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Showing posts with label U.S. Marine Corps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. Marine Corps. Show all posts
Oklahoma soldiers called to duty may get tuition reimbursement thanks to state Rep. Fred Jordan.
House Bill 1301, by Jordan, provides for a 100 percent refund of tuition and fees if a member of the Oklahoma National or Air Guard or the five branches of military reserves gets deployed during the school year.
“It is not fair to make these young men and women pay for classes they never got to finish because they were called to fight for our country,” said Jordan, R-Jenks. “This bill is a small way to show our appreciation to these men and women for their service during difficult times. They are great Americans that all legislators can be proud to support.”
Jordan, who served as a Captain in the Marine Corps, filed legislation last year that would have increased the income tax deduction for military income from $1,500 to $5,000 for all active, reserve, and National Guard service members. The bill passed the House but did not pass the Senate.
HB 1301 passed out of House Appropriations and Budget Committee today.
"From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli"-the Marine anthem recalls when Muslim Barbary Pirates of North Africa committed terrorist acts on American ships, selling crews into slavery.
Tripoli demanded tribute and a treaty was attempted, but it was not honored as the Koran prohibited friendship with infidels:
"Infidels are those who declare 'God is Christ, the son of Mary'"-Surah 5:17;
"Infidels are those that say 'God is one of three in a Trinity'"-Surah 5:73;
"Infidels are your sworn enemies"-Sura 4:101.
The Koran continued:
"Make war on the infidels"-Sura 9:123;
"When you meet the infidel in the battlefield strike off their heads"-Surah 47:4;
"Muhammad is Allah's apostle, those who follow him are ruthless to the infidels"-Surah 48:29;
"Take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends"-Surah 5:51.
President Jefferson finally sent in the Marines, and in what Admiral Horatio Nelson described as the "most bold and daring act of the age," Lieut. Stephen Decatur sailed his ship, the Intrepid, on the night of FEBRUARY 16, 1804, into the pirate harbor, burned a ship and escaped unharmed amidst fierce enemy fire.
The Marines captured Tripoli and forced the Pasha to make peace on U.S. terms.
Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak, who headed all Marine forces in the Pacific during part of the Vietnam War, has died. He was 95.
Lt. Gen. Krulak died Monday at the Wesley Palms Retirement Community in San Diego, The cause of death was not immediately known.
Krulak commanded about 100,000 Marines in the Pacific from 1964 to 1968 — a span that saw the United States dramatically increase buildup in Vietnam.
Krulak, nicknamed "Brute" for his direct, no-nonsense style, was a decorated veteran of World War II and the Korean War.
After retirement, he often criticized the government's handling of the Vietnam War. He wrote that the war could have been won only if the Vietnamese had been protected and befriended and if enemy supplies from North Vietnam were cut off.
"The destruction of the port of Haiphong would have changed the whole character of the war," he said two decades after the fall of Saigon.
Krulak once summed up the U.S. dilemma in Vietnam by saying, "It has no front lines. The battlefield is in the minds of 16 or 17 million people."
Before assuming command of Fleet Marine Force Pacific, Krulak served as principal adviser on counterinsurgency warfare to then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the joint chiefs of staff.
"I never got enthusiasm out of war, and I'm convinced that the true pacifists are the professional soldiers who have actually seen it," Krulak said many years after retiring from the post.
During World War II on the island of Choiseul, Krulak led his outnumbered battalion during an eight-day raid on Japanese forces, diverting the enemy's attention from the U.S. invasion of Bougainville.
Krulak's troops destroyed hundreds of tons of supplies, burning both camps and landing barges. He was wounded on Oct. 13, 1943, and later received the Navy Cross for heroism along with the Purple Heart.
At age 43 he became the youngest brigadier general in Marine Corps history up to that time. Krulak received the second of two Distinguished Service Medals when he retired from the military.
He wrote the book "First to Fight," an insider's view of the Marine Corps.
His son Charles Krulak served as commandant — the Marines' top post — from 1995 to 1999.
In May 2006, you accused a group of United States Marines of killing “innocent civilians in cold blood”. You made these allegations during an ongoing investigation. In fact, a Marine Corps spokesman said that you made your statement a week before you had even been briefed.
You continued to accuse these eight Marines of "cold-blooded murder and war crimes”, even after the Marine Corps itself said your comments on the matter “would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process.”
As a result of the investigation, the charges were dropped against 7 of the 8 Marines and the other Marine is awaiting his day in court.
However, you have not withdrawn your statements or apologized for your defamatory remarks.
Marines implicated in the incident believe that you have committed slander and libel against them. These United States Marines, whose honor you have attacked, deserve to hear an apology from you.
We, the undersigned, implore you, Representative Murtha, as a man who serves the public in Congress, as a man who once served in the Marine Corps, to do the honorable thing.
This year, the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps are both getting new parachutes. The army is getting the ATPS (Advanced Tactical Parachute System), while the marines are introducing the Multimission Parachute System.
The new marine parachute is intended for use by recon and commando type operations, where the need was for a parachute that could be guided to a specific spot for landing. This new parachute enables the user to maneuver five kilometers or more (depending on the altitude jumped from) to the preferred landing zone. The marines like to use this for inserting scout teams at night. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) has long used similar chutes (rectangular in shape, rather than round, like the current marine MC-5 chute.)
The U.S. Army is replacing its half century old T-10 parachute with a new and improved model; the ATPS (Advanced Tactical Parachute System). The reason is that, in the last half century, paratroopers, and their equipment, have gotten heavier. The T-10 was designed to handle a maximum weight of 300 pounds (a paratrooper and his equipment.) In practice, the average weight is now closer to 400 pounds. This means that the troops are hitting the ground faster and harder, resulting in more injuries. Since World War II, the average injury rate for mass parachute drops has been 1.5 percent, but all that extra muscle and gear has pushed it to over two percent.
The fault was traced to the venerable T-10 chute not being able to handle larger and heavier (it's all muscle, folks) paratroopers and the more numerous bits of equipment they jump with. The 51 pound ATPS (main chute and backup) can bring over 400 pounds of paratrooper and equipment to the ground at 16 feet per second. The 44 pound T-10 could bring 300 pounds down at 23 feet per second. When the T-10 was dealing with more weight, it came down faster, causing more injuries. The ATPS, when deployed has a diameter 14 percent greater than that of the T-10, with 28 percent more surface area. The ATPS harness is more reliable and comfortable. Operational testing of the ATPS has been underway for three years, and the new chute will have completely replaced the T-10 in six years.
The new marine chute also takes advantage of the new parachute technology, in the same way the ATPS does. Thus reducing hard drops, for marines landing with a heavy load of weapons and equipment. The new marine chute has been in testing for two years, but has been getting more tests, and some actual use, in Iraq.
The war on terror, and especially the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, have brought back an old American battlefield tradition; tracking and stalking the enemy.
Even before the American revolution, colonial militias used the hunting skills of their members to develop uniquely American infantry tactics.
The generals never completely accepted or permanently adapted these skills. But in every war, and especially in World War II and subsequent conflicts, the tracking and stalking skills of troops were recognized, and utilized, on the battlefield. During World War II, many divisions organized special scouting units, recruiting troops who were particularly skilled at tracking, and stalking game. These hunting skills are easily transferred to the battlefield. Indeed, the earliest armies made use of these skills, and primitive tribes still use "hunting parties" as "war bands" when the game is two-legged and able to fight back. The most successful army in history, that of the Medieval Mongols, was based on the hunting organization and tactics employed to survive on the great plains of Eurasia.
During the Korean War (1950-53), division commanders created "Ranger Companies," composed of their most skilled stalkers and scouts. These rangers were disbanded after Korea, but were revived in Vietnam, in the form of LRRPs (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols) and other specialized units. After Vietnam, the Ranger Regiment was created, but as a force of elite light infantry, not scouts. More of these ranger type skills were taught to all troops, but not in a concentrated enough way to make a difference.
But the U.S. Marine Corps noted that snipers, a development of the late 19th century smokeless powder (making it more difficult to spot a sniper who had just fired the more accurate and longer range rifles), also had to use stalking and tracking skills to be effective. So the marines established small "Scout-Sniper" units, and utilized both these skills to both find the enemy, and kill them if necessary.
In Iraq, policemen and detectives, serving there in large numbers as reservists, brought their concept of "street marts" to the growing bag of tricks developed for fighting in Iraq. Being able to spot who was a bad guy, dressed as a civilian and trying to stay undetected in the population, was something urban police are good at. In many infantry units, these skills were codified, and taught to troops. The marines took this a step farther, and developed a new stalking and tracking program for all marines.
The U.S. Army Special Forces, and commando troops world-wide, have long recognized the usefulness of these skills, and now the U.S. Army is trying to incorporate more of it into their regular training. After all, it's an old American tradition.
Oklahoma soldiers called to duty may get tuition reimbursement thanks to state Rep. Fred Jordan.
