News reports indicate a US Marine Harrier jet crashed in northern Florida on Sunday. The pilot, identified as Capt. Jarrod L. Klement in some reports, was reportedly transported to a hospital as a precautionary measure.
Marines at Twentynine Palms paused to remember the loss of two of their own during their deployment to Afghanistan:
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends,” quoted Navy [Chaplain] Lt. Michael Taylor…from John 15:13, in the New American Standard Bible.
The two memorialized Marines were Lance Cpl. Cody Stanley and Lance Cpl. Joshua H. Birchfield. The company first sergeant had a moving description for what the Marines witnessed:
As largely expected, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has given the name of General James Amos to President Obama as his recommendation for the next Commandant of the Marine Corps.
As more organizations and commenters discuss the supposed recommendation by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to nominate General James Amos as the next Commandant of the Marine Corps, there is speculation that his views on “Don’t ask, don’t tell” played a role. The current Commandant, General James Conway, was the most forcefully outspoken against the repeal of DADT among the Service Chiefs.
The speculation appears to attempt to explain why Amos, an aviator who would head the Marines during what is largely a ground war, was chosen over the “leading contender,” Read more
Former US Marine 2nd Lieutenant Adam Ballard has given his excuse for his lapse in integrity, in which he cheated on a land navigation test: everybody’s doing it, and it was the school’s fault:
Ballard admits his actions were wrong but said they were facilitated by “inordinately lax procedures at [the basic officer school]…”
Over half of the three hundred Marines in our company possessed the same information that I had and that those numbers were comparable, if not more, in all the other training companies past and present…
As noted here often, neither a “culture” that seems to encourage cheating, nor a tangible disadvantage for not cheating are excuses for making the “easier” wrong choice.
Just days after noting the ethical challenges inherent in military service, the US Marines have booted 13 officers for cheating during a land navigation exam at Basic Officer School at Quantico. Among the 8 men and 5 women, at least one was a recent US Naval Academy graduate and football player.
Apparently the officers gave wrong answers to test questions — but Read more
In the initial stages of both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US used (and often still uses today) large quantities of cash for a variety of purposes, from paying for reconstruction to compensating local nationals.
A Marine F-5 fighter pilot now stands accused of stealing $440,000 of reconstruction funds while he was a project purchasing officer with a civil affairs group in Iraq. For a point of reference, a Major in the US military makes approximately $70,000 per year in base pay before taxes.
Regardless of the outcome of this particular case, it stands as a stark Read more
The DoD announced that US Navy Captain Margaret Kibben, who was recently selected for promotion to Rear Admiral (lower half), will be the new head Chaplain for the US Marine Corps:
Capt. Margaret G. Kibben…will be assigned as chaplain of the Marine Corps/deputy chief of Chaplains/deputy director of Religious Ministries, N097B, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Kibben is currently serving as executive assistant to the chief of Chaplains, Washington, D.C.
Kibben is apparently a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and represents the Presbyterian Church (USA). She has also been a Chaplain at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Also noted at the Navy Times.