Marine Corps Cpl. Robert Dominguez is the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon drill master, tasked with memorizing, teaching and handing down the platoon’s unique drill style, called the “slide drill.”
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Face of Defense: Marine Shapes Silent Drill Platoon
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two Marine Corps jet pilots were rescued off the South Carolina coast after their aircraft went down. A statement from the Coast Guard on Wednesday said Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort notified the Coast Guard at about 5:17 p.m. that two pilots aboard a Marine F/A-18D Hornet attached to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 went down approximately 35 miles off the coast of St. Helena Sound. Authorities said two parachutes were spotted, indicating that the pilots had ejected. A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescue crew from Charleston located the missing pilots and rescued them about an hour after the crash. It wasn’t known if the Marine pilots were injured, and Coast Guard officials weren’t immediately available for additional comment Wednesday night.
The rest is here: 2 Marines rescued after F/A-18 crashes
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — With its first groups of Marines leaving home Friday for the military surge into Afghanistan, the 1st Marine Division gathered this week to honor its combat heritage and march off again to war. Marines, their commanders and veterans of earlier wars gathered Wednesday for a “March Off to War” ceremony outside the division’s “White House” headquarters at Camp Pendleton. “We go forward when the country needs us the most,” Maj. Gen. Richard Mills reminded the crowd. Mills, who commands 1st Marine Division, will leave later this month for a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan, where he will take over from Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and command I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) and oversee all Marine forces in southern Afghanistan. About 4,000 Marines already are in Afghanistan, but the additional forces will rotate to Helmand province with about 6,000 to 7,000 members of the division in the combat zone at any given time, Mills said. “All elements of the division are committed.” One major focus will be maintaining the progress that Marines and Afghan military forces have made in the now-former Taliban stronghold of Marjah. “The build phase relies on security,” he said. “We will provide that security envelope.” Mills, decked in desert digital camouflage combat gear with a pistol strapped to his thigh, watched as junior Marines in period war uniforms handed the division’s colors from one Marine to another, representing the Corps’ continuing legacy of going forward to the fight. The Afghanistan deployment will add another battle streamer to the division colors. “Battle colors we follow. Battle colors we honor,” Mills told the crowd. A small group of Marines, also decked in combat gear, marched off as the 1st Marine Division Band played “Waltzing Matilda,” the division song. The deployment marks the seventh time the division’s colors will be overseas since the division, known as “The Old Breed,” was established 69 years ago. For veterans in the crowd, time seemed to pause. Henry Andrasovsky, a retired gunnery sergeant, fought at Guadalcanal, New Britain and Peleliu, where he was shot twice, and later joined in the Inchon landing and fought at Chosin Reservoir during the Korean conflict. But the sight and ceremony had him reminiscing about earlier years. “I wish I was going with them,” he said. After the ceremony, Andrasovsky, whose red jacket bore patches of veterans organizations and combat experiences, met and shook hands with Mills, who told him, “We stand on your shoulders as we move out.”
See the article here: Off to war again for 1st Marine Division
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. — The Department of Defense is looking into health concerns raised last month by staff and faculty at two schools at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Chad McMeen said Thursday that an independent firm will conduct tests on air and soil quality, drinking water, radon levels, mold, mildew and asbestos levels at the schools. They are Baler Elementary and Bolden Elementary/Middle Schools, both located on the Marine installation. The schools are overseen by the Defense Department’s Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools division. A spokeswoman for the division, Cindy Gibson, said the complaints came from about a half-dozen adults and were passed on through their union. Gibson said she was not aware of any health complaints from the 650 students who attend the two schools. “We want to get to the bottom of this,” the spokeswoman said. “That’s why we are seeking more extensive tests.” McMeen, a spokesman for the Marine installation, said the staff members’ concerns were raised in February and passed on to their union representative, who contacted administrators and the Defense Department. He said the complaints were not identical, so officials planned a wide range of tests as well as an epidemiological study of those who work at the school. School is continuing at the sites, he said. An initial round of tests conducted in mid-February turned up no specific problems. The school schedule has not been interrupted. McMeen said results of some of the more in-depth tests might be available by May, but some would take longer. Gibson said the school division will meet again with the teachers in May and pledged to keep them informed of the ongoing studies. A report in the Beaufort Gazette quoted Charles Yahres, the principal at Bolden, saying that there was no specific pattern to the health concerns raised. “That’s why this testing will be so broad in scope,” Yahres said. A request to speak with Yahres was declined by a school receptionist, who referred all calls to the division spokeswoman.
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Air, soil to be tested at MCAS Beaufort schools
Two Marine deserters under the command of a battalion currently in Afghanistan were arrested in Connecticut early Wednesday, Marine officials said. Pvts. David A. Nunziata and Ryan C. Schultz, both 19, had been on an unauthorized absence since Dec. 23, said Maj. Shawn Haney, a spokeswoman with Manpower & Reserve Affairs. Both are assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., where Nunziata served as a mortarman and Schultz served as a machine gunner. The battalion deployed for Afghanistan in October, and has suffered at least three casualties within the past month, as coalition forces led by Marine units launched Operation Moshtarak to take control of Marjah, a Taliban stronghold in Helmand province. It was not immediately clear why the two privates did not deploy with the unit. Both of them have been in the Corps for less than a year and neither has any deployment history, Haney said. The two Marines were taken into custody by police in Milford, Conn., shortly after midnight following a routine traffic stop. Police determined they had outstanding warrants, according to a report by the New Haven Register.
By mid-February, Marines will be out of Iraq.After almost seven years of bloodshed, 850 Marines killed in action and a pedigree of hard-won victories that toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, propped up a new government and quelled a tenacious insurgency, Col. Scott Aiken’s boots will be among the very last in the sand.But before he can step on a flight home, Aiken must lead Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Responsible Drawdown and coordinate shipment of thousands of pieces of remaining equipment and Marines out of Iraq.In late January, Maj. Gen. Richard Tryon, the Marine commander in Iraq, transferred authority over Anbar province to the Army’s 1st Armored Division, which also oversees Baghdad. The ceremony in Ramadi leaves the Corps without an area of operations in Iraq and marks an official end to the Corps’ large-scale commitment in the country.All remaining U.S. combat troops are slated to withdraw from Iraq by August, President Obama said during his State of the Union address Jan. 27. The only Marines who will continue to operate there include a handful of embedded trainers, the Marine Security Guard detachment at the U.S. embassy and limited administrative staff in Baghdad.With combat operations in Iraq over for the Corps, the mission is now a logistical one. As of Feb. 3, about 900 Marines and just a few thousand pieces of equipment remained, and those numbers continue to plummet daily.“Getting people to go home is the easy part,” Aiken said. “But getting them to go home correctly takes a little more finessing. You only have one time to do it right.”Aiken, an infantry officer who has commanded the II Marine Expeditionary Force Forward Headquarters Group in Iraq for almost a year, describes the process as something more complicated than bubble wrap, boxes and moving trucks. In a three-pronged approach, equipment must be accounted for and shipped to various locations. Personnel must be logged, scheduled for flights and tracked as they ship out. And facilities at Al Asad Air Base must be cleaned and prepped for the airmen and soldiers who will take over.Adding to the job’s complexity, equipment ranging from behemoth trucks to minuscule radio components must be rated as “in need of repair” or “suitable for use” and directed to the U.S. or Afghanistan. So far, almost 16 million pounds of gear have been flown to Afghanistan. About 25 percent of what still remains may also be flown there as Marines intensify their fight against the Taliban.Still, Aiken said he is confident he will meet his February deadline.The number of personnel will drop off by the hundreds “as flights come and go,” he said by phone from Al Asad Air Base on Jan. 22. “It has been surprisingly smooth so far, and we’ve been hitting the deadlines right on.”In fact, the number of Marines left in Iraq could drop to just 600 by early February, he predicted.That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the more than 20,000 Marines who operated in Anbar province during that war’s most violent years. Mayhem reigned there from 2004 to 2007 when Marines clashed with insurgents regularly, highlighted by epic battles in Fallujah and Ramadi.Now, just one infantry unit remains. Third Battalion, 24th Marines, a Reserve battalion based in St. Louis, Mo., arrived in September primarily to conduct convoy security, guard border crossings and train Iraqi troops. They have not fired a shot in anger since arriving and have been hit by only one improvised explosive device, which caused no injuries.When the last piece of gear has been packed and properly labeled, Aiken’s unit will be the last to leave the country, something he called a privilege.“For me, I would say that it is definitely an honor to be among the last few out. I’m proud of our efforts since we’ve been in Iraq,” he said, citing security improvements since his first deployment to the country in 2005 as commander of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines.“We have lost fine Marines and sailors out here, but given the people of western Iraq a fine chance to carry on here.”
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A Marine captain awaiting a court martial for defrauding the government was found dead from an apparent suicide Sunday in the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., brig, base officials said.Capt. Michael A. Webb, 46, was assigned to Marine Manpower and Reserve Affairs before he was confined in August. He was assigned to Quantico’s Headquarters and Service Battalion at the time of his death, which is under investigation.Webb was accused of defrauding the government of pay, allowances and entitlements, and charged with fraud, fraud against the government, larceny, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.His general court-martial was scheduled for Feb. 17.It is unclear if Webb admitted to any of the charges against him and Marine officials are not releasing additional details until the investigation is complete.Webb was found dead in the brig at 7:21 a.m. Sunday after he failed to show up to reveille. He was not confined under any special circumstances, and it does not appear he had threatened suicide in the past, Lt. Col. Roger Galbraith said.Officials declined to say how Webb appears to have killed himself.Webb was commissioned in the Corps in July 2005 and was promoted to captain just two years later. He never deployed, but had enlisted previously in the Army and the Navy, Galbraith said.
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The Department of the Navy would build nine ships, buy 206 aircraft, postpone construction of the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and kill the advanced cruiser known as CG(X), according to the $179.1 billion spending plan it submitted Monday to Congress.The budget proposal includes $160.6 billion in baseline funding — compared with the $156 billion the Navy requested last year — and $18.5 billion in funding for what the Pentagon calls “overseas contingency operations,” better known as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.Of that base budget, $45.1 billion would go to personnel costs; $46.2 billion would go for operations and maintenance; $46.6 billion would go to buying ships, aircraft and weapons; $17.7 billion would go for research and development; and $5 billion would go for infrastructure.The Navy Department’s top budget official, Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, briefed reporters about the fiscal 2011 submission Monday afternoon at the Pentagon.His presentation included the Obama administration’s first set of near-term spending goals, the Future Years Defense Program — which the Navy did not submit last year — but did not include the 30-year shipbuilding or aviation plans the service is required to submit along with its budget. Although the Navy also was required to submit those plans last year, it did not. Pentagon officials told Navy Times that DoD and the Navy were briefing Congress on this year’s 30-year programs and that the plans would be made public soon.With its shipbuilding dollars the Navy would buy two Virginia-class submarines; two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers; two littoral combat ships; one America-class big-deck amphibious ship; the first in a new class of Mobile Landing Platform auxiliaries; and one Joint High Speed Vessel. The Navy would also extend the lives of four air-cushioned landing craft; buy one oceanographic ship; and pay for one new variety of “ship-to-shore connector,” a potential replacement for the air-cushioned landing craft.As for aircraft, in fiscal 2011 the Navy would buy 13 F-35B Lightning II fighters for the Marine Corps; seven F-35C fighters, which fly off Navy carriers; 22 F/A-18E and F Super Hornets; 12 EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets; four E-2D Hawkeye advanced airborne warning planes; and seven P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol planes.For helicopters, the budget requests money for a mix of 28 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and UH-1Y Venom utility helos for the Marine Corps; 30 MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft; 24 MH-60R Seahawks for the Navy; and 18 MH-60S Seahawks. The budget submission also calls for three Fire Scout unmanned helicopters and 38 T-6 Texan II pilot trainer planes.Mulloy said the Navy will expand its plans for electronic warfare by standing up four additional squadrons of EA-18G Growlers. Those aircraft will join the fleet in addition to the 10 carrier-based squadrons. The Navy’s plan to buy 24 Growlers in fiscal year 2012 appears to resolve a longstanding dispute between the Navy and the Air Force about which service would provide land-based expeditionary electronic attack capabilities for joint missions.The current budget does little to address the so-called fighter gap, the projected shortfall in fighter jets that will occur as older F/A-18 Hornets wear out faster than new F-35s will arrive to replace them. In an additional wrinkle, Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the F-35’s program manager Monday as he announced DoD’s annual budget submission, saying someone had to be held accountable for the delays and cost overruns in the fighter’s development.The current Navy plan calls for a complete halt in purchases of F/A-18 Super Hornets in fiscal year 2014. Congress authorized the Navy to sign a new multi-year contract to buy more Super Hornets from Boeing, but Mulloy said “there is no money for a multi-year.”Related reading• DoD sets priorities with 2011 budget, QDR • Marine Corps Times: Budget calls for more EFV tests in 2011
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Navy budget includes 9 ships, kills CG(X)
SAN DIEGO — The Navy’s plans to expand sonar training in its ocean ranges — including off Alaska —are facing renewed scrutiny and potentially stiffer restrictions meant to reduce threats to whales and other marine mammals.In a Jan. 19 letter to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, outlined new steps by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which seeks to collect information and population data of marine mammals and assess impacts of mid-frequency active sonar used by the Navy.In the letter to Nancy Sutley, the council’s chairwoman and the president’s principal environmental policy adviser, Lubchenco outlined the measures taken by the Navy during training exercises to lessen harm to marine mammals from sonar exposure. These include trained lookouts on bridges to identify marine mammals, course changes to avoid marine mammals, and reducing or shutting down active sonar when mammals are within 1,000 yards of the ship. But she added that it doesn’t have to stop there.“I also expect the Navy to be open to new ideas and approaches to mitigation that are supported by the best available science,” she wrote.Lubchenco, who serves as the NOAA administrator, wants the National Marine Fisheries Service and other agencies, including the Navy, to conduct new aerial surveys and determine population counts of marine mammals, create a baseline of noises and other sounds in the ocean and identify protected habitats, or “hot spots,” frequented by whales, sea turtles and other marine mammals.Navy officials say existing mitigation measures are effective and “are based upon the best available science,” but they continue to review and revise those.To read more about how the Navy’s plan to expand sonar training, read next week’s issue of Navy Times on newsstands Monday. To view it online, login here or subscribe now .
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Sonar plans could face stricter rules
Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment practice their shooting skills at a makeshift range on Camp Dwyer.
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Shooting Drills Help Marines Sharpen Skills