Marine News Briefs

[thedrifter]

October 17, 2005
Marine News Briefs

A pregame prank

Pranksters from the Naval Academy pulled off a coup just days before the Navy was to take on the Air Force Academy in football Oct. 8, according to the Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colo.

It seems midshipmen on an exchange program at the Air Force Academy painted a vintage F-4 Phantom in the Blue Angels’ colors.

According to the paper, the prank was discovered Oct. 4, and the paint, which could be washed off, was removed that day.

“The cadets here will get their just revenge when we beat Navy this weekend,” pledged academy spokesman Lt. Col. Laurent Fox.

Fox said academy bosses aren’t hunting down the miscreants because they took obvious pains not to damage the plane.

2nd MAW’s best honored

Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee and the sergeant major of the Marine Corps visited with 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing’s recently recognized Marine and noncommissioned officer of the quarter during a trip to Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, according to an Oct. 3 Marine Corps news release.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Pendracki, a combat cameraman with Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 2, and Cpl. Deborah Myatt, administrative clerk for Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 764, were honored for their achievements by Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, sergeant major of the Marine Corps, in September.

Before earning their respective titles, Pendracki and Myatt had to compete for the distinctions under the scrutiny of senior staff noncommissioned officers at preliminary unit-level boards.

Both Marines expressed surprise at being selected by their boards, according to the release.

Pendracki is on his second tour of duty in Iraq and Myatt is on her first, the release said.

Searching for e-recruits

Marine recruiters on Long Island, N.Y., are selling the Corps through the popular Craig’s List Web site, according to an Oct. 3 report by WCBS News Radio.

“We’re an open site, available to anyone acting honestly,” said site founder Craig Newmark.

The advertisement reads, “The most elite and highly trained military organization in the world provides guaranteed skill training in over 400 specialties to include accounting, administration, computers, engineering, aviation, infantry, auto mechanics, legal specialist and many more.”

The ad seeks high school graduates between the ages of 17 and 28 living in the United States. It also promotes the availability of full-time and part-time positions and touts 30 days of paid vacation.

Freedom bird flies again

Marines stationed on Okinawa, Japan, will continue to look into the sky on Thursdays and see the plane that carries leathernecks off the island when their tours on “the rock” are up, according to a Sept. 28 Marine Corps news release.

U.S. Transportation Command brokered a one-year renewal of the contract that brings Patriot Express flights, known as the “Freedom Bird,” to and from Okinawa.

In February, officials decided to end the contract, which would have expired Oct. 1, and shop for a new one, citing high operating costs and limited passenger usage, according to the release.

However, according to Air Force Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, commander of U.S. Forces Japan, it was determined after careful review that Patriot Express flights were vital to the quality of life of personnel stationed in Japan and to the mission there.

The long-term fate of Patriot Express flights to Okinawa and mainland Japan will be determined by passenger usage when it is re-evaluated next year, according to the release.

Every seat aboard a Patriot Express flight costs the government $951, even if the seats aren’t used.

According to Glen Downes, traffic manager for Camp Butler’s Traffic Management Office, 6,342 people flew aboard the Patriot Express in fiscal 2004 for permanent changes of station to Okinawa, far from filling the available passenger capacity of 19,200.

Corn maze honors military

A Temecula, Calif., family showed its appreciation for the military by planting an 8-acre corn maze that represents all the services in action when seen from above, according to an Oct. 6 Marine Corps news release.

The Corps is represented by the flag-raising at Iwo Jima; the Army with an M1A1 Abrams tank; the Navy with the Battleship Missouri; and the Air Force with an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

“It’s our little contribution,” said Rose Corona for the family owned and operated Corona Ranch and Big Horse Feed and Mercantile in Temecula.

“We really appreciate what our military does for our country. It affords me to have my business,” she said.

The Corona family has been making mazes in its corn crop since 1999, the release said.

Beaufort is golden

The secretary of the Navy’s office awarded a “Gold level of achievement” to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., in recognition of its efforts toward energy conservation, the Corps announced Sept. 30.

The air station received the award for putting an energy-savings performance contract in place, according to Neil Tisdale, the air station’s maintenance utilities director. The air station partnered with Trane Corp. in an $11.1 million contract to install geothermal technology.

Under the contract, the station installed a micro-turbine co-generation plant that produces 1.5 megawatts of electricity to power and heat barracks, medical facilities and the chow hall.

The station’s energy-conservation efforts are saving it about $1,170,000 annually, according to the release.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 17, 2005
News Breaks

Lance Cpl. charged in airman’s death

A murder charge has been filed against a Marine in the shooting death of an airman during a night of drinking in Houston, police said Oct. 6.

Airman 1st Class Phillip Oscar Ovalle, 21, was shot in the back of the head early Oct. 4 while riding in a car, police said.

Lance Cpl. Michael Anthony Torres, a supply clerk with II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, was in the back seat of the vehicle being driven by another buddy from Galveston, Texas, according to police. The driver, Richard Roque, told police he didn’t see the shooting but that Torres had the gun in his hand afterward.

Torres was released from jail Oct. 6 on $30,000 bail.

3rd recruiter punished over sex charges

A Marine recruiter was demoted to corporal after being convicted of having sex with a potential recruit, buying alcohol for recruits and lying to Marine investigators.

Staff Sgt. Joseph Dunzweiler was acquitted of a more serious charge of coercing a 17-year-old applicant into having sex. His pay was docked, and he was restricted to base for a month, officials said.

Dunzweiler was the last of three Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Marines convicted of having sex with recruits they met at Marine offices in Ukiah, Santa Rosa and Novato.

Sgt. Brian Fukushima and Cpl. William McFarland were also penalized in connection with the case.

Major arrested in kidnapping incident

A Marine major was arrested Oct. 4 in connection with an 18-year-old West Virginia girl’s kidnapping.

High school student Lu Jin escaped unharmed Oct. 2 after a man impersonating a law enforcement officer allegedly abducted her in Milton, W.Va.

Maj. Michael J. Brown, of the Marine Corps Marathon office at Quantico, Va., was arrested by federal authorities in Laurel, Md., where he was living while under administrative review for misconduct in Japan, where he was convicted of a molestation charge and destroying a woman’s cell phone.

He received a one-year sentence in that case.

Feds convinced former gunny spied on U.S.

A former Marine administrative chief was arrested by federal agents Sept. 10 and accused of handing over classified FBI documents to a foreign government while he served at the White House.

Leandro A. Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, N.J., a former gunnery sergeant who retired from the Corps in September 2004 after 21 years of service, is being investigated for allegedly passing classified information to Philippine government officials while he worked as the administrative chief for the vice presidential security detail between 1999 and 2002, government officials say.

Aragoncillo is being held pending trial and could face up to 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.

Officer required to release report

A Marine Freedom of Information Act Officer who was criticized for passing an investigation report regarding a deadly helicopter crash to the press before it was given to the victims’ families was legally required to do so, Marine officials said Oct. 3.

It would have been unlawful for Capt. Joshua Kirk, of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing’s Civil Law Section, to deny the report to a Los Angeles Times reporter who picked up the investigation results in person because the Times had first requested the report through the Freedom of Information Act, said Maj. Curtis Hill, a 3rd MAW spokesman. The Times reported the findings in its Sept. 29 edition.

The report found that human error was to blame in the Jan. 26 crash of a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter in Iraq, which killed 30 Marines and one sailor.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 17, 2005
Around the Corps
Compiled from military and other public sources.

California

Marines train for Afghan mountains

The “Lava Dogs” of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, finished a training exercise Sept. 26 at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif., that some described as the hardest training they’ve ever had, according to a Marine Corps press release.

When Marines train in Bridgeport for mountain warfare, mountains are exactly what they get. The training required them to scale 5,000 feet of uphill terrain on a forced march and then conduct war games in the high altitude.

The training is intended to prepare them for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan, where operations in mountainous terrain are common.

“I’ve been in the Marine Corps over 25 years, and this is some of the hardest, most challenging training the Marine Corps has to offer,” said Sgt. Maj. Michael Berg.

Afghanistan

2/3 responds to mortar attack

Members of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, came under enemy mortar attack in Afghanistan’s Laghman province Oct. 3, according to a Marine Corps press release.

Minutes later, the Marines launched seven 81-millimeter mortar rounds at the mountain where the enemy was thought to be.

Before the attack, Marines had planned to hike up an adjacent mountain on the other side of the Alishang Valley but instead headed straight for the enemy position.

The Marines ascended the mountain accompanied by Afghan army soldiers but were unable to locate any insurgents, according to the release. The engagement was indicative of the insurgents’ “shoot and scoot” strategy, the release said.

Iraq

Military denies Marines captured

The U.S. military Oct. 3 denied insurgents in Iraq had captured two Marines, according to a Washington Post report.

The report quoted a military statement that said, “Claims on an Islamic militant Web site that two Marines were kidnapped in western Iraq are patently false. All Marines and service members attached to Multi-National Force Iraq are accounted for.”

The statement came in response to a Web site posting that claimed al-Qaida operatives seized the troops near the Syrian border in western Iraq on Oct. 2.

The Web site issued a 24-hour ultimatum to U.S. forces to release female Sunni Muslim prisoners, according to the report.

The U.S. military quickly cast doubt on the reported kidnapping, saying the false claim showed the insurgent group’s desperation.

‘River Gate’ turns up mortar system

Marines with Regimental Combat Team 2 joined with Iraqi Security Forces to carry out Operation River Gate in the Iraqi cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana, according to an Oct. 5 Marine Corps news release.

The operation began Oct. 4 and tasked Iraqi soldiers with providing security for Haditha General Hospital’s patients and personnel. The hospital is the largest medical facility in western Anbar province and was targeted last spring by a suicide bomber, the release said.

Marines operating in Barwana on Oct. 5 detained a man for possession of a mortar system and later discovered a roadside bomb, according to the release.

The Corps said the operation’s objective is to deny al-Qaida the ability to operate in the three Euphrates River Valley cities.

Six al-Qaida operatives had been killed during River Gate, the release said.

‘Iron Fist’ targets al-Qaida in Sa’dah

About 1,000 Marines are attempting to root out insurgents in Sa’dah, Iraq, as part of Operation Iron Fist, according to an Oct. 4 Marine Corps news release.

The village is near the city of Qaim and the Syrian border.

Marines found two roadside bombs southeast of Karabilah, also in the Qaim region, with attached wires running into nearby buildings. They disposed of the devices without incident, the release said.

Marines operated in the same part of Iraq last June during Operation Spear, in which they discovered four Iraqi men being held by al-Qaida operatives.

The operation concluded Oct. 7.

Ellie