Ahoy Raiders!
On August 17, 1942 the Marine Raiders struck Makin Island in the Gilberts. This photo is taken nearly two years later at Bougainville.
January 1944: These U.S. Marine Raiders, with the reputation of being skillful jungle fighters, pose in front of a Japanese stronghold they conquered at Cape Totkina, Bougainville. (AP Photo)
In: Images, Military History · Tagged with: Marine Raiders, US Marine Corps, World War II
Tarawa
Taking the slim protection that a blasted tree affords, this Marine picks-off the Japs in a pill box. A Jap in a pill box must be shot through the small opening he uses to sight through, but that didn't bother this Marine on Tarawa. November 1943. (Marine Corps)
“A million men cannot take Tarawa in 100 years.”
- Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, Imperial Marine Japanese commander in charge of the defense of Tarawa
It took about 4,000 Marines and Sailors three days.
In: Images, Military History · Tagged with: US Marine Corps, World War II
Gen. Mattis: Warrior
Ralph Peters calls prospective CENTCOM commander Marine General James Mattis “our finest Marine.” That is a mighty tall order for a service full of fine warriors and patriots. But he is among the last of a dying breed – warriors over the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
For what it’s worth, Mattis didn’t seek this appointment. He was set to retire this autumn and “go back to rural Washington and grow onions.” But when his president and country called, he stepped up yet again.
Personally, I’d been disappointed a few weeks back when Mattis wasn’t selected to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan. (President Obama made the politically astute choice of Petraeus.) I would’ve preferred to have Mattis on the ground fighting, with Petraeus retained at CENTCOM.
Petraeus can fight, but his reputation makes him a useful military diplomat. While Mattis, too, can woo the Grand Wazoo of Upchuckistan, he would’ve promptly swept away much of the touchy-feely b.s. crippling our Afghan effort. Mattis is less interested in theories than in what actually works.
I pray this works out, but the problem our military has is the politicians who are in charge. We must fix that in November.
In: Military · Tagged with: US Marine Corps
Run through the jungle
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Mykel Thaete, of the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion (AITB), School of Infantry West (SOI-W), Detachment Hawaii, runs for concealment after popping an M18 green smoke hand grenade on Kahuku Training Area in Hawaii May 19, 2010. Thaete participated as opposition force in an attack and defend field exercise as part of SOI-W's Infantry Squad Leader Course. (DoD photo by Lance Cpl. Jody Lee Smith, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Marine Corps
Marines unleash hell in Egypt
A Marine Corps armored vehicle launches a Mine Clearing Land Charge (MCLC) to demonstrate how to clear the ground of land mines on an Egyptian firing range just outside of Mubarak Military City in Egypt. Marines from the 1st Tank Battalion, 29 Palms, California, conducted an in-stride breech live fire demonstration in front of numerous nations as part of coalition training for this year's BRIGHT STAR 01-02 Exercise. An In-Stride Breach is a special type of operation used to overcome and breakthrough unexpected or lightly defended obstacles. BRIGHT STAR is a multinational exercise involving more than 74,000 troops from 44 countries that is designed to enhance regional stability and military-to-military cooperation among the US, our key allies, and our regional partners. It prepares US Central Command to rapidly deploy and employ the armed forces to deter aggressors and, if necessary, fight and win side-by-side with our allies and regional partners. (USAF Photo/SrA D. Myles Cullen)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Marine Corps
Osprey’s stunning night takeoff
U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (April 14, 2010) An MV-22B Osprey assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 162 prepares to take off from the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau (LHA 4). Nassau is the command platform for the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo/MC2 Coleman Thompson)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: MV-22 Osprey, US Marine Corps
Marine Silent Drill at Lincoln Memorial
Lance Cpl. Joedy Petit Jr, a member of the Silent Drill Platoon, performs at the U.S. Armed Forces Joint Ceremonial Drill Competition at the Licoln Memorial April 10. The Joint Drill Competition featured ceremonial drill units from each of the armed services. (USMC Photo/Cpl. Bobby J. Yarbrough)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Marine Corps
MARSOC in Afghanistan
A MARSOC Marine pulls security near a poppy field in Peyo as Afghan National Army Soldiers and Marine Special Operation Command Marines patrol through the village in Farah Prov., Bala Baluk District, Afghanistan, March 29. The coalition forces started the three-day CRP lead by the ANA with a dismounted patrol through Suji, Peyo and Pasaw, an air drop of humanitarian aide supplies for Aka Sadiq and a route recon through the mountainous terrain of eastern Bala Baluk. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sergeant Nicholas Pilch)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: Afghanistan, MARSOC, US Marine Corps
Cold Warriors
HARSTAD, Norway - Marines with 2nd Battalion, 25th Regiment open fire upon a mock enemy force during a training raid March 3, 2010. After nearly a month above the Arctic Circle, Marines with the battalion are on their way home from Norway after completing Exercise Cold Response 2010. Photo by Cpl. Tyler J. Hlavac
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Marine Corps
This Week in American Military History
From W. Thomas Smith, Jr.’s series at Human Events:
Mar. 8, 1965: The lead elements of 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines begin coming ashore at Da Nang, South Vietnam. Within hours, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines will arrive aboard transport aircraft at the nearby airbase. The Marines of 3/9 and 1/3 – both part of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade – are the first of America’s ground-combat forces destined for offensive operations against the enemy in Southeast Asia, once again putting teeth in the Marine Corps’ claim that it is “first to fight.”
Mar. 9, 1847: Thousands of American soldiers and a company-sized force of Marines (though referred to as a battalion) under the overall command of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott and “Home Squadron” Commodore David E. Conner begin landing at Collado Beach, Mexico, just south of Vera Cruz.
In what will prove to be “a model” for future amphibious operations, the landings are unprecedented: The largest American amphibious operation to date, conducted in less than five hours without a single loss of life.
A portion of Conner’s dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy reads:
“Gen. Scott has now with him upwards of 11,000 men. At his request, I permitted the Marines of the squadron, under Capt. [Alvin] Edson, to join him, as a part of the 3rd Regiment of artillery. The general-in-chief landed this morning, and the army put itself in motion at an early hour, to form its lines around the city. There has been some distant firing of shot and shells from the town and castle upon the troops as they advanced, but without result.”
Though the landings are bloodless, grim fighting will continue in the Mexican-American War.
(more…)
In: Military History · Tagged with: American Revolution, Civil War, Flying Tigers, Mexican-American War, US Marine Corps, US Navy, Vietnam War, W. Thomas Smith Jr.
