James Sanborn

Bonnie and Gen. Jim Amos pack up at Marine Corps’ Home of the Commandants

By James Sanborn on October 2, 2014 Battle Rattle

Bonnie Amos and her husband, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Jim Amos, are busy packing up for what she says is their 30th move in not quite 44 years. It will be the last move of her husband’s military career, however, as the Marine Corps’ “first couple” readies for retirement and begins vacating the Home of the Commandants at 8th & I, in Washington, D.C. The passage of command, when Gen. Joseph Dunford will officially take charge as the 36th commandant of the Marine Corps, is set to take place Oct. 17. The Amoses won’t be taking everything though.…

Marine MoH recipient Kyle Carpenter discusses heroism, his recovery and plans for the future

By James Sanborn on May 21, 2014 Battle Rattle

“I’m going to need $100 dollars from each of you,” said medically retired Cpl. Kyle Carpenter with a chuckle. Humor is how the next Medal of Honor recipient opened a meeting with reporters last week at the Pentagon ahead of the White House’s announcement that he will become the second of only two living Marines to receive the nation’s highest valor award for fighting in Afghanistan. He sat down with us to discuss the White House’s announcement, the events of the day he covered a grenade with his own body to save a fellow Marine, his road to recovery and…

This Marine’s jaw-dropping awards citation for a five-hour fire fight is a must read

By James Sanborn on April 21, 2014 Afghanistan, Awards

We recently learned that Gunnery Sgt. Richard A. Jibson would become the latest Marine to receive the Navy Cross for heroism in Afghanistan. The Secretary of the Navy will present the award during a ceremony tomorrow at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Andrew Owensby, a sailor who worked Jibson to save the life of a wounded comrade during a five-hour fire fight in Mazr Abad Janubi, Afghanistan, will receive the Bronze Star for the same action. Their jaw-dropping medal citations and summaries of action which give minute-by-minute breakdowns of their actions…

Navy Blue Angels pilot makes Rob Riggle squeal and then pass out for this ‘Top Gun 2 audition tape’

By James Sanborn on April 9, 2014 Battle Rattle, Reserve

Comedian and retired Marine Reserve officer Rob Riggle takes to the skies in this “Top Gun 2 audition tape” skit for popular comedy website Funny Or Die. In it, Riggle posits that he’s a dead ringer for the supporting actor post beside the famed character Maverick. When he mounts up and begins to practice his lines, the Blue Angels pilot goes full throttle. Spoiler alert: Riggle lets out some kind of squeal, and then passes out. Watch: [HTML1] In addition to his career as a comedian featured in movies including The Hangover, The Other Guys and Step Brothers, Riggle served…

Viral video shows Magnificent Bastards lined up for miles, saluting Gold Star families during Ramadi 10th memorial ceremony

By James Sanborn on April 8, 2014 Battle Rattle, Iraq

A recent video posted to Facebook captures a touching gesture of respect and honor. In it, members of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, line miles of road to salute the families of fallen Marines on their way to an April 6 memorial aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., that marked the 10th anniversary of the battle of Ramadi. In the video shot from inside a passing vehicle, hundreds of Magnificent Bastards — as the unit is known — snap to attention and salute. [HTML1] The ceremony at the Camp San Mateo Memorial garden commemorated members of the unit lost during the 2004 battle…

Former Force Recon Travis Haley recounts harrowing fight in Najaf, combat valor of Marine ‘Defense Messaging Administrator’

By James Sanborn on April 4, 2014 Battle Rattle, Iraq

Celebrity firearms trainer Travis Haley, who served in Iraq with 2nd Force Reconnaissance Battalion and returned to the country as a Blackwater contractor protecting ambassador Paul Bremer, recently released a riveting first-hand account of a battle in Najaf that occurred ten years ago today. Haley gained notoriety for a viral YouTube video of him engaging members of the Mahdi Army from a rooftop just days after four Blackwater contractors were killed and hung from a bridge in Fallujah. The infamous killings of the four contractors eventually precipitated Operation Phantom Fury — the Marine Corps’ most pitched battle of the Iraq…

Marine MoH recipient Dakota Meyer did a pretty intense commercial on shotgun home defense

By James Sanborn on April 2, 2014 Battle Rattle

[HTML1] Marine Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer provides instruction on the best gear and tactics for home defense in a new web video by SureFire. It is the latest in a series of videos starring Meyer, a spokesman for the company that produces weapons lights, suppressors, muzzle breaks and flash hiders. Meyer talks about the importance of proper equipment, training and mindset for repelling an intruder from your residence, particularly in a situation where you have loved ones sleeping in different areas of the house. First, equipment. Meyer suggests a shotgun because it is easier to accurately wield and…

Former MARSOC commander to pen foreword for ‘Level Zero Heroes’

By James Sanborn on March 27, 2014 Afghanistan, Battle Rattle, MARSOC

Maj. Fred Galvin, who led the first Marine Corps Special Operations Command unit to ever deploy to Afghanistan and was later the subject of an investigation into a controversial firefight that got his unit booted from the country, will write the foreword for “Level Zero Heroes,” the book’s author recently told Marine Corps Times. Penned by former Staff Sgt. Michael Golembesky and set for release this fall, Level Zero Heroes will follow the story of Golembesky’s unit, Marine Special Operations Team 8222, which fought an entrenched insurgency for seven months in 2009 and 2010 out of Forward Operating Base Todd…

2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, to commemorate deadly 2004 Battle of Ramadi

By James Sanborn on March 7, 2014 Battle Rattle

Marines and sailors of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, will mark the 10-year anniversary of the Battle of Ramadi, during an April 6 ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The 2004 battle was among the war’s hardest fought, resulting in the death of 34 Marines and one sailor. On April 6, a series of coordinated ambushes in the city took the lives of many of those Marines. It was a level of precision and tenacity not before seen by the insurgency. The Marines of 2/4, however, were able to break insurgent momentum by killing an estimated 250 fighters between April 6 and…

EOD expert: We have seen the future of warfare, and it’s the IED

By James Sanborn on March 7, 2014 Battle Rattle

For U.S. forces on the ground, the future of warfare isn’t a $250 billion fighter jet program, its a cheap, but devastating bundle of wires rigged to homemade explosives or Vietnam-era ordnance — the IED. IEDs came to define the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wreacking havoc on Marines everywhere from Al Anbar to Helmand. But, with the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghansitan later this year, the IED threat will not evaporate, according to one of the Corps’ top IED experts. “We have seen the future of warfare and it’s the IED,” Master Gunnery Sgt. Steven Williams, the staff…

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