With his new movie “Hercules” coming out today, Dwayne Johnson, better known as the Rock, has been on a media blitz. One of his stops was at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where he met a few Marines and snapped a couple of selfies with fans. Marine Corps public affairs officers said that thousands of people showed up to see the actor/ professional wrestler/ football player, and some showed up as early as 3 a.m. Here’s what the scene looked like.
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The results are in. According to a new Gallup Poll, Americans overwhelmingly believe that the Marine Corps is the most prestigious branch of the armed services. No word on whether it’s the dress blues, the tough image, or the elite missions undertaken by the likes of Force Recon and MARSOC, but with 47 percent of the vote, the Marines polled nearly three times higher for prestige than the next runner-up, the U.S. Air Force. As you can see from the Gallup chart below, the Marine Corps has been slowly increasing its edge over the other services in terms of prestige,…
The commandant and sergeant major of the Marine Corps took to Facebook last Friday afternoon, answering nearly 30 candid questions from the Marine Corps community in the space of an hour as part of his ongoing “Reawakening” effort to engage directly with enlisted Marines. According to site administrators on the official Marines Facebook page, some 900 questions and comments rolled in during the hour Gen. Jim Amos and Sgt. Maj. Mike Barrett were online. While Amos addressed a number of popular themes, such as women in combat arms roles, recruiting, and sexual assault prevention, he also revealed some surprising facts…
Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Michael Barrett will conduct a live social media Q&A Friday, March 14 at 4 p.m. via the official Marine Corps Facebook page. “An announcement post will hit the page and the bulk of dialogue will take place within the comments on that post. We will also be answering as many questions as we can on Twitter,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Fayloga, Marine Corps spokesperson, via email. The Q&A thread will resemble the popular AMA format used on the site Reddit.com; commenters will post questions on…
Move over, Frosty. When the northern Virginia-D.C. area got a healthy foot of snow late last week, some creative souls saw a motivated opportunity. This photograph appeared on the internet forum Reddit, showing a detailed snow sculpture in the parking lot of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va. The sculpture depicts the famous 1945 flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, which was immortalized in an AP photograph snapped by Joe Rosenthal. That image is also captured in the Marine Corps Memorial outside Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., and served as the inspiration for the spire on the…
A commercial by a gun parts company from Georgia was deemed too controversial for the Super Bowl for its pro-gun message. The one-minute spot about a Marine veteran discussing the importance of protecting his family, created by the company Daniel Defense, was rejected by a number of local media markets that objected to its content, ABC News reported. “It’s been a long road getting here, and a lot has changed since I got back,” a male voice intones in the commercial, over images of a man parking a minivan in his driveway, scanning his neighborhood warily, and entering his home,…
Something wonderfully awesome happened last night in San Francisco. In case you don’t recognize the guys in this photo, they are: * Paul Szoldra, an infantry Marine who left the Corps as a sergeant a few years ago and went on the create The Duffel Blog, a satirical website that pokes fun at the absurdities within military culture. * Retired Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the 16th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and top enlisted adviser to two commandants. * Max Uriarte, also an infantry Marine, and the original terminal lance corporal who created the popular Terminal Lance cartoon series.…
Marine veteran Dan Clark brought the house down at Fenway Park in Boston on Game One of the World Series Oct. 23 when he performed a rousing rendition of God Bless America during the Seventh Inning Stretch, clad in crisp dress blues. [HTML1] “Marine Dan Clark just sang the best rendition of God Bless America I have ever heard! #goosebumps” #icouldrunthroughawall” raved one tweeter. The website Twitchy compiled a list of other five-star Twitter reviews. Others wondered about his uniform and title: under his name on the TV broadcast, he was described as a “retired sergeant.” But the sleeves of his blues…
Occasionally we come across a military-related item that just makes us curious. Today, it’s these “Marine wife” coins that are widely available online, wherever challenge coins are sold. As all Marines learn early on, a challenge coin is part of military unit identity. Technically, all Marines are supposed to carry their unit coin at all times. If you are “challenged” by another service member and don’t have your coin, you owe the other guy a drink, according to the accepted rules. The Commandant of the Marine Corps has an elaborate oblong coin featuring his signature. Other top officials, such as…
The “Forrest Gump” star who spends his free time entertaining military families became an honorary member of the few and the proud last night. The actor Gary Sinise, known for his iconic portrayal of sharp-tongued soldier Lieutenant Dan in the 1994 film and for his long run on the CBS series CSI, was made an honorary Marine Aug. 29 in an intimate dinner ceremony at the home of Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Amos. For the last two years, Sinise’s eponymous nonprofit foundation has helped renovate veterans’ homes, sent military spouses on vacations, and sponsored military scholarships. And his Lt.…
