Tag Archives: camp lejeune

US Marine Corps: Males, Females will Bunk Together

The US Marine Corps — which was the only Service to significantly push back on gender integration last year — announced that it would make no special accommodations for mixed gender units in deployed environments.

That includes training for deployed environments.

Marines in the field stay in everything from a large, single room shelter filled with dozens of cots to sleeping under tarps or nothing at all, said Maj. Charles Anklam III, executive officer for 1st Battalion, 8th Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina — the first gender-integrated Marine infantry battalion…

Anklam said female Marines deployed to conflict zones have shared tents with their male counterparts at times. But this marks the first time female Marines will be doing so during their regular training with their combat unit.

In 2013 then-Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen Mark Welsh noted the “hookup mentality” of society contributed to the culture of sexuality in the military. He was criticized for his frankness, which was ultimately a statement of the obvious.

Speaking on the same topic of military sexual assaults that same day, future-President Donald Trump criticized the “geniuses” who decided to put men and women together and Read more

Southern Baptist Naval Chaplain Graduates Leadership Course

The Navy posted an article about 21 chaplains graduating from the entry-level Basic Leadership Course at the US military’s combined chaplains school at Fort Jackson, SC. The article was relatively unnotable, with one exception:

Lt. j.g. Mercedes Speller is a Southern Baptist chaplain heading to Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation (CREDO) at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as a staff chaplain. She Read more

Military Bases Quietly Host Secular Events

Though an outcry over a Christian concert event at Fort Bragg inspired a demand for a non-religious equivalent, it turns out the US military has been quietly slipping non-religious events onto military bases for some time.

Mollie Gross, a comedienne and former military wife, recently visited Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC, to bring a little humor home.

“A lot of different comedians and musicians go overseas to Read more

Top Marine Chaplain Visits Lejeune

A Marine Corps article noted the visit to Camp Lejeune by Chaplain (Rear Admiral) Margaret Kibben, the 18th Chaplain of the Marine Corps and Deputy Chief of Navy Chaplains.

The article at times emphasized the fact Chaplain Kibben is the first female Chaplain of the Marine Corps, and at others de-emphasized her gender.

Although gender was not a deciding factor in the decision to appoint Kibben to her current positions, Giampa said women serving in senior leadership roles sends a strong message to future leaders – both men and women.

“There’s nothing you can’t achieve,” said Giampa. Read more

Marine Base Guilty of Viewpoint Discrimination

As noted nearly 18 months ago, the US Marines at Camp Lejeune directed 25-year Marine veteran Jesse Nieto to remove stickers from the back of his car that they deemed offensive.  Nieto sued, and a federal judge has now ruled that the base violated Nieto’s rights.

The stickers were described as “anti-Islam;” Nieto put the stickers on his car not long after his son, a Navy Sailor, was killed on the USS Cole when it was bombed in 2000.

Interestingly, it appears the judge did not rule the policy that Camp Lejeune used was inherently bad; instead, he seemed to say it was the unbalanced application Read more