The Marine Corps’ top general wants an end to the monkey business that, since the start of 2012, has cast a steady, unflattering light on an institution defined in no small part by the pride it exhibits in being a disciplined, moral fighting force.Second.
“We are allowing our standards to erode,” Gen. Jim Amos, the service’s 35th commandant, laments in an internal memo distributed to all of his generals, commanding officers and sergeants major. Known as a White Letter, the sharply worded missive comes in response to “a number of recent widely publicized incidents” involving Marines misbehaving abroad.
Complacent leadership bears some of the blame, he says.
The Marine Corps’ top general wants an end to the monkey business that, since the start of 2012, has cast a steady, unflattering light on an institution defined in no small part by the pride it exhibits in being a disciplined, moral fighting force.Long story short.
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| Marines with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and soldiers of the Royal Moroccan Army, perform dry fire rehearsal in preparation for the final exercise of African Lion 12, April 14, 2012. African Lion 12 is a joint and bi-lateral exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States that will involve more than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. The 24th MEU, partnered with the Navy's Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, is deploying to the European and Central Command theaters of operation to serve as a theater reserve and crisis response force capable of a variety of missions from full-scale combat operations to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. |
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| Lance Cpl. Seth Jarboe, a 24-year-old Castle Rock, Colo., native, and rifleman with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit provides security as a CH-53 Super Stallion lands during rehearsals in preparation for the final exercise of African Lion 12, April 14, 2012. African Lion 12 was a joint and bi-lateral exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States that involved more than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. African Lion 12 was the first major exercise the 24th MEU participated in after deploying in March on a regularly scheduled eight month deployment with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group. |
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| Marines with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and soldiers of the Royal Moroccan Army, perform dry fire rehearsal in preparation for the final exercise of African Lion 12, April 14, 2012. African Lion 12 is a joint and bi-lateral exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States that will involve more than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. The 24th MEU, partnered with the Navy's Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, is deploying to the European and Central Command theaters of operation to serve as a theater reserve and crisis response force capable of a variety of missions from full-scale combat operations to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. |
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| Lance Cpl. Seth Jarboe, a 24-year-old Castle Rock, Colo., native, and rifleman with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit provides security as a CH-53 Super Stallion lands during rehearsals in preparation for the final exercise of African Lion 12, April 14, 2012. African Lion 12 was a joint and bi-lateral exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States that involved more than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. African Lion 12 was the first major exercise the 24th MEU participated in after deploying in March on a regularly scheduled eight month deployment with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group. |
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| Students rappell out of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from roughly 90 feet in the air during the final event of the rappelling portion of the Air Assault Course held at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, April 17-27, 2012. |
The military is under-reporting the number of times that Afghan soldiers and police open fire on American and other foreign troops.Go to Fox News to read the whole thing...
The U.S.-led coalition routinely reports each time an American or foreign solider is killed by an Afghan in uniform. But The Associated Press has learned it does not report insider attacks in which the Afghan wounds -- or misses -- his U.S. or allied target. It also does not report the wounding of troops who were attacked alongside those who were killed.
Such attacks reveal a level of mistrust and ill will between the U.S.-led coalition and its Afghan counterparts in an increasingly unpopular war. The U.S. and its military partners are working more closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility to them by the end of 2014.
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| Knockout blow: Boxer Lavarn Harvell (right) smashes a mashed up Tony Pietrantonio (left) to end their light heavyweight bout |
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| Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew F-35B BF-14 (Navy Bureau Number 168310), on its inaugural flight on 24 April 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB. The aircraft will be assigned to VMFAT-501 at Eglin AFB, Florida. |
