Category: Marine Corps

The Military Times reports that back in 2010 Joshua Acevedo was investigated because some attachment to his unit reported after a mission that Acevedo had killed an unarmed insurgent in Afghanistan during his third combat tour to the war against terror. The court battle that ensued forced the Marine to leave the Corps even though he had been cleared of the charges. Now the Marine Corps is making it up to him with the award of a Bronze Star for his valor during the operation that cost him his career.

Acevedo now works in Iraq for Triple Canopy, a provider of integrated security and mission support services. He will receive his Bronze Star with V at the Marine Corps Ball in Sonoma, California. A number of former squad members will be at his side. He would have it no other way.

“It is more of a squad award in my eyes,” he said. “Absolutely nothing could have been done without them.”

Schmitz also reached out to Mattis and asked the former head of U.S. Central Command to take part. He quickly agreed.

“The valor displayed by Sgt. Acevedo stands on its own, unadorned by who is privileged to present the actual award to him,” Mattis told Marine Corps Times.

All respect to Sergeant Acevedo. The Military Times tells the story of his actions that earned the award, so you’ll have to click over to the read the story of the sergeant who led the bayonet charge when his troops were low on ammo. All respect to the Marine Corps, too, for coming to this decision, albeit years late to the moment.

My complaint about the article though is that the Military Times calls his award “a Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device”. A publication called “Military Times” should know better. The Bronze Star Medal is only awarded for combat. So what device would be needed to “distinguish combat”? I’m guessing that they mean the “V” device for “Valor”, but they should say that.

The Stars & Stripes reports that the social justice warriors are still taking potshots at the Marines’ test unit which actually provided research on the feasibility of mixing males and females into combat arms units. Of course, they say that the Marines weren’t selective enough when they chose the participants in the test;

Two researchers — Ellen Haring, a retired Army colonel and senior fellow at Women in International Security in Washington, and Megan MacKenzie, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney in Australia — are vocal advocates for the full integration of women into combat roles. They say the executive summary failed to convey shortcomings and caveats in the full study they obtained.

“From a research perspective, there’s almost nothing you could reliably draw from this research,” said MacKenzie, who has published two books about women in combat, most recently “Beyond the Band of Brothers: The U.S. Military and the Myth that Women Can’t Fight.”

“The volunteer selection was poor. The physical screening was poor. The consistency and number of people they put in each of the groups was very varied,” she said.

Selection and screening are at fault. If I remember correctly, they took volunteers, you know much like recruiters do when they slot people at the time of their enlistment. The people who volunteered certainly thought that they could do the job, you know, like recruits. Maybe if Haring and Mackenzie could just force more women to volunteer, that would be make a better study. You know, volun-told to do it.

The study’s central flaw, MacKenzie and Haring say, is that it failed to establish occupation-relevant standards for Marine combat positions.

“The fact that the Marines chose to do a $36 million study that didn’t establish any standards is, I think, interesting in itself,” MacKenzie said. “We still don’t have combat-specific standards in the Marines. Once you’re in the Marines, the only qualification you need to be in an infantry [military occupational specialty] is to be a man.”

Yeah, well, being a man doesn’t automatically make you a combat arms soldier. We read about men failing the courses all of the time. So, you know, there are standards, standards that some men can’t meet.

The study also ignored the accomplishments of certain women “who were just amazing physically,” MacKenzie said.

“In fact, there was one woman who outperformed men consistently, just an outlier throughout the whole study,” she said. “There were quite a few women above the 50th percentile. There were all these indicators that there were physically superior women who performed well; it’s just that the Marines focused on how the women performed as a group.”

I have never denied, nor has anyone I’ve read on the subject denied, that there are some women who can meet the standards – check out the three women who graduated Ranger School this past summer. 3 of them out of twenty – all volunteers, all prepared for the course. That’s fifteen percent of the women who volunteered were successful. Does that really justify the expense and the scarce training funds just to have the appearance of females in massive media campaigns? Just so the Social Justice Warriors can have a job?

I don’t see Mackenzie or Haring showing the girls how it’s done. All I see them doing is heckling from the sidelines doing their best to see more body bags in the next war.

The deaths of 11 servicemembers in a Blackhawk helicopter crash last March was blamed on the pilots by a joint investigation by the Louisiana National Guard and Special Operations Command. Apparently weather conditions for the training missions had deteriorated beyond the minimum safety standards according to the Associated Press;

Both crews “disobeyed a direct order … by choosing to fly in lower then (sic) briefed weather minimums.”

The report went on to fault the lead pilot, Chief Warrant Officer George Wayne Griffin Jr., 37, of Hammond, Louisiana, for pushing ahead with the mission even though weather was worsening March 10.

According to the report, the training was supposed to take place only if cloud cover was no lower than 1,000 feet and visibility was 3 miles. Conditions were worse, with cloud cover as low at 200 feet.

Fog began to set in about 40 minutes before the helicopters took off at 8:16 p.m., according to testimony. The same service member told investigators that Griffin dismissed concerns from members on boats where the training was to take place.

Records show that the National Guard felt that Griffin was a top-notch veteran pilot fully capable of doing the training.

“No one spoke up and questioned the wisdom to conduct the mission,” the report said.

Stars & Stripes reports that Navy will name a new ship for Medal of Honor recipient 92-year-old Hershel “Woody” Williams who earned his Medal of Honor for his actions with the 21st Marines on Iwo Jima. The West Virginian had reportedly been turned away from the military because of his height, but that didn’t stop him from trying. He finally enlisted in 1943 which set him on his path into history. From his citation;

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as demolition sergeant serving with the 21st Marines, 3d Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 23 February 1945. Quick to volunteer his services when our tanks were maneuvering vainly to open a lane for the infantry through the network of reinforced concrete pillboxes, buried mines, and black volcanic sands, Cpl. Williams daringly went forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machinegun fire from the unyielding positions. Covered only by 4 riflemen, he fought desperately for 4 hours under terrific enemy small-arms fire and repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and obtain serviced flamethrowers, struggling back, frequently to the rear of hostile emplacements, to wipe out 1 position after another. On 1 occasion, he daringly mounted a pillbox to insert the nozzle of his flamethrower through the air vent, killing the occupants and silencing the gun; on another he grimly charged enemy riflemen who attempted to stop him with bayonets and destroyed them with a burst of flame from his weapon. His unyielding determination and extraordinary heroism in the face of ruthless enemy resistance were directly instrumental in neutralizing one of the most fanatically defended Japanese strong points encountered by his regiment and aided vitally in enabling his company to reach its objective. Cpl. Williams’ aggressive fighting spirit and valiant devotion to duty throughout this fiercely contested action sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

A turbulent on-again-off-again military career ended in 1969 with 17 years of total service and an honorary retirement ceremony. He was the Chaplain of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for 35 years.

According to the S&S article, Senator Joe Manchin influenced the Navy to name the ship for the hero.

“Naming a ship after Woody is a lifelong tribute to Woody’s brave actions and his dedication to public service,” Manchin said in a news release. “Woody embodies the service and sacrifice our great state has given to our nation and this honors not only his legacy but the legacy of West Virginia veterans and their families.”

The ship in question will be an expeditionary sea base, Williams said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The Ona resident said he was “extremely excited and humbled” when he received a call Tuesday morning by U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who told him the news.

“It’s almost beyond my imagination … that the secretary of the Navy — and America as a whole — would think me worthy to receive such an honor,” Williams said.

A few weeks ago, Mikey Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation complained about a sign on Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe which proclaimed “God Bless the Military” which is somehow offensive to the godless. MustangCryppie sends us a link to Military.com which reports that the commander of the base, Colonel Sean C. Killeen replied to the group that they should look for something else to complain about;

“This sign will remain in its present location and not be altered in any way,” Killeen said in the letter. He explained that “God bless” is commonly used in Western culture and that there are numerous references to God in the country’s symbols, songs, mottos and oaths. “This sign has the secular purpose of conveying a message of support, does not advance or inhibit religion or any particular faith, nor does it foster excessive government entanglement with religion.”

He added that the sign was erected after Sept. 11, 2001, to support service members who were deploying in response to the attacks and has served as “a secular symbol of general support and encouragement” for more than a decade.

The MFers suggested some changes to the sign to make it more palatable to heathens;

Some suggestions offered were: “Yahweh Bless …,” “Allah Bless …,” “Goddess Bless …,” and “There is no god to bless … We have each other.”

It’s very revealing that they would suggest “Allah bless”, isn’t it?

Not being a particularly religious person myself, I don’t feel at all threatened by people who are religious. I guess that I’m actually the embodiment of “free exercise of religion”. A sign doesn’t shake me to my soul.

The other day, we talked about the leaked results of a report in regards to the nine-month experiment conducted by the Marine Corps which put male and female Marines in combat arms roles together. The supposed conclusion was that women didn’t quite live up to the standard through no fault of their own, but rather they were limited by nature. The Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus dismissed the report out-of-hand, he hasn’t read it nor has he been briefed on it. The Hill reports that some members of Congress want to get their fingerprints on it.

“We will be gathering folks together who have been part of that study and having a briefing on it soon,” Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, said Thursday.

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[Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), a retired Air Force colonel and first female to fly in combat] said lawmakers have not seen the study, which has not been released yet, but that she has similar concerns to Mabus.

“I echo some concerns by the secretary of the Navy related to, ‘Do we take a bunch of combat trained men and a bunch of non-combat trained support women and put them together, and just wonder how they’re going to do?’ ” said McSally.

“You can study anything and get the results you might be looking for, or have some flawed assumptions in how you’re setting it up. And so we want to make sure we understand where the study was and what the results are from it, and then what to conclude from it,” she said.

So we’re supposed to prejudge the results of this experiment without actually seeing those results? Isn’t what the Navy Secretary and the Congresswoman are doing is exactly what they’re accusing the Marine Corps of doing during this Grand Experiment?

These people have no skin in the game, their lives don’t depend on the results of this experiment, it only matters to them for political reasons and social justice reasons. The Marines who took part in the experiment do have their skin in the game. Skin and blood. They have no other reason to play the game other than getting home safely after the next war.

But, yeah, the social justice warriors in the Pentagon and in Congress were heartened by the Ranger School thing, you know the women who were recycled through the course until they got it right. This isn’t me being against women in the military, this is me worried about them coming in the same number of pieces as when they left.

Stars & Stripes reports this morning that the Corps may exclude some jobs from women in infantry and reconnaissance, but that move is subject to veto by Mabus, you know, the guy that has more experience in combat than everyone else combined from his two years as a surface warfareofficer in 1970-1972 aboard the USS Little Rock. According to Wiki, 1970-1971, the USS Little Rock spent the time in a Boston dry dock undergoing repairs resulting from a collision with a Greek destroyer. So, he has lots of experience watching someone fix his boat – which is just as physical as being in the infantry.