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Recent Posts Tagged With 'marine corps'
Afghan Army Troop Surge?
From Reuters: Afghanistan is sending 8,000 to 10,000 troops to its most volatile southern provinces, where U.S. and NATO commanders complain of having too few Afghans to back them up, the Afghan Defense Minister said Saturday … U.S. and British...
Do Marines Know How to Patrol?
From Tom Ricks’ blog concerning one Marine NCO’s view of patrolling: We have to get back our patrolling capabilities. Ninety percent of everything we do is patrolling but we aren’t good at it. The Iraq experience has done some...
Hammer and Anvil in Now Zad
From Tony Perry of the L.A. Times: Hundreds of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers descended on a nearly empty city in southern Afghanistan on Friday to cut off supply routes for Taliban fighters who have taken refuge in the area. The troops want to sta...
Afghanis to Marines: Don’t Leave Too Soon
As I have said before, I think too much can be made of one of the central themes or presuppositions upon which population-centric counterinsurgency is theoretically constructed. The will of the people, it is said, is more than just critical. It i...
Marine Embedded Tactical Trainers at COP in Kunar
This video documentary, courtesy of the Unrestricted Warfare Analysis Center, is remarkable for its summary of various themes that can be found at The Captain’s Journal over the past three or four years, from control over roads to logistics, fr...
Marines Bring Calm To Helmand
One of our favorite reporters, Tony Perry with the LA Times, brings us a report from the Helmand Province. By Tony Perry November 8, 2009 Reporting from Nawa, Afghanistan When 500 U.S. Marines descended on this Taliban stronghold overnight, Afghan ci...
Enlisted Marines on the Rules of Engagement
The Captain’s Journal prides itself on being both well connected with and an advocate for the enlisted man. Based on recent communications with enlisted Marines (of various ranks), a perspective is developing around the current rules of engag...
U.S. Marines to Return to Amphibious Operations
The title of the Navy Times article is Amphibious ops to become default mode for MEUs, but the import is much larger than that. It’s more than just about MEUs. The Commandant wants to return to amphibious roots – generally. Determined...
Military Limits Publishing Images of U.S. Casualties
In our coverage of the pictures posted by the Associated Press of Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard I called the AP editors who chose to publish the photo liars. To me the rule they broke was fairly clear. ” … as long as the service member’s ...
John Bernard in the news
Good friend of The Captain’s Journal John Bernard is in the news. NEW PORTLAND, Maine — It was the last way John Bernard would have wanted his voice to gain prominence in the national debate over the war in Afghanistan. The retired Marine had...
The Slow Fall of Kandahar
In recently released article Why are we in the Helmand Province? I a argued for the legitimacy of the Marines’ presence in the Helmand Province, contra the pronouncements of the population-centric counterinsurgency proponents who wish to deploy...
Armed Social Work and Rules of Engagement in Garmsir Afghanistan
Lt. Col. Christian Cabannis fully adheres to and advocates the doctrines of population-centric counterinsurgency. Christian Cabannis met a social worker before deploying to Afghanistan. Not for his own wellbeing, but to better understand the task at ...
Packing Army (Marine) Style
From Islandpacket.com: Drenched in sweat, Army Capt. Aaron Hall peeled off his soggy socks and applied a liberal dose of foot powder before slipping on a dry pair and rallying his troops back to their throbbing feet. For an outfit used to being ferr...
The troops are available for Afghanistan
Washington Post Associate Editor Rajiv Chandrasekaran penned an article entitled Go all-in or fold. In it he touched on recurring themes here at The Captain’s Journal. Excerpts are reproduced below. There were two battalions to the north of...
Insufficient Numbers of Marines
Greyhawk (in a smart read that addresses the slow fall of Kandahar to the Taliban) comments on Why are we in the Helmand Province (where I was nonplussed by Nagl’s comparison of Fallujah 2004 to Kandahar 2009 and lobbied for seeing Helmand as a...
Update on Bank of America and Flag Controversy
In Bank of America Removes American Flags Honoring Dead Marine and More on Bank of America Dishonoring the U.S. Marine Corps we covered a Bank of America branch in Gaffney, S.C. whose manager apparently followed corporate policy and removed American ...
More on Bank of America Dishonoring the U.S. Marine Corps
In Bank of America Removes American Flags Honoring Dead Marine we briefly discussed the ugly incident where a BofA branch removed American flags honoring a U.S. Marine who had perished in Operation Enduring Freedom. We demanded that a Bank of Ameri...
Bank of America Removes American Flags Honoring Dead Marine
Greenville, South Carolina saw the arrival of a Marine who perished in Afghanistan, and Gaffney, S.C. was his ultimate resting place. Only the faint sound of lightly marching feet could be heard as hundreds stood silent on the Greenville-Spartanburg...
More Thoughts on Marines and Rules of Engagement
Briefly following up on Taliban Ambush in Eastern Kunar Kills Four U.S. Marines, we know now that there will be an investigation of this incident reviewing whether the ROE was a contributing cause to four Marines perishing. There have been some blo...
Why are we in the Helmand Province?
In Helmand is a Sideshow – Or Not I addressed the charge that had been leveled in a WSJ article that Helmand was a sideshow to the real fight. Summarizing, the author said: American forces have been waging a major offensive in the neighboring...
Marines in Kunar
A U.S. Marine fires at Taliban fighters during an insurgent attack on U.S. and Afghan troops in the Watapor Valley....
On the front lines with the Marines in Helmand
The Independent has an informative article on U.S. Marine Corps operations in Helmand. Much of it is reproduced below. Battling through the dense, towering corn fields, the heavily armed US marines trudged through Taliban territory, every arduous s...
Taliban Ambush in Eastern Kunar Kills Four U.S. Marines
In a sad for the U.S. Marine Corps, four Marines have perished in Afghanistan. Lamenting their deaths and praying for their families is appropriate, but it’s also important to note the circumstances surrounding this incident. Four U.S. Mari...
Concerning Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard
In response to Publishing the Marine Photo: Remember the Words of Christ, John Bernard, 1stsgt USMC ret., speaks. I am Lcpl Joshua Bernard’s Father. I deeply appreciate your intense concern over this immoral act and believe these folks are working ...
The Dismounted Campaign in Helmand
As we have noted before while studying heavy battle space weight, requirements for cold water and completely exhausted Marines, the battle in Helmand is dismounted. The Marines are drinking on average more than four gallons of water per day. It i...
Ten Dollar Taliban and Rules of Engagement
The AP has an informative update on the U.S. Marine efforts in Now Zad. After three tours in Iraq, U.S. Marine Sgt. Andre Leon was used to brutal shootouts with enemy fighters and expected more of the same in Afghanistan. Instead, what he’s see...
Women in the Infantry
Quite an ugly exchange took place a few days over the issue of women in infantry (note, not women in the military, but women in infantry) . But many may still harbor the notion - or believe the myth - that it’s all about social mores. My de...
Should U.S. Troops Return to Iraqi Cities?
Omar at Iraq The Model had previously observed that Iran’s IRG was most likely behind the recent bombing attacks in Baghdad (or so it was reported by Azzaman). Mohammed updates us with news that Maliki is blaming the Syrian administration for...
Marines Fight Taliban With Little Aid From Afghans
The New York Times has a must-read on the state of the fight in parts of the Helmand Province. It’s a sad tale of corruption, ineptitude, laziness and lack of governmental viability. There are a few money quotes that will be called out bel...
Marine Force Protection in Garmsir Afghanistan
Via DVIDS. KOSHTAY, Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – The mission for Marines here is to seize ground controlled by Taliban insurgents, hold that ground and build on it. Building in this case means fortifying the...
