Retired Marine Lt. Col. Tom Vetter wouldn’t have missed this reunion for the world.

On Feb. 4, the 80-year-old Korean War veteran from San Juan Capistrano was among dozens of Marine veterans and Navy corpsmen who celebrated the 1st Division’s 75th anniversary in a morning colors ceremony at the division headquarters at Camp Pendleton.

“You never cut the umbilical cord,” Vetter said. “I want to be around my fellow Marines and corpsmen; it charges my batteries.”

The 1st Division, known as the Blue Diamond, is the oldest, largest and most decorated division in the Marine Corps, with nine Presidential Unit Citations. Marines in the 1st Division have earned 86 Medals of Honor — the nation’s highest military decoration for bravery.

At the ceremony, the veterans and current service members rededicated their battle colors with awards and campaign streamers earned by the division in such places as Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/12/marines-1st-division-marks-75th-year-at-camp-pendleton.html?ESRC=marine_160216.nl

The Marine Corps may be approaching a steady-state end strength of 182,000 troops, but that doesn’t necessarily mean personnel cutbacks are over.

Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said Thursday that the Corps may consider scaling back its infantry population or operational forces — with an emphasis on cutting from the most junior ranks — in order to create space for an increase in its cyberwarfare community.

Speaking at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, D.C., Neller said he was looking hard at tradeoffs as the Marine Corps sought to develop well-trained, mature cyber warriors.

“I’m willing to take risk in the units we have now,” he said. “Once we determine what are the capabilities we need and what are the types of Marines we need to do that, you know, those are not going to be [privates first class] and lance corporals over time.”..”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/12/marines-could-cut-infantry-troops-to-expand-cyber-community.html?ESRC=marine_160216.nl

The book Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller is encouraging all his troops to read isn’t Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” or the age-old reading list classic “A Message to Garcia.”

It’s “Ghost Fleet,” a futuristic “Novel of the Next World War” published last year by think tankers August Cole and P.W. Singer.

As the Marine Corps expands its cyber warfare and information warfare communities and looks for opportunities to embrace cutting-edge technologies, the lines between science fiction and future warfare quickly blur.

To underscore the point, the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab hosted a “Science Fiction Futures” workshop Feb. 3, featuring Cole, Singer and other sci-fi authors who met and discussed concepts and ideas with a group of 17 Marines and sailors selected from a pool of applicants…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/14/top-marine-looks-to-science-fiction-to-prepare-corps-for-future.html?ESRC=marine_160216.nl

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — Only trace DNA elements belonging to Marines have been recovered since two helicopters crashed last month in Hawaii, the Marine Corps clarified Tuesday.

None of the 12 Marines who died in the Jan. 14 crash have been recovered, Marine Corps spokesperson Capt. Cassandra Gesecki said in a written statement.

The Star-Advertiser in Honolulu reported Monday that “some remains” had been retrieved, attributing the information to Timothy Irish, the Marine Corps captain who served as the primary Marine media contact during the five-day search for the missing Marines.

In Gesecki’s clarification, she wrote that “trace elements of remains” in the form of DNA were recovered during the search-and-rescue phase that ended on Jan. 19.

“Nothing in addition to the trace elements of DNA have been found since then,” she said.

Families of the Marines who had been identified through DNA have been informed, Gasecki said…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/03/marines-clarify-only-trace-dna-found-at-helo-crash-site-hawaii.html?ESRC=marine_160209.nl

A new change to Marine Corps policy will require some Marines to wait longer before they are eligible for promotion.

The new guidelines stipulate that, as of April 1, Marine lance corporals and corporals must spend 12 months in their current rank before they can be looked at for promotion to corporal or sergeant. The current rules require just eight months’ time-in-grade for lance corporals, though corporals must already serve 12 months in their rank before promotion to sergeant.

The change was announced Friday in a Marine administrative message. The message adds that composite scores, which determine eligibility for promotion, will still be calculated quarterly, as they are now, but Marines will become eligible for a promotion look as soon as they hit the 12-month time-in-grade mark.

While this will result in longer promotion waits for many lance corporals, it could have a benefit for corporals looking to make sergeant: Previously, they needed to have reached the 12-month mark at the start of the quarter in which they want to be promoted. With the new rules, a corporal who hits 12 months’ time-in-grade on the first of the month could be eligible for promotion that month…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/05/some-marines-will-have-to-wait-longer-to-pick-up-rank.html?ESRC=marine_160209.nl