Marines participating in exercise Cobra Gold took the concept of tasting the local cuisine to new levels when they sliced open a freshly caught cobra and drank its blood. With the pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, Marines could soon find themselves spending more time in jungle environments. About 5,000 members of III Marine Expeditionary Force are participating in Cobra Gold 2013, a joint multinational exercise based out of Thailand. In addition to local troops there, they are working with military members from Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia. Thai troops were giving Marines a lesson on jungle survival, which…
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Harry Chaires and his wife, Nan Cuchens, recently traveled to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., to see their nephew graduate from boot camp. It was a bittersweet trip for the couple from Tallahassee, Fla., because it brought back memories of the day they watched another new Marine walk that same parade deck. Their son, Lance Cpl. Daniel Chaires, was killed in action during a 2006 deployment to Haditha, Iraq. He was an infantry rifleman with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines. And the Marine left quite the impression on his young cousin, Anthony Cuchens Jr. Cuchens joined the Corps as…
Members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, Calif., joined Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces for this year’s “Iron Fist” exercise, held in Southern California. The three-week interoperability training exercise has the combined forces training on this side of the Pacific along the coast, in the desert, out at sea and back ashore as the Marines and soldiers hone their warfighting skills with patrolling, assaults, mechanized attacks and live-fire and maneuver drills. This is the eighth year for the bilateral training, which “promises to be bigger and better than in previous years,” Maj. Gen. Melvin G. Spiese, the I Marine Expeditionary Force deputy…
Cpl. Karim Delgado said he’s still learning to live with his demons. But unlike some Marines who struggle with the piercing memories of combat, Delgado is haunted by what he calls “non-deployment guilt.” “You feel guilty for not having gone, like you did a disservice. You have this shame because you have people who will say, ‘you’re a Marine and you can’t talk about combat,'” said Delgado. “What you’ve got left are boot camp stories.” The combat correspondent did a tour in Okinawa and worked on several humanitarian missions while he was in the Marine Corps from 2004-2008. But one…
The first of 2,300 Marines and sailors will be streaming home starting Sunday as the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit closes out an overseas shipboard deployment that’s stretched eight-and-a-half months. On Sunday, crews aboard dock landing ship Gunston Hall and transport dock New York, which is wrapping up its maiden deployment, will offload Marines and their vehicles and equipment at the port in Morehead City, not far from the 24th MEU’s home in Jacksonville at Camp Lejeune, N.C., officials announced today. The Marines will load buses and head over to the base later in the afternoon to reunite with their family and friends. On…
Marines are always pretty quick to jump on the latest pop song craze, and “Gangnam Style” is no exception. Marine wife, Erin Giove, posted this video of the III MEF Rock Band taking the stage in their dress blues and Santa hats during a holiday show in Okinawa, Japan, to her Facebook page yesterday. In the video, the Marines bust out their moves to South Korean musician PSY’s pop hit to a cheering crowd. Giove’s video has already been shared about 6,000 times on Facebook and has about 1,800 Likes. The Weather Channel’s “Coast Guard Florida” TV show shared it…
This week’s Marine Corps Times takes a look at the new physical fitness requirements for female Marines and the impact the change is likely to have on the entire force, not just women. In a forcewide message last week, Marine Commandant Gen. Jim Amos announced that women will be required to complete three pullups to pass the test and eight to achieve a perfect PFT score starting in 2014. The change is likely to impact promotion fairness and unit training for men and women starting in 2013. The flexed-arm hang will remain as part of the Corps’ initial strength test…
Battle Phrog, move over to make room for the fighting Osprey. In the latest milestone in the Marine Corps’ slow, bittersweet farewell to the CH-46E Sea Knight — aka the Battle Phrog — the last of the twin tandem-rotor transport helicopters with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 265 flew their final departure flight from the flight line at Futenma Marine Corps Air Station in Okinawa, Japan. It wasn’t a long trek: The helicopters were headed to Camp Kinser, the Corps’ logistics camp on the island, for “official disposition,” according to a III Marine Expeditionary Force article. Those longer legs will be sought-out by III Marine…
This week’s Marine Corps Times takes a look at the Marine Corps’ intense efforts to bring all Marines in line with the service’s body fat standards. After the growth to 202,000 Marines ended, leadership cracked down on fat Marines, and thousands were assigned to the Body Composition Program in 2010. But with the drawdown now underway and competition at its peak, those numbers have fallen steadily each year since. Other services, which have also re-emphasized fitness standards, have seen even more dramatic results than the Marine Corps, with significant increases in the number of soldiers, sailors and airmen getting the…
When it comes to marking the Marine Corps’ 237th birthday, customs and tradition make the decision of what to do much easier. Commandant’s birthday video message? Check. Reading of Maj. Gen. John A. Lejeune’s 1921 message? Check. Ceremonial cake? Check. Then there are the birthday balls and pageants where Marines and their significant others get all spiffed up to celebrate their history and remember those lost in battle. This past week, and for some units over the course of several weeks, Marines in different climes and places stopped for a little while to mark their history and celebrate their shared…
