QUANTICO, Va. — From the moment before dawn that we stepped out of our vehicles in the woods here, it was plainly obvious it would be a long, demanding day in the wilderness. Tuesday marked the beginning of the latest iteration of the Infantry Officer Course, the Marine Corps’ demanding 13-week course that determines who leads infantry Marines in combat. IOC has been in the news frequently over the last year as a result of the Women in Service Restriction Review, a Pentagon-directed study that is assessing which additional roles female service members can hold in combat units. Currently, female…
Browsing: Infantry
June has been a rough year in Afghanistan for one of the Marine Corps’ closest allies, the Republic of Georgia. The small eastern European nation has lost at least 10 soldiers in recent attacks, including a June 6 truck bomb ambush that killed seven and wounded nine others in Helmand province’s Now Zad district. Another bomb in May in Musa Qala district killed three Georgian soldiers. It’s at times like these that Americans should remember just how closely the Georgians and U.S. Marines are intertwined on the battlefield. The Georgians began deploying a battalion at a time to northern Helmand…
Recent news coverage of the war in Afghanistan has zeroed in on the fact that as U.S. force draw down there and shift to advising roles, Afghan forces have been engaged in heavy combat with the Taliban. U.S. commanders have acknowledged several times that Afghan forces have taken heavy losses as a result, but rarely have provided numbers that clarify how serious the situation is. There’s no doubt after Wednesday, however: they’re losing dozens of troops each week, including 104 in one week recently, said Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top U.S. commander, to reporters in Belgium on Wednesday. “The numbers…
Check out this photograph above. It shows the modest chow hall at Combat Outpost Taghaz, a small combat outpost in Afghanistan where I lived with Marines for about a week last fall while gathering information for a couple of stories. The adviser team shared the base with a platoon from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, which provided overwatch security in the region. I bring this up after reading today that some service members at Camp Leatherneck, the Marine Corps’ largest base in Afghanistan, are angry that commanders have apparently decided to dump the midnight ration service and 24-hour sandwich bar in…
The start of the 12th fighting season for U.S. forces in Afghanistan has meant continued transition for Marines in Helmand province — including mostly standing by as the Taliban launches attacks in the region. A large number of Taliban insurgents, along with foreign fighters, tried to overrun Sangin district this week, prompting a two-day engagement with Afghan National Security Forces, military officials said. The fight was outlined by a Wall Street Journal reporter in Afghanistan this week, launching it into the limelight. In past years — even last year — Marines would have been in the middle of the fracas.…
Commandant Gen. Jim Amos made headlines last week when he challenged me in a letter to the editor published in Marine Corps Times to attend the service’s difficult Infantry Officer Course as a participant. The invitation was issued after he took umbrage with a recent story I wrote that had a headline saying two female volunteers for the course “flunked” IOC last month as part of ongoing research into which roles service members can fill in combat. I met with the commandant Monday morning at the Pentagon to discuss the issue. By mutual agreement, we decided that it would be…
Ten years ago, more than 100,000 U.S. forces sat poised in the Kuwait desert, waiting for a breakneck push over the Iraqi border to Baghdad. The U.S. invasion began March 20, 2003. Given the sheer scope and costs of the subsequent war in Iraq, it only seemed appropriate that the Military Times newspaper chain would mark the anniversary of the invasion. To that end, we’ve launched “10 Years After the Invasion,” a four-part series. The series, published online here, includes interviews with many of the planners who designed the initial takedown of Baghdad. Consider these comments in Part 2 of…
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.…
The Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction released a mixed report to Congress today, highlighting gains in security in some regions while pointing out lagging, expensive development projects. The quarterly report, posted here, outlines some positives in Helmand province, where thousands of Marines remain deployed. Here’s the security outlook as SIGAR sees it: The Afghan government’s authority in Helmand remained relatively stable this quarter, according to State. With solid connections established between the provincial capital and district centers in central and southern Helmand, local officials are able to operate effectively. In these areas, Afghan government officials are able to provide…
Earlier this week, Politico reported that the media embed process would be led by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense within a matter of months. Turns out, that’s partly true. As my colleague Jeff Schogol reports this morning, the International Security Assistance Force will continue to oversee the embed process for reporters wishing to work alongside U.S. and coalition forces downrange. The MOD will be put in charge of embeds this spring — but only for journalists wishing to embed directly with Afghan forces. That’s no small distinction. While the war in Afghanistan has shifted to put Afghan National Security Forces in…
