With all due respect to the Marine Corps, "The Few, The Proud, The Gender-Neutral" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Yet there is now a movement in the corps—even backed by some female jarheads—to require women to meet the same physical fitness standards as the men. In some respects, this is…
Character is often revealed in seemingly small gestures. Amid all the speculation about how retired Marine general James Mattis will manage to lead the behemoth called the Department of Defense, one personal experience I had a decade ago as a young staffer in the office of the Secretary of Defense…
John Kelly, the retired Marine general who most recently was the head of U.S. Southern Command, is Donald Trump's selection for Secretary of Homeland Security. CBS News reports:
President-elect Donald Trump introduced his selection for Secretary of Defense, retired Marine general James Mattis, at his Tuesday night rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Mattis, known by his nickname of "Mad Dog", joined Trump briefly on stage.
Retired Marine general John Kelly is Donald Trump's leading pick to become the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, reports Eliana Johnson at Politico:
Donald Trump's selection for defense secretary once made a cross-country road trip that stopped at the homes of many families of fallen servicemembers. Read more from ABC News on General James Mattis's trip, which he took shortly after he retired from the Marine Corps after 41 years of service:
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If there's a Republican on the ballot this year who deserves to be called the anti-Donald Trump, it might be Colorado's Mike Coffman. The Denver-area congressman is testing whether his strategy—running as the spiritual opposite of the GOP presidential nominee—won't pay off in a tough swing district.
The Marine's Hymn might need some amending. No longer is the venerable military force ready to "fight our country's battles ... In the air, on land, and sea."
Marines are made at a recruit depot located amid the swamps of Parris Island, tethered to the rest of the Carolina coast by a single causeway, and at another such depot in California, jammed onto a scrubby patch of ground between the San Diego International Airport and Interstate 5.
If there were any remaining doubts that a grudge is motivating Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’s policies dictating gender integration in the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps Times has dispelled them, revealing that Mabus sent the Marines a memo on New Year's Day ordering them to make their famously…
In a recent edition of Kristol Clear, a weekly newsletter (you can sign up for free here), the boss mentioned an instance of some homeland heroics by a group of Marine volunteers. When a California wildfire reached Camp Pendleton last month, a group of Marines volunteered to save a dozen large,…
As soon as I heard about the Navy Yard shooting in Washington D.C. this week I was sickened and appalled. I lived in that neighborhood for over a decade, and coming from a military family, I used venture on to Navy Yard a few times a month to do my banking at the Navy Federal Credit Union branch. I…
Marines are known for their bluntness, so it was not surprising to see the matter-of-fact honesty of General James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, on display when interviewed by the Associated Press during a recent trip to visit Marines in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. Asked about the…
Justin Timberlake: "My Night At The Marine Corps Ball"
James C. Capretta: "The Gang of Six Disaster: The Worst Plan So Far"
The Military Times reports that President Obama will award a medal of honor to former Marine Dakota Meyer:
WSJ: "Bin Laden Plotted new Attack"
An absolutely must watch video today -- Corporal William Lottering, USMC by way of South Africa, gives a tour of the schoolhouse in Garmsir, Afghanistan. The headmaster of the school fled the school and didn't come back to teach until the Marines arrived and started providing security. When the…
There’s been some hyperventilating among conservatives about the effects on the military of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It’s going to be amazingly difficult to implement, some say. It could well be the end of the U.S. military as a feared fighting force. It’s just another step in the decline…
There’s been some hyperventilating among conservatives about the effects on the military of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It’s going to be amazingly difficult to implement, some say. It could well be the end of the U.S. military as a feared fighting force. It’s just another step in the decline…
At Tun Tavern in Philadelphia 235 years ago today, the Marine Corps was formed. The Washington Post has an interesting (and somewhat encouraging) report, "U.S. takes on violent Afghan valley that bled Brits," on what the Marines are doing today in Afghanistan to defend America:
There are, in this great country, many impressive civic and charitable efforts to help our troops. One of them is Project Valour IT, which buys technological devices that support recovery and provide independence and freedom to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.
The AP reports that General James F. Amos, the recently-confirmed commandant of the Marine Corps, thinks the ban on gays serving openly in the military should not be repealed: