“Stars and Stripes | Mar 16, 2016 | by Tara Copp

WASHINGTON — If the Marines were called today to respond to an unexpected crisis, they might not be ready, a top Marine general told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

Gen. John Paxton, assistant commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, testified to lawmakers that the Marines could face more casualties in a war and might not be able to deter a potential enemy.

“I worry about the capability and the capacity to win in a major fight somewhere else right now,” he said, citing a lack of training and equipment.

Paxton, along with the vice chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, spoke to the Senate committee on the readiness challenges facing each service after 15 years of war and recent budget cuts.

For the Marines, he said units at home face the most risk because of fewer training opportunities with the best equipment deployed with forces overseas. And it would be these undertrained home units that would be called to respond to an unexpected crisis…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/16/marine-general-to-congress-we-might-not-be-ready-for-another-war.html?ESRC=marine_160322.nl

“Associated Press | Mar 22, 2016 | by Lolita C. Baldor, Robert Burns

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has set up a small Marine artillery outpost in northern Iraq to protect a nearby Iraqi military base, expanding the number and the combat exposure of American troops in the country as Iraqi security forces plan and prepare for a counteroffensive against the Islamic State in Mosul.

It is the first such base established by the U.S. since it returned forces to Iraq in 2014 in response to the Islamic State’s takeover of Mosul and other areas of northern and western Iraq, Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon Monday. He said it should not be considered a combat outpost because it is located behind the front lines and is not initiating combat with the militants.

“Their primary mission is to protect, obviously, Americans,” Warren said, referring to the U.S. advisers at an Iraqi base near Makhmour. He declined to reveal the number of U.S. advisers but said it is fewer than 100. He said the Marine outpost, dubbed Fire Base Bell, is “several hundred meters” from the Iraqi base…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/22/us-marines-deploy-northern-iraq-provide-protection.html?ESRC=marine_160322.nl

“Mar 17, 2016 | by Hope Hodge Seck

As Marine Corps officials plan to move newly minted female riflemen into infantry units by early 2017, they’re working to create a system that they believe will make the historic movesuccessful.

Support jobs, ranging from logistics to administration, are now available to female Marines within infantry units, officials told reporters Thursday. The goal, they said, was to install female leaders at the units in keeping with a mandate from Defense Secretary Ashton Carter before the junior women arrived.

“Throughout the Marine Corps, everyone is now assignable to certain billets,” said Col. Ann Weinberg, deputy director of the Marine Corps Force Innovation Office and one of the architects of the Corps’ plan to incorporate women into previously closed ground combat units.

While a few billets will stay female-only and male-only, such as those for drill instructors overseeing recruits of the same gender, the exceptions are rare, Weinberg said…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/17/marine-corps-begins-moving-female-leaders-into-infantry-units.html?ESRC=marine_160322.nl

“Mar 20, 2016 | by Richard Sisk

The first death of a U.S. Marine in combat against the Islamic State in Iraq and the wounding of several others in a rocket attack Saturay highlights the difficulty of the U.S. military’s “accelerated” campaign to take back Mosul and Raqqa from the militant group.

The Defense Department on Sunday identified the Marine as Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, of Temecula, California, who died of wounds suffered when the enemy attacked his unit with rocket fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has repeatedly said the military is on an “accelerated,” if indefinite, timetable to oust the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria from its two main strongholds. He said last Friday that President Barack Obama has been pressing for it to happen before he leaves office.

“That’s what he (Obama) said he wants,” Carter said at a Politico Playbook breakfast. “That’s what he’s told me and Gen. Dunford,” referring to Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/20/casualty-iraq-was-first-marine-combat-death-revamped-isis-fight.html?ESRC=marine_160322.nl

“Anderson Independent Mail, S.C. | Mar 14, 2016 | by Kirk Brown

Anderson native John Simpson is denying that he lied about his military service.

Meanwhile military investigators are now looking into his charity that sends Marines and their families to Disney theme parks.

In an exclusive interview with the Independent Mail, Simpson, 40, repeated claims posted on the website of his charity, Marines & Mickey, that he served in a Marine reconnaissance battalion and was a Parris Island drill instructor.

His comments contradict information provided to the Independent Mail last week by the Marine Corps Manpower & Reserve Affairs Department spokeswoman Yvonne Carlock. According to Carlock, Simpson did not serve long enough to become a drill instructor.

Carlock said Simpson joined the Marines in 1994. She said Simpson worked as a finance technician before he was demoted to the rank of private and involuntarily discharged as a result of special court martial in August 1997…”

Forrás : http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/03/14/marines-and-mickey-founder-denies-lying-military-service.html?ESRC=marine_160315.nl