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

Category: Marines

  • Valor Friday

    moh navy

    Corporal Abrell
    Corporal Abrell

    Today’s Valor Friday’s honors go to Corporal Charles G. Abrell, USMC. He was born on August 12, 1931 in Terre Haute, Indiana, and grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps just five days after his 17th birthday in 1948. Following recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, he was assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and also served aboard the USS Noble before going to Korea with the 1st Marine Division. He was in combat at Inchon, Seoul, Wonsan, Chosin Reservoir, and Hanghum.

    Medal of Honor Citation
    For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a fire team leader in Company E, in action against enemy aggressor forces. While advancing with his platoon in an attack against well-concealed and heavily fortified enemy hill positions, Cpl. Abrell voluntarily rushed forward through the assaulting squad which was pinned down by a hail of intense and accurate automatic-weapons fire from a hostile bunker situated on commanding ground. Although previously wounded by enemy hand grenade fragments, he proceeded to carry out a bold, single-handed attack against the bunker, exhorting his comrades to follow him. Sustaining 2 additional wounds as he stormed toward the emplacement, he resolutely pulled the pin from a grenade clutched in his hand and hurled himself bodily into the bunker with the live missile still in his grasp. Fatally wounded in the resulting explosion which killed the entire enemy guncrew within the stronghold, Cpl. Abrell, by his valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death, served to inspire all his comrades and contributed directly to the success of his platoon in attaining its objective. His superb courage and heroic initiative sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

    No greater love…

    Thanks to The Congressional Medal of Honor Society

  • 1919 – Yeomen (f) and Marinettes Final Pass in Review

    1919 – Final Pass in Review of the US Navy’s Yeomen (f) and female Marinettes – the film is of Secretary of the Navy Daniels inspecting the female volunteers, the Yeomen (f) and Marinettes.

    http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675027182_girls-of-navy_Secretary-Daniels_farewell-to-girls_officers-walking

    That video is brief, is available at Critical Past, where a lot of archival footage is being held and restored. If you look closely, you may see some young versions of people like Franklin Roosevelt included in this footage.

    The history of the US Navy’s recruiting women for positions as Yeomen (f) and as Marinettes came about under the Naval Act of 1916.

    https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/yeoman-f.html

    “The Act’s vague language relating to the reserve forces did not prohibit women from enlisting. The act declared that the reserve force within the U.S. Navy would consist of those who had prior naval service, prior service in merchant marines, were part of a crew of a civilian ship commissioned in naval service, or “all persons who may be capable of performing special useful service for coastal defense.” This last element contained the loophole that allowed women to enlist.” – Archives.gov.

    Although recruited ostensibly for clerical work, these women filled many other positions, to relieve men in stateside slots for duty at sea and in Europe.

    Their service officially ended in 1919. A few remained in service in the Reserves until 1922, but the last Yeoman (f) was discharged in March 1921. This led into the creation of WAVES in World War II, recruiting women for almost all positions normally filled by men to release men on shore duty to overseas and shipboard positions.

    And we have never stopped serving since….

  • Marine first sergeant to be awarded Navy Cross for Vietnam War heroics

    Marines near Khe-SanhU.S. Marines are silhouetted as they stand on Hill 881 North after a fierce nine-day battle near Khe Sanh, Vietnam, on May 3, 1967, during the Vietnam War. (AP Photo)
    By: Shawn Snow

    More than a half century after his battlefield heroics during the Vietnam War, Ret. Marine 1st Sgt. John J. Lord will be awarded the Navy Cross during a Nov. 17 ceremony in Vancouver, Washington.

    The Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest award for combat bravery, is an upgrade from the Bronze Star Lord originally was awarded in 1975.

    On July 28, 1968, Lord was a sergeant serving with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines in the Republic of Vietnam when he was jolted to push his company through a deadly ambush.

    During the firefight, Lord’s company commander, platoon commander and senior enlisted leadership were wounded, leaving Lord to take the helm of his unit.

    As machine gun and small arms fire rained down on the Marine platoon from a concealed North Vietnamese Army battalion, “Lord unhesitatingly maneuvered across the fire-swept terrain and skillfully deployed the platoon against the enemy,” the award citation reads.

    On multiple occasions Lord exposed himself to enemy fire to rescue wounded comrades.

    As Lord took over command of the entire company, he located one of the only functioning radios and began to direct air support against the enemy.

    According to the award citation, Lord’s actions helped turn the tide of the battle.

    The article goes on to showcase the dedication of his former Company Commander, now retired Lt. Col. Michael Sweeney, and his tireless efforts helped to award 1stSgt Lord for his acts during the ambush.

    Read the rest at The Marine Corps Times

  • …Into the Sunset.

    ea6b1

    End of an era, again.

    Marine Corps’ Last Prowler Aircraft Return from Final Combat Deployment

    The last of the Marine Corps’ remaining EA-6B Prowlers have wrapped up their final mission in the Middle East, where they supported troops taking on the Islamic State group. Now, the electronic-warfare aircraft will soon be headed to the boneyard.

    More than 250 members of Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 are returning to North Carolina after spending seven months operating out of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The squadron — the last to fly the service’s decades-old electronic-warfare aircraft — is only about four months away from being deactivated.

    But that didn’t slow the Death Jesters downrange, where they were tapped with supporting two campaigns simultaneously: Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan.

    crewMarines deployed with Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 walk to their EA-6B Prowler at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar on Sept. 12. VMAQ-2 has completed its final deployment, and the last six Prowlers in the U.S. military’s inventory are being retired. (US Air Force photo/Ted Nichols)

    “The mission of the Prowler is and always has been to deny, degrade and disrupt the enemy’s use of the electromagnetic spectrum,” said Capt. Robert Ryland, an electronic-countermeasures officer with VMAQ-2. Being based in Qatar, he added, allowed them to respond to missions for both operations.

    Ryland declined to specify how many flight hours the crews flew throughout the deployment, due to operational security concerns. But the operational tempo remained high throughout the deployment, he said.

    “The presence of electronic warfare is extremely important to the supported unit,” he said. “Though this is the final EA-6B deployment, the need for electronic warfare will remain high worldwide in the
    future.”

    The aircraft of my misspent youth are going to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB. The H-2s and P-3s I crewed in, and all the others of the era too numerous to list, are already there. Now it’s the last hurrah for the Marine’s EA-6B as well. I wouldn’t worry too much, the EA-18 “Growler” will fill the void left by the bird affectionately known as “The Queer” (see below) by all who served with her.

    The article is a pretty good read, a mix of pride and bittersweet. I know that feeling well. It can be found here at Military Daily

    So named because of the gold film layered into the canopies to protect the crew from the fierce RF radiation emitted by the ECM suite. They also had fangs with the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile to take out offending emitters.

  • Iceland’s bars ran out of beer trying to serve thirsty US sailors and Marines

    iceland

    Title pretty much sums it up. A large number of US Sailors and Marines went on liberty in Reykjavík, Iceland while taking part in NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise. Been there on P-3 Dets at Naval Air Station Keflavik, and found nearby Reykjavik to be quaint, but stupid expensive.
    Again I digress. Without further ado, the story.

    ReykjavíkThe city of Reykjavík, seen here from Hallgrímskirkja, was invaded by thirsty American sailors and Marines who nearly caused the city to run out of beer. (J.D. Simkins/Staff)

    Founding Father and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, once quipped, “Beer, if drunk in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.”

    The military never got that memo.

    A national crisis hit Iceland this week when a force of 7,000 American sailors and Marines who know nothing about the third president’s propensity for alcoholic self-restraint invaded the country’s capital city of Reykjavík, flexed an unquenchable thirst for frosty suds and swiftly drained much of the city’s beer supply.

    Upon arrival, sailors and Marines taking part in NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise wasted no time getting wasted, Iceland Magazine reported, with most making a beeline straight from the ship to the closest bar to locate, close with and destroy beers.

    Bar owners tried to accommodate the onslaught of American patrons, but “they were fighting an overwhelming force,” said local blogger, Eiríkur Jónsson.

    Give me your tired, your thirsty, your huddled masses yearning to drink beer.

    Wave after wave of dehydrated sailors and Marines strolled into town, filling local establishments for four days straight in search of that old, familiar embrace of sweet inebriation.

    One restaurant, Sæta Svínið — good luck pronouncing that — was one of the first to run out of beer. Bar owners tried borrowing from other businesses that were better stocked, but the Americans were too many.

    As other bars quickly began drying up, owners who said they had never experienced such an alcoholic assault put out a beer distress signal.

    One of Iceland’s local breweries, Ölgerð Egils Skallagrímssonar, answered the call and immediately began working overtime to distribute emergency beer shipments that could furnish the parched Americans with sustenance.

    Ölgerð Egils Skallagrímssonar — the king in the North.

    When the ships finally departed Reykjavík, the city with a population of about 120,000 in a country with just under 340,000 was finally able to breathe.

    Iceland had survived the assault, the Americans had drank their fill and there have yet to be any reports of overindulgent debauchery — a true success story.

    Not too shabby- the Brits from HMS Queen Elizabeth showed their collective ass on liberty in Jacksonville a while ago, and didn’t come near to drinking the place dry.

    TAH Post Link

    Not sure that’s a good thing…

    Anyway, the entire article may be viewed here at The Navy Times

  • Parris Island first sergeant to face hearing over $1.5 million razor theft

    Parris Island first sergeant to face hearing over $1.5 million razor theft

    A Marine first sergeant previously stationed at the Corps’ recruit depot aboard Parris Island, South Carolina, will face a preliminary military hearing over his alleged involvement in a razor blade theft ring.

    The first sergeant was named by his initials in an Oct. 10 indictment that purported the Marine noncommissioned officer conspired with three Defense Department civilian employees, working at the recruit store and warehouse at the depot, to steal nearly $1.5 million in Gillette razors.

    I had no idea there was that kind of money in the Gillette business.  Maybe all of this could be avoided if they just have recruits join the Dollar Shave Club. 

    Parris Island has a store that sells razor blades at a discount price to recruits aboard the depot.

    The Parris Island razor blade racket was detailed in a federal indictment:

    Chambers allegedly had approached Brutus “and asked her to steal boxes of high-end Gillette razors, razor blades and other items” from the recruit store, according to the indictment.

    Brutus then allegedly introduced two other employees, Harrison and Byson, to Chambers to help steal the razors.

    Harrison and Byson allegedly were able to steal boxes of the razors from the warehouse on a weekly basis and avoided detection by evading or disabling the security cameras, according to the indictment.

    The stolen merchandise allegedly was delivered in person to Chambers until he was transferred in March 2018 to Florida. The razor blades were then transported via U.S. Postal Service.

    Chambers allegedly would sell the blades and split up the proceeds through wire transfer from his Navy Federal Credit Union account.

    The Post and Courier reported that the use of the postal service may have caused the scheme to come apart when Chambers called about the status of boxes containing 720 packages of Gillette blades that were sent to New York.

    Federal Investigators then found wire transfers to one of the DoD civilian employees, according to The Post and Courier.

    Source: Parris Island first sergeant to face hearing over $1.5 million razor theft

  • Michael Bender – Phony MSgt Recon Marine

    Michael Bender – Phony MSgt Recon Marine

    Military Phony sent us their work on Michael Thomas Bender – who claims he is a retired MSgt of Marines who served from 1984 – 2010 and retired after 26 years.

    He claims that he was in Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance.

    Then, he also claims he was in “3/9 Force Recon Battalion” which must be a super secret unit because nobody has ever heard of it.  Also, he claims GySgt vs. MSgt in his VetFriends profile.

    He works around youth in the US Naval Sea Cadet Program.

    It looks like he lost a foot or two since that uniform was issued, I think we found the incredible shrinking Marine.

    And his profile looks awesome – https://www.region57nscc.org/pmi-bio

    He has a chest full of medals, including a Combat Action Ribbon although you have to look close to see what’s wrong with the CAR in the above photo and the ones below.

    You wouldn’t know it’s the same Marine by looking at his official military records:

    Michael Bender was discharged from the USMC as a Corporal (E-4) vs. a MSgt (E-8).

    There is nothing in his records to support him serving from 1986 – 2010.  The time he spent on active duty is consistent with a Marine that was in the Reserve.  In fact, on his summary sheet, it says he was in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

    The only medal listed is a Rifle Marksman Badge.  There is no Combat Action Ribbon.

    You have to give him credit in this photo – he uses an assortment of ferns and other foliage.  I know you can hardly pick him out in the photo below but stare closely at the center of the screen and you will eventually see a goofy dork like guy with shrubs on his head.

     

  • Saving the World

    Marine

    Marines come running to help after fire breaks out at DC senior building

    Marines stationed at The Marine Barracks at 8th & I in Washington, D.C., ran to the smoke and fire at a senior citizen facility yesterday. There they assisted local EMS to evacuate the burning structure. Bravo Zulu, Marines, simply outstanding.

    “Marines rushed into the building to rescue those who needed assistance and evacuated residents to the Marine Barracks Washington Annex where they were checked and treated for any injuries and sheltered until their loved ones arrived,” Marine Barracks Washington 8th & I said in a statement on Facebook.

    View the entire article here at Fox News