RIP Colonel Ed McMahon

Colonel McMahon was a Marine fighter pilot in World War II and Korea and flew 85 combat missions. He was also a test pilot for the Corsair. After his service in the Marine Corps, he co-hosted The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson for 30 years from 1962 to 1992, then hosted Star Search for 12 years where he "discovered" budding artists such as Rosie, Sinbad, Drew Carey, Dennis Miller, Le Ann Rimes, Lara Flyn Boyle, Jenny Jones and others. He was also an American Family Publishers Sweepstakes spokesperson. He has appeared in numerous other commercials, television shows, Broadway productions and movies. He was one of the most recognized people in America and possibly the world.

He passed away at the age of 86 today at Los Angeles' Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

RIP and Semper Fi!

Memorial Day 2009

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

-- General George S. Patton

Two More Marines at 29 Palms Have H1N1

Two more Marines at Twentynine Palms were confirmed today as having the Influenza H1N1 "Swine Flu" virus. They are now in isolation for the mandated 7-day period and are doing well at this time.

Lioness Prowls in Iraq

A female Marine is serving as a machine gunner in Iraq as part of the Lioness program.



AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq – A city girl from coastal California shocked her relatives and friends when she became the first in her family to join the Marine Corps in 2005.

Cpl. Susy H. Aguilar started her Marine Corps career as a supply clerk at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., and shortly thereafter deployed to Iraq in 2006.

During her 2006 deployment, Aguilar stepped out of the warehouse and into the ranks of an infantry unit to serve as a female searcher as a Lioness. The Lioness program was introduced earlier in Operation Iraqi Freedom to ease cultural sensitivities over interaction between Coalition forces and Iraqi females, and Aguilar jumped at the chance to serve with an all-male infantry unit. Her experiences with the grunts had a profound impact on her.

“There was a time when we were out in what seemed like the middle of nowhere,” said Aguilar, recalling her first combat experience. “I was already scared as it was, and then we started to get mortared.”

“There was a little [Iraqi] boy who I had been interacting with,” she said. “He was really scared and wouldn’t leave my side. One of the grunts came back, gave me his flak jacket and told me to put it on the boy.
“He had no problem giving up his flak and risking his own safety. That is when I decided I wanted to do a more combat-related [job]. I wanted to be more like them.”

Prior to beginning her next deployment to Iraq, Aguilar volunteered to go through the machine gunner’s course not thinking she, as a female, would be called upon to put these skills to use.

Though she had her doubts, Aguilar had already extended her contract to the Marine Corps in hopes of experiencing the deployment from the turret of an armored vehicle.

“I was really shocked when my name was called and I had been chosen,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar was then assigned to Transportation Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 7, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), and deployed for her second tour to Iraq in February 2009. Not only was Aguilar new to the company, she also had to establish her capabilities in the eyes of her male counterparts.

“I wasn’t nervous, but I knew I had to prove myself to them when I was taking apart the gun, cleaning it, or doing a test fire,” she said. “I always felt like they were watching me to see if I knew what I was doing.”

However, it didn’t take long for the platoon to realize that Aguilar had what it took to be a gunner and could be counted upon to provide fire support if necessary.

2/9 No One Left Behind

The Marines of 2nd Battalion 9th Marine Regiment returned home from Iraq recently after a 229-day deployment. The Marines completed their mission and when they returned they brought back every Marine that they took with them. Semper Fi, Devildogs!

Commandant's Reading List

This page on Amazon.com makes it easy to find books from the Marine Corps Commandant's Reading List. The books are categorized by Marine ranks they are recommended for.

Happy reading and Semper Fi!

Lieutenant General Victor Krulak

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 2, 2009 12:17:07 EST

SAN DIEGO - Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak, who headed all Marine forces in the Pacific during part of the Vietnam War, has died. He was 95.

Krulak died Monday at the Wesley Palms Retirement Community in San Diego, according to Edith Soderquist, a staff member at the facility. 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.

For the next nine years, he worked for Copley Newspapers, serving at various times as director of editorial and news policy and news media president of Copley News Service. He retired as vice president of The Copley Press Inc. in 1977 and contributed columns on international affairs and military matters for Copley News Service.

He also 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.