Smoke the donkey, arrived in the United States Thursday and will be out of quarantine tomorrow. For those of you who don’t already know Smoke, he is an Iraqi donkey who was adopted by Marines at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, in 2008. He became the mascot of 1st Marine Logistics Group, but Marines were forced to abandon him when they pulled out. Retired Col. John Folsom, who was the camp commandant, never forgot about Smoke. Late last year he began working to bring him to Nebraska where Folsom runs Wounded Warriors Family Support, a non-profit that helps families of troops wounded…
Author James Sanborn
Turkish authorities have granted Smoke the donkey, the former mascot for 1st Marine Logistics Group in Iraq, permission to enter Turkey at the Habur Gate checkpoint in northern Iraq. Smoke’s former guardian, Col. John Folsom, has been fighting to bring Smoke home since October, but has run into one problem after another. First, he had to convince an Iraqi sheik to lower the $30,000 price tag arbitrarily put on the donkey. Then Smoke had to be wrangled and sent to Arbil from Fallujah. Finally, Folsom and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International had to lobby Turkish officials to…
This week’s Marine Corps Times cover story delves into the Corps’ plans to replace your Infantry Combat Boot with the Rugged All Terrain boot. Until now, RAT boots have mostly been issued to Marines deploying to Afghanistan, but in 2012 they will become standard issue. The RAT boot was developed after current boots proved unable to hold up to the rugged terrain and harsh conditions Marines were fighting in. With reinforced leather and stitch-down construction that better bonds the sole to the rest of the boot, the RAT boot will last longer in garrison and down range. But while it’s…
Chubby Marines and lax commanders beware. The commandant of the Marine Corps has you in his sights. This week’s Marine Corps Times cover story is about the commandant’s plan to crack down on lax enforcement of body composition standards with surprise weigh ins to be conducted by the Marine Corps Investigator General this summer. Any Marine outside of standards should be in the Marine Corps’ Body Composition Program or Military Appearance Program the commandant has said, but it doesn’t look like that is always the case. While touring the fleet with Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent, he’s…
“Every Marine a rifleman.” It’s a philosophy every recruit is indoctrinated with from Day One. No matter his MOS, every Marine is trained to be capable of picking up a rifle and heading to the front. But, in today’s operating environment, many Marines never hear the crack of an enemy rifle. That’s why some grunts want a device to distinguish them from other Marines. The best way to do that, some oh-three-hundreds say, is to reserve crossed rifles for infantrymen. Others, however, say that threatens to erode camaraderie and rob the Corps of that which sets it apart from all…
Every once in a while you see something that makes you stop and ask, “Why?” One of those things is a noncomissioned officer blasting a few fellow Marines with a bullhorn while they stand just a few feet away. Can you explain what’s going on here? The original caption says the Marines were attached to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit during predeployment training at Fort Picket, Va. Let’s see who can write the best caption. Give it your best shot in the comments section, but please try to keep it fit for print. Obscene comments will be pulled down.
This week’s Marine Corps Times cover is an inspirational story about a Marine who competed in the 2010 Ironman World Championship after beating cancer not once, but twice. Staff Sgt. Clay Treska was diagnosed with stage-one testicular cancer in 2009, but beat the disease back with chemotherapy. The treatment that saved his life, however, also ravaged his body. He began packing on the pounds and edged in on 300 before deciding he was going to get back on track by training for an Ironman triathlon. After months of hard work, Treska who had no experience as an endurance athlete, was…
Last week Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced drastic cuts across the military, totaling $78 billion over the next five years. Among those cuts were three hard hits to the Marine Corps. A 20,000 Marine drawdown will being in 2015. Development of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was canceled. Production of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter was delayed by at least two years and risks being nixed all together. This week’s Marine Corps Times delves deep into the cuts. With the EFV scuttled the Marine Corps is without a next-generation ship to shore vehicle. With the F-35B delayed, an aging fleet of…
Sgt. George “Loaded” Lockhart, one of the Marine Corps’ top martial arts instructors, has said he plans to open a gym this summer with rising UFC star Brian Stann. Lockhart, who is set to leave the Marine Corps in July, said he and Stann, a former Marine captain and Silver Star recipient, hope to co-manage the gym in Alpharetta, Ga., near Atlanta. The two of them are both quickly earning names for themselves in the UFC — Stann as the underdog fighter who crushed Chris Leben in a New Year’s Day victory and Lockhart as a diet guru who helps…
Terminal Lance, an edgy comic lampooning enlisted life in the Corps, will now grace the pages of Marine Corps Times on a weekly basis. Look for it in our Opening Shots section starting Monday. If you are one of the tens of thousands of people already familiar with the work of former Lance Cpl. Maximilian Uriarte, you’re probably excited by the news. He began posting the comic strip on the website Terminallance.com last January, and it gained an immediate cult following. Here is a sampling of some of his past work. Because the strip is known for salty language and…
