238 years ago today the Naval Committee of the Continental Congress was directed to raise two battalions of Marines, and so we got the naval infantry. The first amphibious assault by the new Marine Corps occurred in the Bahamas on March 3, 1776 when the force seized Fort Montague and Fort Nassau, a British ammunition depot and naval port in New Providence.
So Happy Birthday, Marine Corps. From the Halls of Montezuma to shores of Tripoli. From the peak of Suribachi to the alleyways of Fallujah.
I’ll just leave this one here. You might want to read it when no kids are around.
US Military Cracks Down On Troop Masturbation In Afghanistan
I’m guessing this is a joke. If so, it’s good to see that the troops still have a sense of humor. (smile)
And if it’s not a joke: I think the author of this policy has just self-identified a billet – and an individual – that are prime candidates for elimination during the upcoming drawdown. They obviously don’t have a meaningful mission.
27 former Marine Corps and Navy lawyers are asking Congress to investigate the conduct of the Corps’ Commandant James Amos according to the Washington Times. The former JAG officers charge that Amos used unlawful command influence in the “urination video” case;
The former judge advocates say that Gen. Amos provided misleading sworn statements to the court when asked about his actions and withheld documents from defense attorneys.
They also cite the actions of superiors against Maj. James Weirick, a staff judge advocate at the Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va.
After watching what he considered inappropriate actions by the commandant and his legal staff, Maj. Weirick filed a complaint with the Defense Department Inspector General.
Earlier this month, superiors stripped Maj. Weirick of his legal duties, asked for his personal licensed weapons kept at home and advised him to seek a mental health evaluation — actions his lawyer calls blatant retaliation. Maj. Weirick has received superior fitness reports and was selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel.
The Times says that Amos’ legal advisor, Robert Hogue told the Marine Corps Times some ridiculous shit about how they were afraid that Weirick would go postal, ala the Navy Yard shooting and that’s why they moved him away from his desk, cuz you know, a lawyer without a desk is not capable of mass shootings. The former JAGs included in their letter to Congress a sworn statement from the convening authority in the case, Lt. Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, who says that Amos ordered him to “crush” the defendants in the case. When Waldhauser refused, Amos removed him from the case with no explanation.
Amos sounds totally legit to me.
There was a shooting at a Middle school in Nevada today, if you hadn’t heard. Two people died in the gunfire – a teacher and the shooter, according to Business Insider. the teacher was Michael Landsberry a former Marine (in the mid-80s) and a current member of the Nevada National Guard;
A witness told the Gazette-Journal that a teacher told the shooter to put the gun down before he was shot.
The student said: “We were at school, we were by the basketball court and we heard a pop, like a loud pop, and everybody was screaming. And then the teacher came to investigate. I thought it was a firecracker at first, but the student was pointing a gun at the teacher after the teacher told him to put it down. And then the student fired a shot at the teacher and the teacher fell and everybody ran away. … While we were running, we heard about four or five more shots.”
Apparently, one of those shots was the shooter (a boy wearing a Sparks Middle School uniform) offing himself. From the Associated Press;
“In my estimation, he is a hero. … We do know he was trying to intervene,” Reno Deputy Police Chief Tom Robinson said of the teacher who was killed, who initially was identified only as a staff member.
Family members identified him as math teacher Michael Landsberry, a 45-year-old military veteran who leaves behind a wife and two stepdaughters.
Two other students were injured, but many more were uninjured, thanks to Michael Landsberry.
Several of you have sent this article about Marine JAG officer Maj. James Weirick who accuses Commandant James Amos of covering up his undue command influence in the case of the urinating Marines. Well Weirick has been fired because of his inquiry;
Earlier this month, Maj. Weirick sent an email to a lawyer who had worked on Gen. Amos’ staff, urging him in pointed language to cooperate with investigators.
Marine higher-ups responded Tuesday with a series of retaliations against Maj. Weirick, Col. Siegel said.
• Marines escorted Maj. Weirick out of his office and seized his government computer.
• He was transferred to a nonlegal job as a training officer.
• His new commander suggested that he get a mental health evaluation and report for an interview with a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent, to whom he refused to talk.
• The major was ordered not to communicate with officials, including Gen. Amos, and was denied leave.
• He was told to turn over his licensed personal firearms kept at home, which he did.
• The Corps also is doing a risk assessment to determine whether Maj. Weirick is a danger to himself or the base.
“These steps are all designed for a single purpose and that is to undermine the credibility of Maj. Weirick, the credibility of his complaints to the [Defense Department inspector general] and to push him very close to the very edge of being able to drum him out of the Marine Corps,” Col. Siegel said. “I’ve been practicing military justice exclusively for 40 years, 25 of which were in the Marine Corps, and I have never seen anything quite this destructive carried out by people who I considered to be heroes, the commandant of the Marine Corps.”
Mike writes to tell us that he knows the Major and that he’s a good Marine and JAG officer.
Well, I’m sure that it was the toughest decision that the commandant and his staff ever made. The whole urinating Marines thing is silly, anyway. We all knew it was a purely political decision to court martial the folks involved motivated by an overblown media attack on the military as a whole. I’d piss on the whole lot of them.
The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that the Navy has named it’s newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after SGT Rafael Peralta, the hero of Falluja who shielded his Marines with his own body when an enemy tossed a grenade at them. Peralta had been wounded moments before the incident. He had been recommended for the Medal of Honor but doubts about witness statements resulted in the Medal being downgraded to a Navy Cross;
Peralta’s mother Rose and younger brother, Lance Cpl. Ricardo Peralta, attended the ceremony last week in San Diego.
“It’s really emotional for the family because his nomination for the Medal of Honor has now been turned down more than once,” Peralta said in a Department of Defense article. “But we know that there’s not a single decoration or medal that they can give him that will make us more proud. We’re proud to the fullest.”
The family is still seeking to have Peralta receive the Medal of Honor.
Peralta’s brother, Ricardo is keeping a promise that he made to Rafael at the wake to be a Marine infantryman;
“In boot camp, there are classes where his Navy Cross citation is read, so every Marine hears about him,” Peralta said.
Stars & Stripes reports that a Marine was killed and three others injured in a training accident in the Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, CA when the Amphibious Assault Vehicle they were in caught fire;
Cpl. Nicholas Sell, 21, of Eagle Point, Ore., was assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division. He and the other Marines were participating in a battalion assault course in support of an integrated training exercise when the AAV caught fire about 11:20 Monday morning, according to a Marine Corps press release.
Three Marines were treated and released from the hospital on base, and one is being treated at Arrowhead Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was listed in stable condition Wednesday, Marines said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Just a reminder that training for war is just as deadly as the war itself sometimes.
He may be legitimate, but anyone who has to wear their uniform like that and hang funny-looking bling on it so that they get a measure of credibility from idiot civilians still needs to be laughed at and called a troll. With luck, he’ll come by here to defend himself and we can get his records.