Tag: Marines

Closing Thought–12Oct20

This one story should chap old Marines butts no end.

In these changing times of a truly co-ed USMC there is a decision being weighed by the leaders…..

The Marine Corps is considering a plan in which it could close its two existing boot camp locations and funnel all recruits to a new base where men and women would train together.

Marine entry-level training is a long way off from being able to meet a congressional mandate to make its East and West coast training bases both able to support gender-integrated training in the coming years, the Corps’ top general said on Thursday.

That is leading the service to study the option of opening a third training base in a new location to which all new recruits would ship, rather than spending cash on construction projects at aging training bases.

“Nothing, the way we’re organized right now, lends itself to integrated recruit training,” Commandant Gen. David Berger said on Thursday. “If that’s our start point — and it is — we have to get to a place on both coasts, or at third location or whatever we end up with, that … there are male and female recruits around.”

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/09/24/marines-weigh-closing-parris-island-and-san-diego-open-new-coed-boot-camp.html

Will they approve the loss of their beloved “boot camps”?

Next question with a chap ass quality is that there is female drill instructors headed for an all male San Diego…..

Men stepping onto the famous yellow footprints at the Marine Corps‘ historically all-male recruit depot on the West Coast will soon be greeted by female drill instructors.

For the first time ever, the female drill instructors could begin training men at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Commandant Gen. David Berger said Thursday. The move is part of a years-long congressional mandate the service is facing to make its entry-level training coed.

“All of our female drill instructors are on the East Coast,” Berger said during an event hosted by Defense One. “… We’re going to run a couple trials this wintertime actually moving drill instructors from South Carolina to San Diego [on temporary duty] and train recruits on the West Coast to see how this is going to work.”

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/09/24/female-marine-drill-instructors-are-headed-all-male-san-diego-boot-camp.html

Just a couple of macho altering decisions that should have butts clinching all over the country.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Address Military Redundancy

These days of an ever expanding Defense budget and no plan to try and rein in the out of control spending….I had a thought…..

I have often asked myself the question about the amount of redundancy within the US military.

3 service Air Force, 4 separate special ops, on and on…….

Take armor for instance….the Army has its force and the Marines have theirs…..why?

Why not have one Air Force, 1 special ops, one armor?

Well the Marines have decided to end their armor program…..

Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams tanks of the 2nd Tank Battalion left Camp Lejeune, N.C., for the last time this week as part of the service’s sweeping modernization plan that envisions a more agile force.

Tank units on the East and West coasts shuttered this month and began hauling their armor to military depots, the service said.

The Marine Corps will eventually divest of all three of its active tank battalions as it moves from a “second land army” back to its maritime roots of defending ships at sea, island-hopping and battling for contested coastlines, in preparation for potential conflict with near-peer adversaries such as China.

“We have sufficient evidence to conclude that this capability, despite its long and honorable history in the wars of the past, is operationally unsuitable for our highest-priority challenges in the future,” Commandant Gen. David Berger wrote of the tanks in a March plan for the service’s overhaul. “Heavy ground armor capability will continue to be provided by the U.S. Army.”

https://www.stripes.com/news/marine-corps/a-farewell-to-armor-marine-corps-shuts-down-tank-units-hauls-away-m1a1s-1.639355

I believe this is a good idea that needs to expand to a re-evaluation of the military and determine where money can be saved and end the redundancies.

Of course the M-IC will start to panic at the prospect of the loss of profit……but sorry this country needs an upgrade far more pressing than some fighter jet that cost too damn much to be useful.  (F-35)…..a little consolidation could solve so many fiscal problems……sadly this is a dream that will never be realized…too many chiefs want to keep their position of power and the country can be damned.

It is the 21st century and time for the US to stop believing that the next war will be a repeat of World War Two in tactics.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dept. Of Navy You Have A Problem

Closing Thought–27Aug20

No I am not talking about all the problems it has within the SEALs…this problem is one of sex trafficking by members of the Navy.

I covered this when it was first reported in June of this year…..https://lobotero.com/2020/06/22/tinker-sailor-hooker-pimp/

And the problem seems to be persisting……

The Navy has seen an uptick in cases of sailors and Marines involved in human smuggling over the past year, a Navy official told Task & Purpose this week.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service “had an increase in documented cases involving human smuggling in fiscal years 2019-2020,” said Navy spokesman Ensign Mohammad Issa, though he added that “during the last five years, there have been less than 30 total documented human smuggling cases” within the Navy and Marine Corps.

The service made the disclosure when asked by Task & Purpose whether there had been an increase in human smuggling after a number of cases in Southern California made national headlines.

Much of the increase can likely be attributed to Marines at Camp Pendleton, where investigators uncovered a human smuggling ring of two dozen active-duty service members in July 2019 after two enlisted Marines were arrested by Border Patrol agents with three immigrants in their backseat while driving in Jacumba Springs, a small desert town on the U.S.-Mexico border.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-human-smuggling-increase

American service people engaged in a form of slavery…..can it go more disgusting than that?

Can we blame globalization for this rise in human trafficking?

I posted on this as well…..https://lobotero.com/2020/08/24/globalization-and-the-sex-trade/

I know many see globalization as the root of all modern evil…..greed, corruption and slavery of one type or another seem to be the only things globalization has accomplished in the long run.

Any thoughts?

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Americans Killing Americans

This could be another post about our daily dose of gun violence….but it is not…it is about American troops killing other Americans……

In the past it has been SEALs and Marines killing a Green Beret that was scandalous enough..l..but the Navy and the Marines have once again made the news….but this time they are accused of killing an American contractor….

Two Marine Raiders and a Navy corpsman have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, and other offenses in connection with the death of a Lockheed Martin contractor, who died following a reported fist fight in Iraq, according to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command.

Rick Anthony Rodriguez, a former Green Beret, died in Landstuhl, Germany, on Jan. 4 after being medically evacuated from Erbil, Iraq.

Todd South of Military Times first reported on Monday that two Marines and one sailor face general courts-martial for Rodriguez’s death: Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Draher, Gunnery Sgt. Joshua Negron, and Chief Petty Officer Eric Gilmet.

https://taskandpurpose.com/marines-sailor-charged-contractor-death

I do not know the particulars but this sounds more like macho bullshit that occurs when alcohol and egos are involved.

The old “who is tougher” scenario……

I have made my opinions known on this type of death before….to refresh everyone’s memory…..

I think it is pathetic that Americans feel that they must kill other Americans….it is PETTY and SMALL.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Death In Mali–Continued

I have been covering the death of a Green Beret in Mali at the hands of some Navy SEALS…….this death occurred last year about this time….it has been reported that the SEALs will go to courts martial and now word has come out that the Marine Raiders were more involved than they first admitted……

The account of the death took many different paths and I tried to keep my readers up on the story…..https://lobotero.com/2018/11/13/more-on-the-death-in-mali/

Two Marine Raiders facing murder charges in the death of an Army Green Beret played a much larger role in the death than had been previously revealed through media reports, according to official documents.

Military Times has verified the names of the two Marine Raiders facing felony murder and related charges in connection with the strangulation death of Army Special Forces Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar at his residence in Bamako, Mali, on June 4, 2017.

Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez and Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell face an Article 32 hearing on Dec. 10 along with Navy SEALs Chief Petty Officer Adam Matthews and Petty Officer Anthony DeDolph.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/11/20/marine-raiders-facing-murder-charges-had-deeper-involvement-in-green-beret-death-than-previously-reported/

I stated after the first report that it was shameful that Americans killing Americans when there are a wealth of others that will gladly do it.

This will not sit lightly on the scorecard of the special ops……

The murder case of SSG Logan Melgar of the 3rd Special Forces Group (3rd SFG) is another tough scenario for the SF Group’s soldiers to bear. The unit lost four of its members in a deadly ambush in Niger and then to find out that one of its finer NCOs was murdered in US Embassy housing while stationed in Mali was worse. But worst of all was the fact that SSG Melgar wasn’t murdered by terrorists but reportedly at the hands of his fellow US Special Operations warriors from the Navy SEALs and Marine Corps Raiders. That is a stain regardless of the outcome of the court-martial on all of SOCOM that won’t soon fade.

While we’re not going to argue the merits of the case, this much is clear. Melgar shared an apartment with two members of SEAL Team Six, operators identified as Petty Officer Adam Matthews and Petty Officer Anthony DeDolph. Both SEALs admitted to breaking into Melgar’s room while he was asleep. Melgar died of asphyxiation and DeDolph has admitted to putting Melgar in a chokehold. The SEALs stories have changed several times which raised red flags which triggered a further investigation.

https://specialoperations.com/33779/the-mali-green-beret-murder-case-is-a-stain-on-all-of-sof/

Time for the “rest of the story” when it comes to this Green Beret’s death……his family deserves closure.