Marine Corps Times posted online last night my long-form profile of Cpl. Rob Richards, one of the Marine scout snipers who appeared in a video urinating on dead Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. The video created an international uproar after it first appeared on the Internet in January 2012. My story is posted in its entirety here. However, I also wanted to point out the work of staff videographer Mike Morones, who traveled me with for the interview to Jacksonville, N.C. With Richards’ permission, we recorded the interview and Morones edited together two video packages. First, here’s Richards speaking on how…
Browsing: Wounded warriors
Midway through his speech Wednesday at Camp Pendleton, Calif., President Obama shifted from talking about military policy to highlight the sacrifice of a Marine wounded warrior and his wife, both of whom continue to serve in the Marine Corps. Capts. Matthew and Camille Lampert, were asked to stand after Obama briefly described their last few years. Lampert was a special operator in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device took both of his legs, Obama said. He survived that 2010 attack, and set out on a grueling recovery so he could get back to his team. “So Matt endured excruciating rehab,…
It has been nearly three years since Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter’s life changed in a white-hot grenade blast. Posting security on a rooftop with another Marine in Afghanistan, his body was mangled in ways that are difficult to fathom: He sustained catastrophic injuries to his right arm, neck and face, including a jaw that was nearly blown off. Carpenter has undergone more than 30 surgeries since, sharing his story along the way to bring attention to the dangers U.S. forces face. He refused to give up, giving thanks for his survival while pushing through thousands of hours of physical therapy.…
A Marine veteran who helped to make the Wounded Warrior Regiment a reality is championing a new cause: a tangy steak sauce made for Marines. Former Lt. Col. Tim Maxwell, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in Iraq and became a spokesman for wounded Marines with similar injuries, recently announced that he was now distributing “Gung Ho” sauce through his website, SemperMax.com, in honor of the Marine who invented it. Seamus Garrahy, a former Marine corporal from Gettysburg, Pa., became a beloved figure in his region for the “Steaks and Beers” meal events he would hold at his farm,…
Commandant Gen. Jim Amos and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Mike Barrett visited Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore last week, intent on seeing Army Sgt. Brendan Marrocco, the first American serving in Iraq or Afghanistan to survive a quadruple amputation. As I outlined in this feature story, the trip renewed a friendship between the commandant and the soldier, a wise-cracking infantryman with an (unfortunate) love of the New York Yankees. In December, he became the first veteran of this generation’s wars to receive a double-arm transplant, and he has pushed hard with his physical therapy since. Marrocco doesn’t yet…
The Boston Marathon bombing last week rocked the whole country, killing three people and turning dozens of others into amputees. Over and over again, the lower-leg injuries sustained were compared to those that U.S. forces seen after stepping on improvised explosive devices overseas. It stands to reason, then, that few people could offer more credible words of encouragement to the new amputees in Boston than a wounded warrior who lost limbs serving in the military. This video is making the rounds online today, including on the blog Blackfive: [HTML1] The YouTube page for the video points viewers to the Celeste…
The Marine Corps Wounded Warrior regiment has just announced the team that will represent the Marine Corps at the 2013 Warrior Games May 11-17 in Colorado Springs, Colo. The 48 athletes, listed in full below, include 21 active-duty Marines from Wounded Warrior Battalion West, 21 USMC veterans, and six Marines from Wounded Warrior Battalion East. They competed for the top spots in the Corps at the week-long Marine Corps trials aboard Camp Pendleton at the beginning of March. It would seem that home field advantage worked out well for the West Coast Marines, but they will all play on the…
Eighteen weeks of training and 26.2 miles later, we made it to the finish line of the 37th Marine Corps Marathon. Despite incoming Hurricane Sandy, we ran alongside some 30,000 runners from every state and 54 countries on Oct. 28. The turnout was the largest participation in the event’s 37-year history. Despite months of preparation, healthy eating and plenty of rest during the weeks leading up to the race, I forgot how hard running a marathon can be. My running partner, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Boutwell (ret.), and I finished the race in 4 hours and 25 minutes. We ran a…
There’s nine days left until the 37th Marine Corps Marathon. For many runners living in Washington, D.C. or Virginia, this weekend’s Army 10 Miler will be a good preview of what’s in store for the big day on Oct. 28. Many marathon runners use the Army 10 miler as a last training run in advance of the longer course. While the crowds of spectators are generally smaller, the turnout is always impressive and the course is flat, making it one of the most popular races in the area. This year’s marathon is expected to be the largest in the race’s…
The marathon is now just around the corner. With less than three weeks until the race, my running partner Staff Sgt. Jeremy Boutwell (ret.) and I each completed a solid and steady 19-mile run over the weekend. We both finished in about three hours, causing us to slash our goal in the actual marathon by 45 minutes, from 5 hours to 4 hours, 15 minutes. “That’s my goal. I think that’s realistic based on training,” Jeremy said over the phone. Last weekend was the final long run for each of us. Our schedule has us slated to run 12 miles…
