Animals

Marine mascot Chesty XIV becomes an NCO

By Hope Hodge Seck on August 27, 2014 Animals, History and heritage

Looks like America’s cuddliest Marine is getting a promotion. The official Marine Barracks Washington Facebook page is announcing that Chesty XIV, an English bulldog who is the official mascot of the Marine Corps will pin on a second chevron Friday. That event will coincide with the weekly evening parade at 8th and I, a public demonstration of Marine Corps pomp and circumstance that typically includes a chance for Chesty to greet his adoring fans. Chesty should remember to keep his nose clean, though. His equally jowly predecessor, Sgt. Chesty XIII, once received a demotion for snapping at then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s…

Meet Steel, the Marines’ morale dog in Afghanistan

By Hope Hodge Seck on May 10, 2014 Afghanistan, Animals, Battle Rattle, Embedded journalism

Not all working dogs in Afghanistan sniff explosives or walk patrols. Meet Steel. Steel, a three-year-old black Lab, was trained was an Improvised Detection Dog (IDD), skilled at sniffing out explosive devices. But when he arrived at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, his trainers realized that his paws were too soft and sensitive for patrols over rugged, rocky terrain. He would never patrol with his infantry unit, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines. Instead of being sent back to the States, however, Steel was sent over to Camp Leatherneck’s Concussion Restoration Care Center–its consolidated medical facility for sick, injured and wounded troops. Steel…

Video: Bulldog Lance Cpl. Chesty XIV assumes role as Marine mascot

By Dan Lamothe on August 28, 2013 Animals, The CMC, Washington

English bulldog Sgt. Chesty XIII stepped down as the mascot of Marine Barracks Washington today, allowing Lance Cpl. Chesty XIV to get his paws on the job. Commandant Gen. Jim Amos and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps oversaw the ceremony, in which the younger pooch also was promoted to lance corporal. Marine Corps Times videographer Colin Kelly was on the scene. Here’s his video: [HTML1] Congratulations, young Chesty. You earned yourself a T-bone.

Sgt. Chesty XIII, Marine Corps mascot, to retire

By Hope Hodge Seck on August 23, 2013 Animals, Battle Rattle, History and heritage, Pop culture

The Marine Corps’ loveable mascot will retire Aug. 28 in a ceremony attended by the commandant of the Marine Corps. Officials at Marine Barracks Washington said Sgt. Chesty XIII, an English Bulldog, will retire in an 8a.m. ceremony held at 8th and I. The pooch has served as Marine Corps mascot for five years, greeting the public at community engagements around Marine Barracks Washington and making appearances at evening parades in the summer. Sgt. Chesty served the post honorably, though he once received a demotion for snapping at then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s dog, Bravo, during an event. Sgt. Chesty’s predecessor,…

Viral video: Hornets infuriated by EOD explosion in Afghanistan

By Dan Lamothe on August 13, 2013 Afghanistan, Animals

Traveling in Kajaki, Afghanistan, last year, I learned that we’d be spending a couple nights in a small mud compound with Marines… and a nest or oriental hornets. The insects looked monstrous — they can grow to more than two inches long — but there were no incidents worth mentioning. A video recorded in 2007 suggests that hornets in Afghanistan aren’t always so harmless, however. It went viral online today, after being posted to Reddit, Gawker and other sites: [HTML1] Anybody else feel like they need some long sleeves? Clearly, these bugs aren’t fans of controlled detonations like Marines. The…

Corpsman saves baby bunnies at Camp Pendleton, becomes Internet star

By Dan Lamothe on June 19, 2013 Animals, Camp Pendleton

If you haven’t seen the photographs yet of a Navy corpsman feeding baby bunnies, it’s probably a matter of time. A Reddit user with the handle TokyoManeater69 posted them online, and they have since gone viral after the website Buzzfeed picked up on them. Several sites have said he is a U.S. Marine, perhaps confused because he was based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. In comments on the site, however, he says he is a corpsman: He posted a video online recently here: [HTML1] On Reddit, the corpsman offered the following: I live in Camp Pendleton, Ca. And as I was…

Remembering Cpl. Tick, four-legged war hero

By Hope Hodge Seck on May 2, 2013 Afghanistan, Animals, Deployments

Cpl. Tick was a two-year-old, friendly black lab. She was a decorated Marine. And she was a hero. Last year Cpl. Tick and her handler, Lance Cpl. Bryan Utrilla were attached to Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines at Combat Outpost Shir Ghazay near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province Afghanistan, assigned to patrol the region for Improvised Explosive Devices. Utrilla told me by email that Cpl. Tick was a natural when it came to getting the job done. “Cpl. Tick was an awesome friend/Marine, and when she wanted to work, she worked,” he wrote. “She knew the…

Former commandant sponsors monument to four-legged Marines

By Hope Hodge Seck on April 3, 2013 Animals, Battle Rattle, History and heritage

Late last year, a sleek monument was quietly added to the Semper Fidelis Memorial Park outside the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Called “Always Faithful,” it’s a memorial to Marine Corps military working dogs, inscribed with the names of each of the 25 Marine “War Dogs” killed during the 1944 liberation of Guam: Skipper. Tubby. Max. “To the Corps they served so devotedly, and to the Marines who accompanied them in combat, many of whom owe their lives to the bravery and sacrifice of these gallant animals, they were truly always faithful,” it reads. The statue is the bronze…

Meet Chesty, the puppy who will become the next Marine Corps mascot

By Dan Lamothe on February 15, 2013 Animals, Washington

For all their saltiness, most Marines love dogs. That statement is backed by nothing other than five years of experience covering the Marine Corps and the war in Afghanistan. Still, I’ll go out on a limb and say new photographs released by Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., will be a hit. Depicted in them is Chesty, a 9-week-old English bulldog who will soon take over as the Marine Corps mascot, serving at a variety of ceremonies and functions in the region, officials said. First, however, the puppy must attend obedience school and “recruit training.” I can only assume the drill instructors…

When puppy dogs meet Marine scout snipers in Afghanistan

By Dan Lamothe on November 27, 2012 Afghanistan, Animals, Embedded journalism, Infantry, Marjah, Trek Nawa

Earlier today, my long-form narrative look at a Marine scout sniper mission in Afghanistan was posted on the free side of our website. It covers the ins and outs of a Taliban takedown while I was embedded with 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, in Trek Nawa, Afghanistan, on Oct. 25. There’s a thread I didn’t mention in that piece that’s worth sharing here. Blackheart 2, a scout sniper team led by Sgt. Joshua Ott, took over a compound near Marjah occupied by a family with seven or eight children. As awkward as that is, that sort of decision is commonplace in…

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