Gina Harkins

Amos: I’d like the .45 instead of the 9 millimeter

By Gina Harkins on March 13, 2014 Battle Rattle, Commandant, Marksmanship

A congressman told Gen. James Amos that Marines in his district would like to see their M9 service pistol replaced with a .45-caliber — and Amos replied that he would, too. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., said he recently spent time with Marines during a wounded warrior function, during Wednesday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing on the proposed Navy-Marine Corps fiscal 2015 budget. Before the congressman launched into questions on the budget, he said there were a few those Marines asked him to speak up for. The first was the deadly A-10 Thunderbolt, which the Air Force flies to provide close-air support.…

New Silver Star Citation details corpsman’s 4 harrowing runs through gunfire to save Marines

By Gina Harkins on March 13, 2014 Afghanistan, Awards

This post is from our friends at Navy Times. You can check out the full story in Monday’s issue of Marine Corps Times. His squad had come under heavy fire – and was likely to face it again. On June 22, 2012, Hospitalman Zackery Penner had risked life and limb to rush to care for a Marine shot during an patrol in Afghanistan with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. The Marine died due to the severity of his wound, a toll that hung heavy on the company. On June 23, the squad was helping Afghan soldiers clear a compound when they…

One map shows why the Arctic is the globe’s hottest new real estate

By Gina Harkins on March 10, 2014 Battle Rattle

New sea lanes are opening around the the North Pole due to melting ice, and the Navy is ready to defend them if needed. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert met with Military Times reporters and editors in late February to discuss where the service is headed. One of the places he highlighted might not be on the minds of sailors and Marines, but with more ships likely to use new routes opening in coming years, it’s possible they’ll be forward deployed there, according to the Navy’s new 16-year Arctic roadmap published last week. Marines are participating in an 11-day…

Daughter of two Marines featured in Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue

By Gina Harkins on February 19, 2014 Battle Rattle

Hannah Ferguson doesn’t just have two Marines as parents — her mom served as a drill instructor and her dad as a sniper. Prospective dates asked her out at their own peril, according to Sports Illustrated. Ferguson, 22, spent a lot of time hanging around her dad’s shop, and it was there where she was first exposed to a community she wanted to join. But that community didn’t involve dress blues or MARPAT. Ferguson wanted to show a bit more skin than that. “My dad has Sports Illustrated calendars in his shop,” Ferguson told Reuters. “I would always flip through them and…

Filmmaker seeks to educate students about Code Talkers

By Gina Harkins on February 18, 2014 Battle Rattle

The last surviving member of the original Navajo Code Talkers will be featured in a documentary to be shown in classrooms across the country in order to educate students about the impact those Marines had in defeating the Japanese during World War II. Chester Nez was one of 29 Marines who initially created a special code the Japanese couldn’t crack during the second world war. Now he’s sharing his story with David DeJonge, a filmmaker and founder of Survivor Quest, a nonprofit that specializes in educational documentaries. Nez will be one of several Marines featured in the new 25-minute film. [HTML1] DeJonge began…

Marine Corps names building for MOH recipient Cpl. Jason Dunham

By Gina Harkins on February 11, 2014 Awards, Battle Rattle, Iraq, Marines, Medal of Honor

A fallen corporal who is one of two members of the Corps to receive the Medal of Honor for heroism in Iraq and Afghanistan, will have a building named in his honor aboard the base where Marines conduct their predeployment training. A ceremony for the dedication of the Cpl. Jason L. Dunham Hall will be held on Feb. 18, at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., according to a news release. “The Combat Center dedicates this facility to one of its own Marines, who paid the ultimate sacrifice, saving the lives of his fellow Marines, while deployed…

Power: Examine all options to deal with Syrian crisis

By Gina Harkins on February 7, 2014 Battle Rattle

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said officials can’t jump from doing nothing in Syria to sending in the Marines. U.S. officials must use a host of tools to bring about a political change there as well as deal with vast humanitarian suffering, which has left more than 9 million people in need of aid, she told NPR on Feb. 7. They can’t rush from no action to putting boots on the ground there, she said. “What President Obama has instructed all of us to do is just look under every stone, look at every tool that we…

Marine gunny to pin on as Navy ensign

By Gina Harkins on January 23, 2014 Battle Rattle

Sailors are about to get a taste of what like to have a Marine gunny as their leader. Since the day Gunnery Sgt. Sgt Bothvill Valcin met a commissioned officer at boot camp in 2000, he thought about going mustang. After 13 years in the Corps, a college degree, deployments to the Middle East and Asia, and working with special operations units, something was still missing from the gunny’s life: his commission. The Marine Corps gave him a lot of opportunities, he said, according to a Marine Corps news release. Just not the chance to become an officer, despite several applications. But…

Marine Corps investigating questionable decade-old photos from Fallujah

By Gina Harkins on January 15, 2014 Iraq

The Marine Corps is looking into several photographs posted on an entertainment gossip website on Wednesday that appear to show Marines burning Iraqi corpses. TMZ posted eight of 41 photos they were told were taken in Fallujah in 2004. They show what appear to be Marines pouring fluid onto corpses and burning them. One photo shows a Marine appearing to go through a corpse’s pockets and another posing next to a skull on the ground. The remaining 33 photos were too gruesome to post, TMZ reported. Marine Corps Times obtained copies of the published photos from TMZ. Our staff reviewed…

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