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Marines

Stories

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Seabees give buzz on military building

They drill, they build, and if need be, they fight — with rounds ready in their M-16A2 rifles. They’re Seabees – Naval construction battalions trained in combat skills to support Leathernecks overseas. “(Our) mobile construction battalions provide aid for Marines in theater (via) the forward operating base,” said Navy Lt. Dude L. Underwood,

Texan honored as hero, friend to the end;

When Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin was growing up in the heart of Texas, he would put up a fight when anyone messed with the people he considered his friends or family. Similarly, when insurgents on a rooftop threatened the security of his fellow Marines in Iraq, the warm-hearted Texan threw caution to the wind and entered the line of fire — ultimately

Thrill-seekers get ‘strung out,’ Marine Corps style;

Imagine dangling from a helicopter, zipping along at more than 80 miles an hour, with a crystal clear view of the coast and Marines on the ground looking like ants. That’s how Marines with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company spent their day July 28 — literally hanging by a thread to brush up on SPIE-rigging (special purpose insertion extraction) and

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Desert training boils over for local Marines;

The outdoor oven that is Yuma, Ariz., was turned up higher than usual during the last week in July — packing a sucker punch even for Marines who’d been to Iraq twice. In Iraq, desert temperatures can reach the 130s, said Lance Cpl. Raul Montecon, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “Iraq is about 20-30 degrees hotter, with dry heat,” Montecon

Clinics face surge in heat casualities;

The heat casualties have already started rolling in at Battalion Service Support Group 1’s aid station — and Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Tabura expects the influx of overheated Marines and sailors to continue increasing during the dog days of summer. Tabura, assistant leading petty officer at the BSSG-1 aid station, says August is typically

CG: Base offers alternatives to payday lenders

They provide fast cash -- and "support for troops," say signs on their storefronts. And they're conveniently stationed right outside the gates of Camp Pendleton.They're payday lenders. Many Marines tap them for quick but costly loans when they're in a bind -- and soon wind up in much worse shape than when they walked through the lenders' doors. One

Waiver could stem losses in BAH

A local disbursing officer says some servicemembers facing shrinkage in their housing allowance because of a new Department of Defense policy may be eligible for a waiver. The shrinkage, stemming from the elimination of "geographic rate protection" outlined in a July 1 Marine Administrative Message, can be as much as hundreds of dollars a month.

Some to lose hundreds in pay Monday;

Untold numbers of servicemembers residing off base will see their next paycheck shrink by as much as $250 -- and many of them may not even know the blow is coming. Disbursing shops at several 1st Marine Division and 1st Force Service Support Group battalions surveyed over the past week said they learned only recently about the elimination of

One-eyed sniper remains deadly as ever;

Besides a steady hand, a keen eye is one of a scout sniper's most valuable assets. For the one-eyed sniper (who asked that his name be withheld), it's his only one after a wound sustained in Iraq. The sniper, whose job it is to take out enemy fighters with pinpoint accuracy, possesses only one eye — although the "handicap" has hardly hindered him

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Sharks are not much of a bugaboo;

In the summer of 1975, a young director named Steven Spielberg introduced audiences to one of the silver screen’s most notorious villains when he unleashed "Jaws," a film about a group of men sent out to kill a great white shark that had terrorized a quaint seaside village. After its release, beachgoers young and old began to think twice before

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