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…
Author Gina Harkins
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…
While sitting in a squad bay listening to a core values discussion aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., Anthony Cuchens Jr. thought the ambush his senior drill instructor was describing sounded familiar. Sgt. Nicholas Lanier was telling his recruits about the day he lost his friend and former roommate to sniper fire in Haditha, Iraq in 2006. As details emerged, Cuchens said he felt chills run through his body — he knew this story. That’s when the new recruit, still in phase one of boot camp, stood up and asked his DI if the name Lance. Cpl.…
Little has been known about the scout snipers seen urinating on dead Taliban corpses in a video that spread worldwide — until now. This week’s issue of Marine Corps Times offers the perspective of one of the snipers involved in the now infamous video that had widespread implications at home and in the war zone. Staff Sgt. Edward Deptola, a platoon sergeant with 3rd Battalions, 2nd Marines, testified during his court-martial Jan. 16 that the Marines thought the men on whom they urinated were responsible for laying an improvised explosive device that killed their friend weeks earlier. He said…
Late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien had some fun with Wal-Mart’s recently announced plan to hire 100,000 veterans by highlighting what it might be like if your former drill instructor was the first person to welcome shoppers into the store. A skit on TBS’s “Conan” shows a former Army drill sergeant wearing a blue smock “welcoming” shoppers as they walk in. But it seems the newly hired veteran forgot that working at a Wal-Mart was a little different than welcoming the newest crop of boots to recruit training. [HTML1] “Wal-Mart! Save money! Live better!” he yells in the face of one alarmed…
When you think about some of the most romantic places you’ve been, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., probably doesn’t top that list. But Cpl. Jonathan Camp said his boot camp graduation day was one of the happiest of his life. So when his girlfriend, Pfc. Kathleen Finn, had her own graduation day there, Camp thought it’d be the perfect place to ask her to marry him. Camp, 21, is an infantryman currently working on recruiting assistance duty in Erie, Pa. He drove nearly 15 hours down to Parris Island to see Finn, 22, graduate. He brought poolees –…
As the year comes to a close, I challenged my colleague here at Marine Corps Times, James K. Sanborn, to accompany me in picking out the best “Terminal Lance” comics of the year. This was no easy feat, and we spent some time chuckling over the 50-plus emails we received from “Terminal Lance” creator, Maximilian Uriarte, this year with each week’s strip that would grace the opinion page of the paper. We filled Max in and asked him to comment on our top five picks to give some background to our readers on how he came up with each. So…
Marines who serve as advisers in Afghanistan are getting new training to help combat insider attacks, and it involves using their pistols to shoot body-shaped targets at point-blank range. This week’s issue of Marine Corps Times looked at the defensive marksmanship training that advisers tasked with mentoring Afghan troops are receiving as part of their pre-deployment workup. It’s a direct result of the concerns of the operating forces downrange, and it’s specifically for the Marines who spend months training Afghan troops — often relying on them for security as they serve in remote areas far away from other coalition forces.…
The petition started by a group of troops fed up with not being allowed to use their pockets is still more than 20,000 signatures away from the 25,000 needed to warrant an official White House response. Army National Guard Sgt. Josh B., who asked that his name not be used to avoid trouble with his command, posted the petition to the “We the People” section of the White House’s website mainly to be funny. It still needs 20,779 more signatures to reach the 25,000 the White House requires within 30 days of a petition’s creation to be considered for action. If…
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…
