As a few dozen Marines watched, 1st Sgt. Curtis Rice stood stoic in the intimate courtyard at Camp Pendleton, Calif., as his regimental commander pinned on a Bronze Star medal, its gold “V” catching a glint of the sun. Col. Bruce Nickle, the Combat Logistics Regiment 17 commander, tapped him on the shoulder and stepped aside so Rice could address the crowd. “I’m almost at a loss for words,” said Rice, 35, a native of Worcester, Mass., who serves as company first sergeant with Food Service Company. “I was just doing my job, as anyone in this formation would do.” A…
Author Gidget Fuentes
Marines with Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, join the massive clean-up of remote Oshima island in Japan, April 4.//31st MEU photoIt’s a field day – on a much bigger scale. With dozers, dump trucks and supplies in hand, hundreds of Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit descended on a small remote island near the epicenter of the March 11 earthquake that devastated northeastern Japan. On April 1, they began Operation Field Day, with the mission of helping clear mounds of debris on the island of Oshima, population 3,000. The Marines found some 600 residents holed up…
With ringing endorsements from the Pentagon’s top leader and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Amos to kill the program, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle’s fate is close to being sealed. But the EFV remains a contentious issue as big defense contractor General Dynamics continues with its push to save the program, with some help from congressional members who say nixing the EFV is akin to killing the Marine Corps itself. Beating the drum is Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Calif., an Iraq veteran who now represents California’s 52nd district. In recent weeks, Hunter has taken his pro-EFV argument to various newspaper op-ed…
Let’s face it: There’s usually little to get excited about when it comes to practicing formations, that time consuming but traditional necessity of military life. But up in the air, formations can be, well, more thrilling and less tedious than those on the ground. Add some ammo, and there are few who’d pass up the chance to sling some lead from a helicopter. Like the “Purple Foxes” of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364, who took to the air over Camp Pendleton, Calif., earlier this month to refresh their skills in aerial formation flights. Along with the requisite “parade” formations, helicopter…
With the Marine Corps’ 235th birthday around the corner, there’s one former Marine with a message he hopes will resonate during the traditional celebrations this season. Battle Rattle met Patrick T. Brent, a businessman, freelance writer and former officer, in early October aboard the amphibious assault ship Makin Island, where he joined sailors, Marines and officers for San Francisco Fleet Week events. For Brent, it was an opportune time to reiterate a pitch he has been making for the past year or so: reminding folks of the correct pronunciation of that famous division commander and 13th commandant, Lt. Gen. John…
It’s been more than a decade since the Marine Corps cracked down on hazing and tightened its regulations to bar abusive rites of passage and other acts including “incentive” physical training. But that hasn’t stopped some leaders, including noncommissioned officers, from using incentive PT to motivate a lazy Marine or discipline a screw-up. They think such cases of “NCO justice” are still effective at fixing the problem and getting the message across. Others, though, say such abuse of authority is a cop-out for poor leadership and flat-out bullying. It’s a debate that continues in this week’s Marine Corps Times’ print…
Every so often, it seems, the Marines-wear-beret rumor rears its head. Usually it’s when leathernecks get the chance to question or schmooze with senior brass. Back before the Army in 2001 standardized the beret for all soldiers, every so often some bold and usually gung-ho junior Marine would ask or suggest the wear of berets. No commandant or uniform board approved such an idea, however. Battle Rattle recalls a day back in the mid-‘90s, when a young Marine joined others greeting then-commandant Gen. Chuck Krulak on a ship’s mess decks asked the four-star general why Recon Marines couldn’t wear the…
A generation ago, helicopter pilots learned the intricacies of flight and the complexities of the cyclic and collective pretty much the old-fashioned way: They just flew, for real, taking to the air and clocking hours in the cockpit. For perhaps five or 10 percent of the time, they passed the time grounded in digital flight simulators, with simple graphics on flat two-dimensional images and primitive sets of controls. These days, thanks in part to meteoric advances in video-gaming technologies and high-fidelity computer graphics, Marine Corps pilots will spend 50 percent of their training time flying simulated missions seated in a…
Crank up “Ride of the Valkyries.” Nearly two dozen Marine helicopters – including new four-bladed UH-1Y “Yankee” Hueys and AH-1Z “Zulu” helicopters – took to the air over north San Diego County on May 4, flying in a chevron formation above Interstate 5 as they flew between Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Miramar Marine Corps Base in San Diego. Check out a video and report by the local CBS affiliate here. It was a sight that, in the pre-9/11 world, would have drawn numerous complaints of vibrating walls and interrupted conversations from residents in the hilly communities along the freeway. Still,…
