This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Marine Corps

  • Marine Sergeant Major Kenneth Lovell relieved due to false claims

    Sergeant Major Lovell

    The Marine Corps Times reports that Sergeant Major Kenneth Lovell III, the sergeant major of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines has been removed from his position because of his false claims of three Combat Action Ribbons and that he was a Sniper School Honor Graduate.

    At issue are two claims Lovell made in his official biography that critics say are undeserved: a third award of the Combat Action Ribbon they say could not be explained by his service record, and a claim to have been the honor graduate of his scout sniper basic course, 3-98, in 1998. In fact, sources say, the honor graduate was then-Cpl. Aaron Pine, a Marine who died in 2005 following an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps.

    Our buddy, Chris Mark at Global Security, Privacy and Risk Management who has helped us on several previous busts, is the fellow who busted the sergeant major;

    Sgt. Major Lovell also claimed to have 3 Combat Action Ribbons (CAR) (see pic to left). His original bio stated that he had : “…CAR3the Combat Action Ribbon with two gold stars in lieu of third award.” For those who are not in the Navy or Marine Corps, the CAR is a defining decoration. It is a ‘by name’ award that indicates that a Marine has been in combat. Only 1 CAR per theater can be earned. For any Marine, having 3 CARS would be an accomplishment. This raised some flags. When confronted, Sgt. Major Lovell amended his bio to include only 2 Combat Action Ribbon awards yet his picture shows him wearing 3. This is not a simple oversight or mistake. A CAR is a personal decoration and is coveted by Marines. This was clearly an attempt to assume an honor that was not awarded.

    Chris says that the Marine Corps has further corrected Lovell’s records;

    In addition to having falsely claimed a 3rd Combat Action Ribbon and Sniper School Honor Graduate, the USMC also corrected Lovell’s claims of service in Kosovo and with the Israeli Defense Force.

    I guess being a sergeant major of Marines isn’t enough for some people.

  • Marine Sergeant Michael Joseph saving the world

    From Military.com comes the story of Sergeant Michael Joseph, a 25 year old assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 in Hawaii;

    …he saw the body of a lance corporal on the pavement outside the movie theater here, Feb. 17.

    Joseph recognized the victim exhibited signs of cardiac arrest. He knew if cardiovascular resuscitation wasn’t conducted immediately, the Marine would die.

    Joseph began CPR. The lance corporal recovered.

    That’s why, on March 13, Joseph received the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Heart Saver Hero Award from the American Heart Association at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

    […]

    The Ritchie County, West Virginia, native said he was amazed at the timing of the incident. He had completed a CPR refresher course the Friday before the Tuesday incident. He recalled the lance corporal’s mother telling him, “God sent you to my son.”

  • Dan Jones makes it home

    Dan Jones makes it home

    Marines

    The New York Times tells the story of Dan Jones, the sole survivor of a 1968 Marine CH-46 helicopter crash, when the craft was accidentally shot out of the sky as it passed an artillery battery that was firing support for Marines in contact in Vietnam. 1LT Jones was rescued by a corpsman, Lloyd E. Colvin, who was awarded a Bronze Star for racing through a minefield to save Jones.

    The other three members of the crew had died, and the pentagon decided that they didn’t deserve the Purple Heart Medals. 1LT Jones disagreed and spent the next 47 proving his point.

    Last year, the Marine Corps reversed previous decisions and approved Purple Hearts for all the Marines who had been aboard the aircraft. A spokesman said the family of the one Marine who had not yet been formally recognized, a door gunner who was ejected from the crippled helicopter and fell to his death, would receive the medal as soon as his surviving family members set a date.

    […]

    The turn of fortune came last year after George Ross, another fellow pilot from the squadron, submitted a bundle of documents to the Marine Corps.

    Mr. Jones had not been optimistic as the records were assembled. “I’m afraid they’ll never get the award,” he wrote in an email from the time. “I’ve been hauling around these letters and such for forty-some years. Perhaps I’ll leave them to my grandson.”

    Several months later, Mr. Ross called him to say the Purple Hearts were approved for the entire crew. As Mr. Jones described the conversation, his eyes welled with tears.

    “My reaction to that call was pretty much the same as it is now,” he said. “I cried. I was at a loss for words.”

    “They were my buddies,” he added. “I felt their deaths needed to be honored, and as the surviving crew member it was my responsibility to make sure that occurred.”

    Here’s a link to the 76 pages of documentation that Dan Jones assembled to get his friends a medal that they’d never get to wear. A medal that some people never think twice about pinning it to their own bony chests even though they didn’t earn it. Welcome home, 1LT Jones.

  • Eleven Apparently Lost at Eglin

    Eleven members of the military – four Soldiers and seven Marines – are missing and feared dead. They were the crew and passengers, respectively, of a UH-60 from the Louisiana ARNG. The Marines involved were from MARSOC at Camp Lejune, NC.

    The aircraft apparently crashed while participating in nightime insertion and extraction training at Eglin AFB, FL. The cause of the incident has not yet been determined.

    Aircraft wreckage and some remains have been recovered to date. While rescue operations continued last night, at this point . . . frankly it doesn’t look good.

    Fox News has an article with more details.

    Sometime people ask why the military is different from other jobs. This is an example why.

    Rest in peace, brothers-in-arms. May God comfort your surviving family and friends.

  • 70 years ago today

    70 years ago today

    First_Iwo_Jima_Flag_Raising

    Members of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division reached the summit of Mount Suribachi 70 years ago today. They marked their arrival with the first, less dramatic photo above taken by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery, USMC. Later that day, they raised the more iconic photo below, taken by Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer.

    WW2_Iwo_Jima_flag_raising

    The second photo went on win a Pulitzer prize that year and became the model for the Marine Corps Memorial near Arlington Cemetery which was unveiled in 1954. Thanks to reader Ohio for not allowing us to let the event pass without notice.

  • Marines vacate Yemen embassy

    The security detail at the embassy in Yemen pulled out of the country the other day. Amid their withdrawal, were rumors that Yemeni officials disarmed them at the airport as they departed. I heard the rumors, but it didn’t sound right, so I waited. Sure enough, the Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication put out this statement;

    Upon arrival at the airfield, all personal weapons were rendered inoperable in accordance with advance planning. Specifically, each bolt was removed from its weapons body and rendered inoperable by smashing with sledgehammers. The weapons bodies, minus the bolts, were then separately smashed with sledgehammers. All of these destroyed components were left at the airport — and components were scattered; no usable weapon was taken from any Marine at Sana’a airport.

    To be clear: No Marine handed a weapon to a Houthi, or had one taken from him.

    That sounds more like it. I know folks are in a rush to believe everything they read on the internet (my boyfriend is a French model), especially if they can blame the current administration for perceived slights, but cooler heads usually prevail. But, there are probably people who don’t believe the statement from the Marines is true anyway.

    I actually wrote this a few days ago, so I know the news is old, but still worthy of discussion, I suppose.

  • Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald L. Green

    Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald L. Green

    Sergeant Major Ronald L. Green

    Stars and Stripes reports that Sergeant Major Ronald L. Green has been named to the top enlisted position in the Marine Corps;

    Green, the current sergeant major of I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., will assume duties as the senior enlisted leader of the Corps on Feb. 10 in a ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va.

    “His dynamic leadership is well known throughout the ranks of our corps,” Dunford said in a written statement. “His wide range of experience in both peacetime and combat, and his record of performance, make him extraordinarily well-qualified to serve as our senior enlisted leader.”

    According to his biography, he’s been a non-commissioned officer for nearly 20 years. It looks like he came up through the combat arms ranks as an artilleryman and he has one six month deployment to Iraq, but I don’t see a combat action ribbon.

    Congratulations, Sergeant Major.

  • Marines saving the world

    Marines saving the world

    Two teenagers in Lynnwood, Washington forgot where they were when they tried to rob a 60-year-old woman in a parking lot near a Marine Corps recruiting station,, according to KIROTV;

    “We thought there was road rage involved or a fight broke loose,” said Sgt. Riccardo Schebesta.

    Schebesta and two other recruiters rushed outside and saw a woman yelling for help.

    “She said, ‘Help me I’m being robbed.’ I stopped paying attention to her. She’s not the problem,” said Staff Sgt. Ben Shoemaker.

    He immediately saw one of the suspects, and ran to try and catch them.

    “No — that kid was never going to outrun me,” Shoemaker added. “Marines run towards the sound of chaos.”

    The Marines were able to capture one of the thugs and he’s cooling his heels in a cell on $25,000 bail.