[HTML1] Marine Corps Times posted my long-form story about Lance Cpls. Kyle Carpenter and Nick Eufrazio on Sunday. By now, you’ve hopefully heard their story: they were hit by a grenade blast in Afghanistan in November 2010, and Marines serving alongside them that day in combat insist Carpenter deserves the Medal of Honor. The Marine Corps acknowledges it is investigating what happened. One of the things I mentioned in the story was Carpenter appearing in the music video for “Still in the Fight,” a song by Lt. Col. Mike Corrado. It’s worth a look, if you haven’t seen it. Carpenter,…
Browsing: Wounded warriors
As mentioned on this blog yesterday, this week’s Marine Corps Times cover story focuses on Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, the Marine infantryman who has achieved a miraculous recovery after sustaining a grenade blast near Marjah, Afghanistan, in November 2010. Marine Corps Times has taken some heat for reporting that there are questions over whether Carpenter covered the grenade to protect his buddy, Lance Cpl. Nick Eufrazio. Actions along those lines have yielded prestigious valor awards in the past, obviously. Those questions exist, though, at least in the minds of some in the Corps. Additional Marine sources have reaffirmed that since…
The Marine Corps Birthday is still a few weeks away, but the service extended one tradition tonight by posting its annual birthday video message. Featuring narration by Commandant Gen. Jim Amos and Sgt. Maj. Mike Barrett, the Corps’ top enlisted Marine, it honors Marines everywhere, with special appreciation set aside for those who served in World War II and since the attacks on 9/11. Watch it here: [HTML1] The commandant and sergeant major filmed pieces of the message in New York City and in the Washington, D.C., area at both the World War II Memorial and the Pentagon. They also…
The Huffington Post launched a 10-part series today called “Beyond the Battlefield,” promised as an “exploration of the physical and emotional challenges, victories and setbacks that catastrophically wounded soldiers encounter after returning home from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.” If the first piece is any indication, it’ll be a good one. Respected defense reporter David Wood focuses on Cpl. Tyler Southern, who was an infantryman with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, on May 5, 2010, when his body was rocked by an improvised explosive device in Now Zad district. Southern was nearly killed and lost both legs and his right…
A year ago today, I was at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, grateful that I had made it through a hairy three-week embed in the former Taliban stronghold of Marjah unharmed. I haven’t been back to Afghanistan since, although another trip looks promising for the fall. I’ve continued to man this blog, though, and readers have continued to share their thoughts on the sacrifices that are necessary during long, hard deployments. Frequently on Friday, you’ll find a new installment here of Bored Marine Video, which highlights the lighter sides of being a Marine. On Memorial Day weekend, however, that seemed wildly inappropriate.…
The Wounded Warrior Regiment would not be denied. Competing Wednesday in the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo., the All-Marine team swept the All-Air Force team in sitting volleyball. It already had dispatched the Army team a day earlier in the paralympic-style games, which are open to wounded, ill or injured service members. If you’ve been reading Battle Rattle this week, you already know that Commandant Gen. Jim Amos and his wife, Bonnie, attended the event did the wave. Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the Corps’ top enlisted Marine, also visited and offered some blunt motivation for the Marines, according to…
It turns out having your pets spayed and neutered isn’t the only cause close to Bob Barker’s heart. The 87-year-old longtime host of “The Price Is Right” announced today that he will donate $2 million to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, a nonprofit that provides assistance to injured members of the armed forces and their families. He is scheduled to present a check tomorrow in Los Angeles, and will be joined by retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Mike Myatt. Barker was a Navy fighter pilot in World War II. In a news release, he says he hopes his donation…
A Marine mom with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, tipped me off to a new YouTube video sharing the sacrifice of several wounded warriors from the unit who made it back, but have a long road to recovery. It’s well done, with new footage of the unit during its predeployment training at the Mountain Warfare Training Center at Bridgeport, Calif., classic footage of Marines spliced in from the service’s 2010 birthday message and scenes recorded downrange this fall. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhJG40Q6RvM[/youtube] A few related updates out of Afghanistan last night, following my blog post yesterday: It was Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines,…
Jeremy Soles will run the Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday in a gas mask. Why? Because it’s hard, but not as hard as the life of a wounded Marine. “The mask is an icon,” said Soles, who got out of the Corps in 2004 and has run several races wearing a gas mask as part of Team X-T.R.EM.E., which is raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project. “The time I spend in a mask is short, difficult and requires mental and physical fortitude,” he said, pointing out that doing it is not unlike what so many wounded guys go through,…
