Gen. Joe Dunford, the new commandant of the Marine Corps, is featured in a video message celebrating the service’s 239th birthday. Dunford issued the message celebrating Marines’ Nov. 10 birthday the day after a passage of command ceremony during which he became the Corps’ 36th commandant. This year’s message includes interviews with Marines from some of the Corps’ most brutal battles, from Pfc. John Lahm, who fought in the Battle of Peleliu during World War II, to Sgt. Maj. Bradley Kasal, who earned a Navy Cross for his role in the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq. The Corps’ newest Medal of…
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Those who assumed only a “terminal lance” would have the gall to list his barracks room on Craigslist might be surprised to learn who was really behind the stunt. A staff sergeant hoping to carry out a career in the Corps was behind the entertaining Craigslist advertisement. He said he has a “penchant for shaking things up when it comes to having to conform to the Marine Corps way.” The Battle Rattle post about his ad was viewed nearly 380,000 times. He described a 225 square-foot barracks room as a lovely space in a gated community with wake-up calls and “motivation specialists.” The…
A video showing two Marines confronting a man dressed as an Army sergeant major is making the rounds on Facebook. The video, posted on Sunday from Florida, shows two Marines on funeral detail questioning a man claiming to be a battalion sergeant major, military policeman and special operator. The two catch up with him in a parking lot and begin asking him questions about his uniform — including why he’s wearing medals and ribbons at the same time. [HTML1] The Marines ask the man who his commanding officer is, and he replies, “Lt. Col. Smith.” They also ask him for…
[HTML1] A Marine Reserve officer is taking some heat for an opinion piece he wrote analyzing the reaction to a viral video in which Marines filmed themselves belting out the lyrics to the girl-power anthem, “Let It Go.” In a piece for The Daily Beast titled “Why these Marines love ‘Frozen’ and why it matters,” Aaron B. O’Connell — a lieutenant colonel in the Reserve and history professor at the U.S. Naval Academy — said the public’s reaction to the video is flawed. Those who were calling it “adorable” missed the point, he wrote. Instead, he says the Marines’ performance is…
The results are in. According to a new Gallup Poll, Americans overwhelmingly believe that the Marine Corps is the most prestigious branch of the armed services. No word on whether it’s the dress blues, the tough image, or the elite missions undertaken by the likes of Force Recon and MARSOC, but with 47 percent of the vote, the Marines polled nearly three times higher for prestige than the next runner-up, the U.S. Air Force. As you can see from the Gallup chart below, the Marine Corps has been slowly increasing its edge over the other services in terms of prestige,…
Marines weren’t going to be outdone by a bunch of moms and their preschoolers singing the hit theme to Disney’s “Frozen.” Theses Marines took to their barracks common area to belt out the lyrics to “Let It Go” with some real passion. And just to Marine-ize the rendition, they somewhat creepily cheer and yell some “Oorahs!” when the animated leading lady, Elsa, has a wardrobe change. [HTML1] The video has more than 116,000 shares since it was posted to Facebook on Tuesday. Their voices don’t quite reach Idina Menzel’s range, but they sang with enthusiasm. Whatever motivates you, Marines.
By Hope Hodge Seck Camp Leatherneck–Greetings from Camp Leatherneck, a once-bustling base in Afghanistan’s Helmand province that is rapidly becoming a ghost town. Leatherneck is home to most of the 4,500 Marines remaining in Afghanistan, down from some 20,000 at the peak of fighting here. While the base still has a sprawling footprint, whole sections are emptying as units and elements complete their mission and go home. Meanwhile, Leatherneck is still home to an array of coalition troops, including Jordanian, Georgian, Estonian, and Danish forces, as well as some 2,500 British troops stationed at Camp Bastion, which borders Leatherneck. On…
Hannah Ferguson doesn’t just have two Marines as parents — her mom served as a drill instructor and her dad as a sniper. Prospective dates asked her out at their own peril, according to Sports Illustrated. Ferguson, 22, spent a lot of time hanging around her dad’s shop, and it was there where she was first exposed to a community she wanted to join. But that community didn’t involve dress blues or MARPAT. Ferguson wanted to show a bit more skin than that. “My dad has Sports Illustrated calendars in his shop,” Ferguson told Reuters. “I would always flip through them and…
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said officials can’t jump from doing nothing in Syria to sending in the Marines. U.S. officials must use a host of tools to bring about a political change there as well as deal with vast humanitarian suffering, which has left more than 9 million people in need of aid, she told NPR on Feb. 7. They can’t rush from no action to putting boots on the ground there, she said. “What President Obama has instructed all of us to do is just look under every stone, look at every tool that we…
A photo of a former staff sergeant who lost his legs in Afghanistan being carried on his wife’s back has gone viral on Facebook — here is the story behind the picture. Former Marine Staff Sgt. Jesse Cottle told KTVB in Idaho that he joined the Corps in 2003. The explosive ordinance disposal Marine was on a foot patrol in Afghanistan in 2009 when he stepped on a pressure plate that triggered a blast. Cottle was left a double amputee, having lost his legs after struck by an anti-personnel improvised explosive device. The explosion was caught on camera, KTVB reported,…
