Marines and other troops in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

“I feel very strongly about wanting to do that,” said Shamrock. “When you’re sitting here at home, you wonder, ‘What is it that I can do?’ Obviously I can’t join the Marine Corps and get in there and go fight, but I’ve got something God has given me, which is talent in fighting and strength. I’ve got all these things and I want to give something back.”

Shamrock said he admires the Marines’ fighting spirit and is humbled by the admiration many Marines have for him.

“When they say to me, ‘Man you’re awesome,’ and ‘You’re one tough dude,’ and ‘You’ve got to be strong. You can’t have any fear,’ I look at these guys over there fighting,” said Shamrock. “They’re doing it for honor. They’re doing it for their country. I just wish I could be there doing something for them, because they’re doing so much for us.”

Since his first clinic with the Marines on Okinawa in 2001, Shamrock has tailored his teaching to suit the modern war fighter, stressing quick and lethal moves best suited for combat.

“In the sport I’m in, we don’t have bullets flying over our heads and bombs going off beside us. We have a nice, clean mat to roll around on,” said Shamrock. “What the Marines face out there is a much different situation. When they’re getting engaged in hand-to-hand combat, they don’t have time to roll around in the dirt. They need to finish the person quickly and get out, so I teach them some of the things that hopefully they will be able to adapt into their (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program). This is the stuff that works.”

Among the moves Shamrock taught the Marines during his most recent clinic were throws from the standing position, an arm bar take-down to disarm and neutralize an assailant, and a neck-snapping ground fighting technique designed to quickly dispose of an opponent – permanently.

“From the time you engage to the time you finish him has got to be three to five seconds. You just don’t have that much time,” said Shamrock. “You either throw the opponent down or take them down with a body throw, and once they hit the ground, immediately snap the neck or knock them out. It is going to be clench, take down, and finish quickly.”

Corporal Mark Rumsey, Quantico Staff Judge Advocates Office legal clerk and MCMAP instructor, said he was impressed by Shamrock’s generosity to the Corps.

“He’s taking his time to do something good for us,” said Rumsey. “This helps to put the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program on the map and it’s good for recruiting.”

Like many of his peers, Rumsey said meeting a personal hero was an experience he will never forget.

“Everyone I talked to thought it was awesome,” said Rumsey. “Everyone I know wanted to go out and meet the ‘World’s Most Dangerous Man.’”

For more news and information about Ken Shamrock, other Lion’s Den fighters and upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship Events, visit www.kenshamrock.com.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf...5D?opendocument

[Marine]

ISF progress in basic warrior training
Submitted by: II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD)
Story by: Computed Name: Lance Cpl. Josh Cox
Story Identification #: 200582831918




CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(Aug. 24, 2005) -- A team of focused soldiers equipped with helmets, protective vests and weapons swiftly move through a destroyed building to make sure it is clear for further movement. This situation was just one of the several training scenarios the Iraqi Security Force rehearsed here Aug. 24.

“This is like their school of infantry,” said Lance Cpl. Andrew E. Thibault, advisor’s aid, 1st Platoon, 2nd Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team Company, 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD). “It is just advanced infantry tactics.”

The day included urban terrain training, as well as convoy movement tactics, vehicle searches and individual search drills.

“The purpose of the training is a combined effort with the U.S. Marine Corps and the new Iraqi army to help the Iraqi people to have a strong defense and unified country in order to sustain democracy,” said Gunnery Sgt. Paul W. Vanek, advisor, Military Training Team 6, Iraqi Security Force.

The soldiers are fresh out of basic training, which is drafted from training U.S. forces undergo in the early stages of their military careers.

McKirahan said the training is progressing, and the Iraqi soldiers of Romeo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 7th Division, are aimed to graduate soon and will transfer to their duty stations to aid in the security of Iraq.

“They are doing a lot better than they were in basic training,” said Cpl. John A. McKirahan, advisor’s aid, 1st Plt, 2nd FAST Co., 4th MEB, II MEF (FWD). “They slowly but surely learn everything [the instructors] teach them.”

According to McKirahan, even though the training is making headway, there are some mild frustrations that come along with the evolution; such as language barriers.

However, the Marines who train the Iraqi Security Force overcome the hurdles and continue on with the mission.

“You learn a lot of the language while working with them,” said McKirahan.

Helping equip the Iraqi Security Force with the tools they need to make their home a safer place is just another way the Corps is aiding in operations for the security and stability of Iraq.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Please feel free to publish this story or any of the accompanying photos. If used, please give credit to the writer/photographer, and contact us at: cepaowo@cemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil so we can update our records.



http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000....6a?OpenDocument

[ghostgovt]

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/artic...ws/01marine.txt

Friday, November 05, 2004
Mystery surrounds case of missing Marine
By NICK GEVOCK, Chronicle Staff Writer

A Madison County sheriff's deputy piecing together the mysterious trail of a missing U.S. Marine whose vehicle was found abandoned in the Gravelly Mountains last month has unearthed a few clues, he said Thursday.

Staff Sgt. James Wheeler, 38, was severely depressed, struggled with a drinking problem and may be suicidal, Sheriff Deputy Dan Birdsill, who is leading the investigation, said Thursday.
In addition, the U.S. Marine Reserves had classified Wheeler a deserter in September, 30 days after he disappeared from a base in West Virginia.

Yet Birdsill, who led a search of the area around Wheeler's abandoned vehicle with a dog last week, has yet to determine just what happened.

"We just don't have anything solid to say we're pretty sure this is what happened," he said.

Wheeler, 38, checked in with his Marine Reserve unit in Charleston, W.Va., in late August, Capt. Patrick Kerr, spokesman for the Marine Reserves, said in a telephone interview from New Orleans. Wheeler had moved to West Virginia from Massachusetts and told his commanders he was going to find a place to live.

"They never saw him again," Kerr said. "The next thing we know his vehicle was found in Madison County, Montana."

He was classified a deserter in late September after he was missing for longer than 30 days.

But Wheeler's mother Ellen Wrede said her son had been in the Marines for 20 years, served in Afghanistan and Iraq and planned to re-enlist when his contract was completed in early October.

She said her son was not trying to get out of military service.

"He was very upset about not being able to go to Iraq, because he thought he was better trained than many of the people who were going," she said in a telephone interview.

In addition, her son's friends told her that he had slipped into a deep depression and had recently sold and given away many of his valuables.

Those are some of the telltale signs that someone is contemplating suicide, Wrede said.

Clearly, Wheeler had some problems in his personal life, Birdsill said.

Wheeler had a drinking problem, for which the military had sent him to alcohol treatment, Birdsill said. Yet it appears that he was drinking again. Officers found an empty whiskey bottle in the abandoned vehicle.

Wheeler had also been drawing married pay, even though he divorced in 1998, Birdsill said. But the military was going to allow Wheeler to pay back the money.

In October, U.S. Forest Service rangers received reports of a red Geo Tracker parked near Crockett Lake, about a half-mile off the Gravelly Range Road, but hadn't investigated because they thought it belonged to a bow hunter.

After the Madison County Sheriff's Department determined that the vehicle had been in the same place for quite some time, deputies searched it on Oct. 25.

The vehicle contained an expensive shotgun, military fatigues and uniforms and a sleeping bag.

There were also a few clips from a 9 mm pistol and M-16 rifle, a laptop computer and some food, Birdsill said. The keys were still in the ignition, the doors were unlocked and the vehicle started right away.

Search-and-rescue volunteers plan to search the cabins and old homesteads in a broad area of the southern Gravellys.

In addition, they're chasing a few tips that have trickled in since Wheeler's disappearance, including a Helena man's discovery of a pair of hiking boots sitting on a pile of rocks last week in the Black Butte area.

Nick Gevock is at ngevock@dailychronicle.com

[Marine]

Marines conduct spoiling attack in advance of upcoming elections
Submitted by: MCB Hawaii
Story Identification #: 200582963444
Story by Sgt. Robert M. Storm



ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Aug. 21, 2005) -- Marines and sailors from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, together with the Afghan National Army, conducted security operations in the Korengal Valley August 10 through 20. In preparation for elections next month, Marines conducted a preemptive attack on known areas of anti-coalition militia activity.

Commanders met with elders at numerous villages and received information on village needs and suspected insurgent activity. The Marines also conducted security patrols to protect the population from the thuggish tactics of local insurgents.

“Our goal going into the operation was to disrupt the insurgents’ ability to interfere with the upcoming elections. We clearly accomplished that goal,” said Lt. Col James Donnellan, commanding officer, 2nd Bn, 3rd Marines.

According to villagers, insurgents used strong-arm tactics against villagers that did not help them. One village reported the deaths of twelve citizens after the village denied assistance to insurgent forces.

The Korengal Valley is 400 square kilometers and is well known for the constant attacks against military forces that venture there. Because of the size and difficulty of the terrain, insurgent forces can easily use hit and run tactics. Last month the deadliest attack on American forces in Afghanistan killed 19 service members when a special operations team was ambushed, and a helicopter shot down prompting rescue operations from Marines, soldiers, sailors, and Afghan National Army forces. In all 87 service members have been killed during combat operations in and around Afghanistan since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001.

“We just have to do our best to show them that we’re here to help them,” said Lance Cpl. Peter D. Jones, infantryman, from St. Louis, Mo. “They always tell us that there are no insurgents, yet we’re always getting attacked every time we come here.”

The Marines advanced forces on a wide front, attacking the enemy from many different directions, as well as establishing combined vehicle checkpoints with the Afghan National Police. Marine forces were continuously engaged during the operation. F Company was engaged in a sustained firefight against an estimated 100 insurgents, and E Company Marines were subjected to a platoon ambush, to which they responded with both direct and indirect fires, killing at least two and causing the enemy to break contact. Despite the near constant harassing attacks the Marines displayed unwavering resolve in their efforts to help the people of Afghanistan.

“We also worked for the first time at the battalion level with our ANA counterparts, which was a tremendous experience that will serve us well in future operations,” said Donnellan. “The Marines, soldiers and sailors performed exceptionally, and the insurgents now know that Task Force Koa will be relentless in pursuing them wherever they may hide.”

E-mail Sgt. Robert M. Storm at robert.storm@usmc.mil

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000....A9?opendocument

[Marine]

Marines prepare to save lives
Submitted by: 22nd MEU
Story by: Computed Name: Cpl. Christopher S. Vega
Story Identification #: 20058208281




ABOARD USS NASSAU(Aug. 18, 2005 ) -- Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) recently conducted a Combat Lifesaver course during their Expeditionary Strike Group exercise while aboard USS NASSAU.


The purpose of the course was to teach Marines advanced first aid techniques they can use on wounded or injured Marines in a combat environment if a corpsman is not present.


The course was led by Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel Coleman, a field medical corpsman with the MEU's Command Element, who tries to teach the course as often as possible during the MEU's busy pre-deployment training schedule.


"The purpose of this course is not to turn Marines into corpsmen," said the Colorado Springs, Colo., native. "I am just trying to teach Marines some medical skills they may need to know when they deploy. These skills may help them save someone's life someday."


Combat lifesavers are the link between Marines with basic medical knowledge and corpsman. In the event a corpsman cannot perform his duties for whatever reason, it would be the CLS's job to stabilize wounded service members until they can receive appropriate medical attention.


"This is not just another billet," said Sgt. Edward Zaletta Jr., of Leesburg, Fla., an armorer with the Command Element. "This could ultimately be the difference between life and death for the Marines standing next to you."


The Marines learned to quickly assess the nature of a wounded Marine's injuries and determine what actions to take to stabilize the victim.


"The course usually takes a week to finish but this group of Marines completed it in just four days," said Coleman. The smaller class size and motivated students allowed for quicker retention of the lifesaving skills according to Coleman.


All Marines learn first aid during recruit training and the CLS course expands on that training and offers much more.


"The training was extremely thorough about everything we were taught, said New City, N.Y., native Private First Class Paul Varone, an electrician with the MEU. "I remembered a few things from boot camp, but this was a lot better because it goes more in depth."


Although the initial portions of the course began in a classroom, the Marines quickly transitioned to practical applications.


"We could sit in the classroom all day looking at slide after slide of information and the Marines could walk out of here without learning anything," said Coleman. "But if they are put in a real life scenario in which they take what they were told in the classroom and apply it to a live human, they will walk out remembering how they did it and with the confidence that they can do it if the situation calls for it."


After the students learned how to bandage various types of wounds and were taught how to apply intravenous (IV) fluids to other students in the class. They were also taught which veins to use and the steps to take when starting an IV.


"Each of the students got the IV into the vein on their first try; which is remarkable," said Coleman.


Toward the end of the course Coleman gave the Marines a written exam. Part of the exam was an essay question describing a scenario in which a Marine in their squad is injured during a patrol. The students had to describe what they would do to stabilize the victim.


After the course Coleman sat with the group and talked about ways to make the course more effective. "I always ask for the student's input, because I want to make this course enjoyable," said Coleman. "I am fully confident that these Marines will be able to save a man's life in battle if the need arises."


For more information on the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, visit the unit website at http://www.22meu.usmc.mil.

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000....d0?OpenDocument

[ghostgovt]

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermo...ewsitemID=34684

Last Updated: August 30, 2005 7:52 PM

Marine Metalhead Plans To Take Over METALLICA's Spot - Mar. 26, 2005

Cpl. Tom Sloan of Marines.mil has issued the following report:

Patrolling the streets of the insurgent infested city here is probably the last place most people would expect to find a rock 'n' roll star.

However, that's just where you'll find Lance Cpl. Josh R. Barfield (photo), lead singer and guitarist for up-and-coming metal band BLUE COLLAR.

The 23-year-old Glendora, Calif., native and assault man with 1st Platoon, A Company, may not have reached international recognition for his music yet, but he does have a number of fans in his unit, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Many of his fellow grunts consider him to be a top-notch performer who's destined for rock-star fame.

"He's got great music," said Sgt. Erik D. Sphoon, a 26-year-old Salem, Ore., native and guide for 1st Platoon, A Co. "It's on my favorite play list. His band is awesome. I like how he mixes metal with jazz."

Barfield's band, BLUE COLLAR, which includes four other members, currently has a demo CD out. They've also played a gig in Newport Beach, Calif.

"He has definitely got a future in music," said Sphoon. "If you were listening to his band and didn't know who it was, you'd swear it was a professional group. I'd be real surprised if someone didn't sign him on.

Barfield, who's been deemed by some of his fellow Marines as a young James Hetfield, lead singer for METALLICA, plans to make it to the big time.

"I plan on being part of the number one metal band of all time," he said with a smile. "Our band is going to take over METALLICA's spot."

Read the rest of the article at Marines.mil.