Marines // Current

For Immediate Release: VETS PREVAIL OFFERS FREE ONLINE MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR UNITED STATES VETERANS

Globalpointpr
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Honoring Veterans Past, Present, and Future

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13 days ago
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Taliban Leader Rejects US Bribe Money

'Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A top Taliban political leader delivered a message Friday... more

rodstradamus
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23 days ago
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Dan About Town Episode 4 Part 3

Dan meets with Andrew McLaren (Weaponizers, Battle for Haditha) who gives him a very... more

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Road to Moloch: Into the Horrifying Cave of Ancient Evil Incarnate

“Road to Moloch” is an incredibly scary supernatural action-horror short film by... more

disembedded
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1 month ago
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Marines Get Breast Cancer from Poisoned Water

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- For Rick Kelly, the first sign of cancer was a feeling of discomfort in his chest.

"My wife would hug me, and it became almost unbearable," he said. "I went to a doctor, and they sent me to the oncologist, and they did biopsies on both sides. And then I ended up with a double mastectomy."

Kelly is one of 20 retired U.S. Marines or sons of Marines who once lived at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and who are now suffering from breast cancer, a disease that strikes about one man for every 100 women who get it. Each of the seven men CNN interviewed for this report has had part of his chest removed as part of his treatment, along with chemotherapy, radiation or both.

All 20 fear that water contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals may have caused their illnesses, but the Marine Corps says no link has been found between the contamination and their diseases. Without that link, the men are denied treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which says it can't treat them for a condition that hasn't been shown to have been "service-related."

The men with breast cancer are among about 1,600 retired Marines and Camp Lejeune residents who have filed claims against the federal government. According to congressional investigators, they are seeking nearly $34 billion in compensation for health problems they say stemmed from drinking water at the base that was contaminated with several toxic chemicals, including some the federal government has classified as known or potential cancer-causing agents.

Jerry Ensminger is a former Marine Corps drill instructor who was stationed at the base in 1976, when his daughter, Janey, was born. She died of childhood leukemia at age 9.

"We were being exposed when we went bowling," Ensminger told CNN. "We were being exposed when we went to the commissary. We were being exposed when we went to the PX. And then when we went home, we were being exposed over there."

In 1981, the lab again found "water highly contaminated" -- and added the word "solvents," with an exclamation point. In August 1982, the experts found one sample with levels of trichloroethylene, a degreaser believed to cause cancer, of 1,400 parts per billion. Today's EPA safe level for the substance is five parts per billion.

"Nobody in this world has been more disillusioned than I've been. I feel like I've been betrayed."

more at the linkTAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- For Rick Kelly, the first sign of cancer was a feeling of... more

rodstradamus
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Stay away from the brown acid and the Orange Blo

Chris Martin does stand-up comedy on Michael Vick, Squeaky Fromme, Woodstock, Billy... more

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3 months ago
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Marines Wonder Why Afghans they Kill Won't Help

duh They admit that their efforts in Afghanistan are wasted without the Afghan's... more

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3 months ago
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"Silent Partners:" A Hidden Population Living Under Don't Ask Don't Tell

What if your loved one was prepared to give the ultimate sacrifice of fighting for... more

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3 months ago
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Fort Campbell welcomes home Vietnam vets

By KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press Writer FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) -- Tears filled... more

stanman48
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3 months ago
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G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier

Before 2001, America’s military women had rarely seen ground combat. Their jobs kept them mostly away from enemy lines, as military policy dictates.

But the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, often fought in marketplaces and alleyways, have changed that. In both countries, women have repeatedly proved their mettle in combat. The number of high-ranking women and women who command all-male units has climbed considerably along with their status in the military.

“Iraq has advanced the cause of full integration for women in the Army by leaps and bounds,” said Peter R. Mansoor, a retired Army colonel who served as executive officer to Gen. David H. Petraeus while he was the top American commander in Iraq. “They have earned the confidence and respect of male colleagues.”

Their success, widely known in the military, remains largely hidden from public view. In part, this is because their most challenging work is often the result of a quiet circumvention of military policy.

Women are barred from joining combat branches like the infantry, armor, Special Forces and most field artillery units and from doing support jobs while living with those smaller units. Women can lead some male troops into combat as officers, but they cannot serve with them in battle.

Of the two million Americans who have fought in these wars since 2001, more than 220,000 of them, or 11 percent, have been women.

Despite longstanding fears about how the public would react to women coming home in coffins, Americans have responded to their deaths and injuries no differently than to those of male casualties, analysts say. That is a reflection of changing social mores but also a result of the growing number of women — more than 356,000 today — who serve in the armed forces, including the Reserves and the National Guard, 16 percent of the total.

Not all combat jobs are the same. Handling field artillery or working in Bradleys, for example, are jobs more suited to some women than light infantry duties, which can require carrying heavy packs for miles.Most women in the military express little, if any, desire to join the grueling, testosterone-laden light infantry. But some say they are interested in artillery and armor.

Any change to the policy would require Congressional approval, which lawmakers say is unlikely in the middle of two wars. But women in the military and their allies want their performance in combat to count for something.

“We have crossed that line in Iraq,” said Representative John M. McHugh, Republican of New York and the nominee for Army secretary. “Debate it all you want folks, but the military is going to do what the military needs to do. And they are needing to put women in combat.”Before 2001, America’s military women had rarely seen ground combat. Their jobs kept... more

Theekshani
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3 months ago
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US marines in Afghanistan launch first energy efficiency audit in war zone

The US Marines Corps ordered the first ever energy audit in a war zone todayto try to... more

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3 months ago
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13 oakland ave

just highlights of craziness that happens in Jersey City

bojagles
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3 months ago
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One More US Soldier Refuses to Fight Afghan War

I hope that more people can find the strength to do the same. I don't agree with a... more

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3 months ago
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Marines Ban Facebook and Myspace, Pentagon considers full ban

The U.S. Marines Corps, citing security concerns, has banned Facebook, MySpace and... more

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4 months ago
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Marines ban Twitter, Facebook, other sites

The U.S. Marine Corps has banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks, effective immediately.
"These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries," reads a Marine Corps order, issued Monday.

"The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel... at an elevated risk of compromise."

The Marines' ban will last a year. It was drawn up in response to a late July warning from U.S. Strategic Command, which told the rest of the military it was considering a Defense Department-wide ban on the Web 2.0 sites, due to network security concerns.

Scams, worms, and Trojans often spread unchecked throughout social media sites, passed along from one online friend to the next.
"The mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering. They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code to unsuspecting users," a Stratcom source told Wired.com.

Yet many within the Pentagon's highest ranks find value in the Web 2.0 tools. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has 4,000 followers on Twitter. The Department of Defense is getting ready to unveil a new home page, packed with social media tools. The Army recently ordered all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook. Top generals now blog from the battlefield.

"OPSEC is paramount. We will have procedures in place to deal with that," Price Floyd, the Pentagon's newly-appointed social media czar, said.

"What we can't do is let security concerns trump doing business. We have to do business... We need to be everywhere men and women in uniform are and the public is. If that's MySpace and YouTube, that's where we need to be, too," Floyd said.

The Marines say they will issue waivers to the Web 2.0 blockade, if a "mission critical need" can be proven. And they will continue to allow access to the military's internal "SNS-like services." But for most members of the Corps, access to the real, public social networks is now shut off for the next year.The U.S. Marine Corps has banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media... more