Seven Marines Killed In Hawthorne Army Depot Explosion

The United States Marine Corps issued a blanket suspension on the use of all 60mm mortar shells on Monday night after a deadly explosion killed seven Marines during a training excercise at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada.

Seven U.S. Marines were killed and several others were wounded Monday when a mortar exploded prematurely inside is firing tube during mountain training exercises at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada. It's unclear what caused the malfunction.

The accident prompted the Marine Corps to immediately halt use of some mortar shells until an investigation can determine its safety.

The Corps on Tuesday announced a "blanket suspension of 60mm mortars and associated tubes" in effect until review of the incident at Hawthorne is complete.

The 60mm mortar is a weapon that traditionally requires three to four Marines to operate but it's common during training for others to observe nearby.

The cause of the incident remains under investigation. The investigation will focus on whether the Marines followed procedures to properly fire the weapon, whether there was a malfunction in the firing device or in the explosive mortar itself, the official said.

Earlier, Russ Collier, an official at the facility, told KRNV-TV that the explosion was an accident unrelated to the ammunition that is stored at the military facility near the small desert community of Hawthorne.

The Associated Press has tenatively identified the unit that was assigned to the Hawthorne Army Depot as the 2nd Marine Expiditionary Force based out of Camp Lejune, NC- although the names won't be released until after the families have been notified.

Hawthorne Army Depot is a 226 square mile facility that stores and disposes of ammunition for the United States military some 140 miles southeast of Reno, NV. In recent years, the facility has been used as a training ground because conditions in the high Nevada desert are similar to what soldiers and Marines could expect in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, an impromptu memorial was held in the nearby town of Hawthorne to honor the Marines killed in the explosion.

Less than a day after the Marines were killed by a mortar explosion during a training exercise in the western Nevada desert, Hume stood inside the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum surrounded by decommissioned ammunition on display. The military-centric town of 3,200 people relies on the Hawthorne Army Depot, a sprawling facility filled with military munitions.

“I’m always glad to see all these trainees come in here, and then to have something like this happen is really, really — it hurts,” Hume said, tearing up. “It hurts.”

First responders, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and hundreds of people from Hawthorne gathered at the Veterans Memorial Park to memorialize the victims of the blast. The Marines came from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

“This kind of stuff is very tragic and painful,” said Rosemary Redmon, who lives in Hawthorne. “It’s a very close community, and we are very proud that we are able to help the country to train our soldiers.”

Miles Wertz rode to the memorial with his fellow members of the Iron Nation motorcycle group to honor the Marines who died.

“It’s just terrible,” he said. “We’re down here to show support for the families and pay tribute to the fallen Marines.”

John Stroud, the junior vice commander in chief of the VFW who also lives in Hawthorne, led the vigil and placed a wreath in the Marines’ honor.

“We’ve got to cooperate with the officials as much as possible to get the investigations done thoroughly and accurately so that hopefully we can prevent these things from happening again,” he said after the ceremony.

The Hawthorne Army Depot was opened in 1930, a few years after a lightning-sparked explosion at New Jersey's Lake Denmark Nacal Ammunition Depot killed more than 20 people and heavily damaged the Picatinny Army Arsenal and surrounding communities as the fires burned for days afterwards.

Remebering Veteran's Day

United States Medal of Honor Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetary in California

I have to be honest, even though I try and keep some of the big holiday posts apolitical, I'm still dour and pessemistic after Tuesday's election results.

I suppose I could go off on what would probably come across as some sort of Grumpy Old Man 'get off of my lawn' rant [despite the fact that I'm actually younger than...say...Cameron Diaz or Grace Park- NANESB!] but as a veteran myself, I think that would be inappropriate on today of all days. First and foremost, today is about those who have served and continue to serve- the second it becomes a blunt insturment to bash politicians people don't particularly like with and nothing else, Veteran's Day or Memorial Day would become meaningless.

For those that despair about the future of the nation, I urge you to step into the wayback machine and head back to late October 2012.

The above image got alot of circulation amongst conservatives and milbloggers at the time. It depcits the Honor Guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia standing guard in the driving rain and went viral on social networks as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast.

However, this image was reportedly taken the day the storm hit- the US Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment has guarded the Tomb continuously since 1948. Should the cemetary close due to bad weather, the Old Guard can keep watch either from under an awning or a nearby enclosed area. The Old Guard's Tomb Sentinels reportedly declined to do either that day.

So even though image of the trio of Old Guard sentries on duty in the driving rain wasn't actually taken during Hurricane Sandy [remember that Sandy was still classified as a hurricane until making landfall in further north in New Jersey- NANESB!] I thought it was still a striking and appropriate visual for Veteran's Day.

I'm in between church, some football watching and attending a Veteran's Day ceremony this afternoon, but I wanted to also take this opportunity to thank both veterans and active-duty military for their service to this country.

It's also worth pointing out that restaurant chains like Applebee's, Friendly's, Golden Corral or TGI Friday's among others will be serving complimentary lunches to veterans and active duty servicemen with valid ID or a DD-214. A more comprehensive list can be seen here.

Pre-Emptive Shennanigans? Military Voters Purged From Rolls in Florida; Aircraft Carrying Absentee Ballots Crashes in Afghanistan

With the 2012 Presidential campaign winding down, a number of incidents concerning active-duty members of the United States Military attempting to vote via absentee ballot have come to light.

According to an October 26th Associated report, a cargo plane crashed while on approach to Shindad Air Force Base in Afghanistan on October 19th. The plane was carrying an estimated 4700 pounds of mail at the time, and military investigators believe that this likely included a number of absentee ballots on board. The plane was reportedly carrying inbound mail and the ballots on board had yet to be filled out. All the mail on board was destined for a single APO Zip code and the plane was a civilian aircraft from a company that had been contracted to fly in supplies and mail to the base.

Over in Florida, active-duty military voters from the Tampa area were startled to learn that they had been purged from the roll of registered voters while they were deployed overseas. Valrico resident and Navy Captain Peter Kehrig, who has been abroad for five years tells 10 News he feels cheated by a system that removed him from the rolls.

Florida State Law requires county supervisor of elections offices to perform regular "maintenance" on its voter rolls to eliminate voters who have been convicted of felonies, moved out of the county, or may have died.

Voters who miss two consecutive general elections (2010 and 2008, for instance) are mailed a letter to their residence warning them they will be removed from the rolls. But since the post office only forwards mail for six months, Kehrig never got it.

Meanwhile, a couple from Palm Beach County, FL but stationed at Camp Lejune in North Carolina said they had yet to recieve their absentee ballot from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. When reached for comment, an official with the Supervisor of elections told a local TV station they were 'working on it' but declined to elaborate.

According to a recent Military Times poll, Republican nominee Mitt Romney enjoyed support from active duty and reservist members of the United States Military by a 66% margin compared to 26% for President Obama.

During the 2000 Presidential Campaign, lawyers for the Gore campaign fought to get absentee ballots from overseas disqualified from the recount as many of them were from soldiers, Marines, sailors and Airmen stationed overseas who had voted in support of Bush.

More recently, elections officials in Illinois and New York state had failed to mail off absentee ballots in time for the 2010 mid-term elections in violation of the 2009 MOVE act.

[Hat tip: Wyatt Earp]

US Ambassador to Libya, 3 Other Americans Murdered in Attack on Consulate in Benghazi

Charred vehicle on the grounds of the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The diplomatic compound was overrun by a mob of roughly 1,000 people before gunmen in the crowd opened fire on the consulate and vehicles with on Tuesday, September 11th

US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens was among four Americans murdered on Tuesday night after a rampaging crowd managed to break in to the grounds of the US Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi. Heavily armed terrorists moving within the crowd then opened fire on the consulate and diplomatic staff with AK47s and rocket-propelled grenades.

The crowd had reportedly paraded around Ambassador Stevens' corpse while taking photos. A local media report quoted a Libyan official in Benghazi said that the ambassador had died of suffocation. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, an avid online gamer, had reportedly left a message a few hours prior to the attack on the Benghazi facility that read ”Assuming we don’t die tonight. We saw one of our ‘police’ that guard the compound taking pictures.”. Smith was also fatally injured in the attack.

A report from CBS earlier on Wednesday quoted an official from Libya's Interior Ministry who claimed that after the consulate's Libyan security detail evacuated the Ambassador and diplomatic staff, some of the security staff had reportedly tipped the crowd off to the Ambassador's new and supposedly secure location.

Wanis al-Sharef, a Libyan Interior Ministry official in Benghazi, said the four Americans were killed when the angry mob, which gathered to protest a U.S.-made film that ridicules Islam's Prophet Muhammad, fired guns and burned down the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

He said Stevens, 52, and other officials were moved to a second building - deemed safer - after the initial wave of protests at the consulate compound. According to al-Sharef, members of the Libyan security team seem to have indicated to the protesters the building to which the American officials had been relocated, and that building then came under attack.

Although the short film had been blamed for inciting angry mobs in both who breached US Diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday, intelligence agencies say the fact that the murders took place on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks it's increasingly likely that the attack was planned well in advance by an Al Qaeda offshoot. Intelligence and media reports indicate that a Libyan jihadist group operating under the name of Ansar Al Sharia is behind the attacks. Stevens was the first US Ambassador to be killed while on assignment since Adolph Dubs- the US Ambassador to Afghanistan- was killed in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan in 1979.

Benghazi is the eastern city that's considered the cradle of the uprising that ultimately toppled Mummar Ghdaffi's 42-year reign in Libya. Ghdaffi's Army was on the cusp of crushing the uprising and seizing Benghazi before the international community intervened in the form of NATO air strikes in February 2011. After months of fighting, Ghdaffi was captured and killed in a pitched battle near his hometown of Sitre. Ambassador Steven's had reportedly worked closely with Libya's transitional council after the Ghdaffi regime fled the capitol at Tripoli. The property was reportedly a temporary location that wasn't as secure as a number of permanent facilities.

The Benghazi assault came just hours after protestors in Egypt breached the walls of the American embassy there and tore down the American flag, replacing it with a black flag with white arabic script used by Al Qaeda.

However, instead of immediately condemning the provocation from the Egyptian crowd, the US Embassy released multiple statements criticising the producers of the movie the protestors were supposedly upset with and a series of tweets that bordered on apologetic. The official US Embassy in Cairo statement reads as follows [empasis mine].

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims - as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

The White House distanced themselves from the Cairo Embassy's statements while Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized the statements coming from the Cairo Embassy as 'an apology for American values' and the Obama Administration's repudiation of the statements as an example of mixed signals the President has been sending to the international community. In Cairo, police and protestors clashed for a second straight night.

A team of about 50 Marines has been dispatched to Tripoli to secure the US Embassy in the Libyan capital while two guided missile destroyers have been deployed off of the coast of Libya.

Pentagon's Inspector General: Nearly Half of Overseas US Military Bases Lack Voting Facilities

An audit by the Pentagon's Inspector General office has discovered that fewer than half of overseas US Military facilities aren't in compliance with the Military & Overseas Voter Empowerment Act- or MOVE Act.

The 2009 Act is supposed to guarantee facilities for members of the Armed Forces and US civilians living overseas which would allow them to register to vote in their home state or vote by absentee ballot. It also requires individual states to send off absentee ballots to servicemen and women stationed overseas in a timely manner.

Officials at the Pentagon had blamed a lack of resources and outdated contractor information for the reported lack of voter facilities.

“We concluded the services had not established all the [voting-assistance offices] as intended by the [MOVE Act] because, among other issues, the funding was not available,” reads the report, published last week but first reported Wednesday.

The report said Congress failed to authorize additional funding to implement the MOVE Act and added that Pentagon officials estimate the costs of establishing the offices could exceed $20 million per year.

But Mr. Eversole said Congress had appropriated $75 million over the past three years for military voter assistance efforts.

“The notion that they didn’t have the money to do this, that’s laughable,” he said.

Barely a year after it was signed into law, a number of states had requested waivers from the Justice Department. The Justice Department ended up filing suit against Illinois and New York state ahead of the 2010 mid-term elections after a number of counties in those states failed to send off absentee ballots to members of the military stationed overseas in a timely manner as required by the MOVE act.

Navajo Code Talker's Association VP Passes Away

Samuel Tso, the vice president of the Navajo Code Talker's Association passed away at the age of 89 this month.

Samuel was born June 22, 1922, at Black Mountain near Many Farms, Ariz., into a poor family. He was Zuni Tachiinii and born for Nakai Dine'e.

As a youth, he helped his family as a sheep herdsman, but also was interested in boxing and pursuing his education.

He attended local schools until going to a nearby boarding school, where the instructors often punished him for speaking his native language.

"Then, the nation called for him to use that same language," said Samuel's son, Ron Tso.

At 17, Samuel enlisted in the United States Marine Corps by claiming he was 21 years old, in order to be eligible for the military. He relocated to Camp Pendleton in Southern California, where he learned to be a code talker.

Samuel watched the original 29 code talkers leave for war while training. He and his unit learned the second version of the code.

"They bounced back between different versions of the code," said Ron.

Samuel loved sharing tales of the code talkers with his family and with audiences nationwide.

One of his favorite stories was when Samuel had reached Iwo Jima, an island that hosted one of the most intense battles between American and Japanese troops.

Samuel's unit reached the island just days before the battle began. While many of his comrades were overcome by fear, Samuel's concern was assuaged by a vision of a Native American maiden who told him he would return home safely.

The next day, a string of juniper beads arrived in the mail in an unaddressed envelope.

"He put [the beads] on and, as a result, he didn't have fear," said Ron.

Samuel returned from the war and went to college to pursue a career as a teacher. He attained a bachelor's degree at Utah State University and a master's degree at Arizona State University before acting as an instructor and involved youth advocate on school boards and committees.

"He advocated for the youth to get their education," said Yvonne Tso, Samuel's daughter.

Sharing the significance of the Navajo language became Samuel's mission up until his final days. His family hopes to honor his legacy by continuing his efforts to build the National Navajo Code Talkers Museum and Veterans Center to be constructed in Window Rock, Ariz.

"When I talked to my dad, I told him I would make his dream a reality," said Yvonne.

The Navajo language was used in the Pacific theater in WWII to confound Japanese codebreakers- throughtout the war, the Japanese were unable to decipher the communications being sent in the Navajo language. So effective were the Code talkers that the program remained classified for another 20 years in the event that a similar cipher program could be used in another armed conflict.

The program was declassified in 1968, and with the program no longer a state secret the Navajo Codel Talker's Association was formed a few years later in the early 1970s. Since then the Navy has even archived the Code Talker's Dictionary online.

Samuel's daughter Yvonne said that he had hoped to live long enough to see the completion of the proposed Navajo Code Talker's Museum and Veteran's Center in Window Rock, AZ completed. Currently, one of the largest exhibits on the Navajo reservation relating to the Code Talkers is presently located at a Burger King run by the son of one of the Code Talkers in Kayenta, AZ.

Donations made on behalf of Samuel Tso for the nascent Code Talker's museum can be made either online at the Code Talker's Association website or by regular mail at P.O. BOX 1266, Window Rock, AZ 86515.

Memorial Day

As I'm sure many of you have gathered by the numerous sales being offered by department stores or car dealers, this is Memorial Day weekend, which marks the unofficial start of summertime.

Of course, today is about so much more than parades, picnics and cookouts. Today is reserved for the men and women of our Armed Forces who never made it back home. If you have a moment, take some time out to buy a poppy from your local VFW post or find a veteran's organization such as the Wounded Warrior Project, the USO or the Navajo Code Talkers Foundation.

It's not often you find gems in the form of anonymous online comments, but this unattributed comment was right on the money- Today honoring veterans is in fashion. It hasn't always been that way. And when it is no longer politically useful it may not be in the future.

With that said, it's incumbent upon every last one of us to make certain that any display of honor or thanks to veterans and their families doesn't go the way of appletinis and MySpace.

Whatever else you have planned, I hope all of you have a safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Sports Chowdah Update- Junior Seau, 1969-2012; Dream Weaver in OC; Caps, Rangers Triple Down; Pierce Soars Against Hawks;

NFL- Former San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots linebacker Junior Seau was found dead in his Oceanside, CA home on Wednesday. Seau was killed by what police believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. According to a statement from Oceanside police chief, Seau's girlfriend called for help after finding him unresponsive shortly after 9:30 AM Pacific time.

Born and raised in Oceanside, Seau attended college at the University of Southern California. After sitting out his freshman year, Seau garnered the attention of pro scouts with his defensive play and he became a first round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers in the 1990 NFL Draft. The locally born and raised Seau became the face of the Chargers franchise throughout the 1990s and made 12 consecutive Pro Bowl appearances and was on the team for San Diego's only Super Bowl appearance- a 26-49 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Superbowl XXIX.

In 2003, Seau was traded from San Diego to the Miami Dolphins and after two season in Miami, Seau announced his retirement before the 2006 NFL season. However, within days, he was coaxed out of retirement by the New England Patriots, appearing in 10 of 11 games with the Pats before breaking his arm in a contest against the Chicago Bears in November of that year. Seau returned to the Patriots the following year, where they went 16-0 in the regular season only to lose at the last minute to the New York Giants by a 14-17 final in Super Bowl XLII. Seau returned to New England for two more seasons before announcing his second retirement  in January 2010.

In a November 2011 ceremony during a Chargers home game against the Broncos, Seau was introduced by Hall of Fame Quarterback Dan Fouts to a sold-out crowd at Qualcomm stadium as the linebacker was named to the Charger's Hall of Fame.

Even before being traded to Miami, Junior Seau opened up a restaurant bearing his name in San Diego's Mission Valley. In 2009, he hosted a TV show on the Versus network called Sports Jobs With Junior Seau which documented such behind-the-scenes jobs in sports such as Indycar pit crew member or pro-golf caddy. In fact, one episode brought Seau to the TD Garden in Boston so camera crews could document the rink from a Bruins game being converted to a hardwood floor for an upcoming Celtics game on the same day.

In 2010, Seau was at the wheel when his SUV plunged off an embankment in Carlsbad, CA. He was later treated and released from a La Jolla, CA hospital. The accident came less than a day after Seau was arrested and released by Oceanside police for domestic battery charges.

MLB- As woeful a start as the Red Sox got off to in April, they seemed absolutely scorching compared to the Angels, who made perhaps the biggest off season free agent signing in Albert Pujols when he left St Louis for Orange County.

But the Angels made headlines on Wednesday night for reasons other than their shitty start after starting pitcher Jared Weaver threw a no-hitter against the Minnesota Twins at Angels Stadium. Weaver threw 121 pitches, struck out nine and walked just one in the Angel's 9-0 win. Aside from the one walk, the only runner to reach base for Minnesota was 1B Chris Parmalee, who broke for first after a passed ball on strike three by Angels catcher Chris Ianetta.

In the top of the 8th inning, Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe came tantalizingly close to going yard before the ball hooked foul past the left field pole by a few feet.

This is the 10th no-hitter in the history of the Angels franchise and the second for the club in less than a year. On June 27 2011, Ervin Santana threw a no-no against the Cleveland Indians at Jabobs Field.

RED SOX- After an impressive 6-1 road trip through the Midwest- including an impressive 1-0 pitchers duel between Jon Lester and Jake Peavy on Chicago's South Side on Saturday- the Red Sox returned to Fenway on Monday to rout the Oakland A's by a 11-6 final.

However, after falling behind on Tuesday night, a late Boston rally fell short and the Red Sox were hung with the 5-3 loss while on Wednesday night, Oakland's Brandon McCarthy gave up only one run in 6⅔ innings in Boston's 4-2 home loss.

With Thursday off, the Red Sox will face the Baltimore Orioles who have won four out of their last five games. This will be the first regular season meeting between Baltimore and Boston since the O's ended the Red Sox season on September 28, 2011 with a walk-off Robert Andino RBI single against Jonathan Papelbon at Camden Yards. Wei Yin Chen [2-0; 2.22 ERA] goes to the mound for the O's against Jon Lester [1-2; 4.65 ERA] on Friday night at Fenway.First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- 3B Kevin Youkilis has been placed on the 15 day DL with what's been described as a sore lower back. The Red Sox have called up 3B Will Middlebrook and Clay Mortenson from AAA Pawtucket. Middlebrook is batting .358 with 9 homers and 27 RBI in 81 plate appearances in the International League this season.

Mortenson, who was part of the January trade that dealt Marco Scutaro to Colorado, has a 0.90 ERA batting average while with Pawtucket.

Meanwhile in AA Portland, Daisuke Matsuzaka went 4 and ⅔ innings in a rehab start for the Portland Sea Dogs, allowing 3 hits and one earned run. Matsuzaka's next scheduled start is set to take place on Monday night at McCoy stadium in Pawtucket when the PawSox host the Rochester Red Wings.

EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS- Items from Ted Williams' baseball and military career went up for auction at Fenway Park over the weekend. Some of the items included a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth for Ted Williams ($195,000), Williams' bat from the 1960 All Star Game ($81,000), Williams' Hall of Fame Ring ($109,000) and his 1949 American League MVP plaque ($299,000).

New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees participated in the auction via telephone, purchasing Williams' flight logbooks from when he served as an aviator in WWII and the Korean War for $35,600. Brees said he intends to loan the items to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

NBA- A strong defensive 4th quarter proved to be the difference maker for the Celtics on Tuesday night as they held that Hawks to 14 points in the 4th quarter at downtown Atlanta's Phillips Arena.

With Rajon Rodno suspended for one game after bumping an NBA official, Paul Pierce basically torched the arena with 36 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists in Boston's 87-80 win over Atlanta. This includes going 11 for 13 from the free throw line.

Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 12 rebounds while Avery Bradley had 14 points in Game 2. The series head to the Garden and Rondo returns to the hardwood for Game 3, which is set to take place on Friday night and will be televised on ESPN. The series, which is tied at 1-1, will resume at 7:30 PM Friday Night.

NHL- Marian Gaborik broke a 1-1 deadlock between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers in the 3rd OT of Game 3 in the Eastern Conference semifinals to take a 2-1 series lead. The Rangers converted on one of only four power play opportunities while Washington went 0-3. New York netminder Henrik Lunqvist turned aside 45 of 46 shots faced while Braden Holtby made 47 saves on 49 shots faced. The series between those two teams resumes on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 ET. The Rangers currently hold a 2-1 series lead.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Wednesday, Nashville shut out the Phoenix Coyotes by a 2-0 final for their first win in the Western Conference Semis.

On Thursday night, Philadelphia and New Jersey will resume their series which is knotted at 1-1 will get underway from the Prudential Center in Newark while Los Angeles and St Louis heads to the Staples Center with the Kings holding a 2-0 lead over the Blues.

Tea Party Marine Discharged From Corps For Facebook Posts Critical of President Obama

The United States Marine Corps has announced the discharge of a Marine sargeant who posted several messages on his Facebook account critical of President Obama. The discharge also carries with it an automatic demotion to lance corporal- or the E-3 paygrade.

Sgt Gary Stein, 26, a Temecula resident, ran afoul of Marine Corps and Pentagon regulations restricting troop political activity by calling for Obama's ouster and making statements that the president was the "enemy" and that he would not follow his orders unless he considered them lawful.

Stein, who could not be reached for immediate comment, was informed of the decision Wednesday morning, according to one of his attorneys, Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation.

"He is very disappointed," Kreep said. "His grandmother died last night and then this hit him."

Stein will now fight for reinstatement through Marine Corps legal channels and continue pressing a court case, Kreep said. Earlier this month, he unsuccessfully sought to persuade a federal court to issue a restraining order or preliminary injunction to stop the separation.

In a statement issued late Wednesday morning, the Marine Corps said Yoo had reviewed the findings of a separation board that unanimously recommended earlier this month that Stein be kicked out after nine years of service.

"The Commanding General found that the board was conducted in accordance with law and regulation, that the findings of misconduct were supported by the evidence of record, and thus has approved the board's recommendation that Sgt Stein be separated from the Marine Corps with an "other than honorable" discharge," the Marine Corps statement said.

A Marine separated as a result of adverse conduct can receive an other than honorable characterization of discharge if the basis for separation is the commission of a serious offense which is a "significant departure from the conduct expected of a Marine."

Stein was also a member of the Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots- the offending commentary was reportedly left on the groups Facebook page.

According to court documents, Stein posted "'Obama is the economic enemy ... He is the religious enemy ... he is the 'Fundamentally change' America enemy ... he IS the Domestic Enemy" in one Facebook update. Stein's critcisms of President Obama would be perfectly legal under the First Amendment in the civilian world, his statements wouldn't neccesarily enjoy the same protections under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Although I think that Stein's comments should call for some sort of disciplinary action [short of discharge- NANESB!], one has to wonder why the Pentagon wasn't keeping as close an eye on the Facebook page of- oh, I dunno...let's say Bradley Manning as the were Sgt. Gary Stein.

Navajo Code Talkers Association President Passes Away at Age 87

World War II vet and Navajo Code Talker's Association President Keith Little passed away in a northeastern Arizona hospital at the age of 87 this week.

Little joined the Marines at 17. He was among hundreds of Navajos recruited by the U.S. Marine Corps and trained as Code Talkers, who used a code that was developed by 29 Navajos and based on the Navajo language. Code Talkers used the code to confound the Japanese and help win World War II.

"My motivation was to fight the enemy with a gun or whatever," Little told the Associated Press in a July 2009 interview. "When I went into the Marine Corps ... I knew nothing about the Navajo code. It was really astonishing to me to get to Camp Pendleton and there were a bunch of Navajos there, and they were working with a Navajo code."

Due to deteriorating health, Little had been in and out of hospitals over the last year, but still managed to appear in a number of parades and speaking engagements. Little had travelled throughout the country lobbying for a museum outside of Window Rock, AZ that would archive the Code Talker's story for future generations as well as house WWI militaria. Little was apparently hoping that the museum would be open by 2014, but more funds would be needed in order for that to happen.

Tribal president Ben Shelly called for flags to be flown at half staff for the rest of the week. The funeral service was held in Window Rock, AZ and Little was buried at a family plot in Crystal, NM on Saturday.

In leiu of flowers, Little's family is asking that donations be made in his honor to the Navajo Code Talker's Museum online or by mail via NCTF Museum Donation, PO Box 1266, Window Rock, AZ 86515.

Obama Announces Drastic Cuts in US Defense Spending

I'm not the least bit surprised by this, yet I'm still angry.

With his vapid, fawning, brain dead followers in the media and punditocracy class more than willing to give President Obama sole credit for the heavy lifting done by the United States military (particularly the May 2011 raid where Osama Bin Laden was killed in his Pakistani hideout), you'd think that Obama would be reluctant to make any significant cuts to the armed forces or at least hold off until after the 2012 campaign.

You would be wrong.

At a press conference at the Pentagon on Thursday, President Obama unveiled an austere and 'more realistic' vision for the Military that would purportedly develop air and sea power while cutting back tens of thousands of ground troops.

Though specific budget cut and troop reduction figures are not set to be announced on Thursday, officials confirmed to Reuters they would amount to a 10-15 percent decline in Army and Marine Corps numbers over the next decade, translating to tens of thousands of troops.

"As Libya showed, you don't necessarily have to have boots on the ground all the time," an official said, explaining the White House view.

"We are refining our strategy to something that is more realistic," the official added.

Unsurprisingly, Administration officials touted the recent 'success' of Ghdaffi's ouster in Libya as a template for 'winning' a conflict without extensive ground forces even though other NATO nations and the Libyan rebels did the lion's share of the work [apparently this 'victory' includes replacing a dictator with lawless roving bands of gunmen who arbitrarily detain black men and promise to chase the few remaining Jews out of the country- NANESB!].

Obama has moved to curtail U.S. ground commitments overseas, ending the war in Iraq, drawing down troops in Afghanistan and ruling out anything but air power and intelligence support for rebels who overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

So with China's ongoing military buildup, the ascendancy of Kim Jong Un in a belligerent North Korea and Iran's nuclear program and recent saber rattling, the Obama Administration decided the FIRST place they needed to make cuts was with the Defense budget. The subsidies, loans and grants to all sorts of dubious 'Green Jobs' and Solar ventures were apparently too important to the future of this great Republic.

Unsurprisingly, since this Administration took office, the United States military has become an unwitting test bed for all sorts of social engineering and 'green energy' boondoggles at the behest of the ruling Democrats.

That's when this Administration isn't contemplating releasing top-ranking Taliban detainees from custody or referring to Major Hasan's jihad-inspired Fort Hood killing spree as 'workplace violence'.

I vividly remember Obama's flip "You guys make a pretty good photo-op" comment while addressing servicemen at an air base in South Korea. It will be interesting to see if his campaign will try and incorporate any imagery of Obama meeting with uniformed military personnel, since it looks as though he no longer sees the need even have them around as a photo op.

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

Perhaps its just me, but there seems to be a much more profound and marked sense of loss between Veteran's Day (or Rememberance Day for those of you in Canada) last year and this year's fairly easy to remember 11/11/11.

Aside from the fairly recent loss of a WWII veteran in our own family, it seems as though we aren't aware of figures such as America's last WWI veteran or one of the remaining Navajo code talkers until they've left us. Even though more famous individuals such as Family Circus cartoonist Bill Keane and Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller served honorably in our nation's armed forces, that only seems to be highlighted in their obituaries.

And that's not even including the veterans of more recent conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan, who are currently facing an inexplicably higher unemployment rate than the civilian population. I'm not quite sure what to make of that either, since you'd assume that recently discharged veterans would have a certain amount of training, experience in much more stressful situations and leadership skills that potential employers would find desirable.

While the Senate recently passed legislation that would provide tax credits for companies that hired recently discharged veterans, I don't see how it would do much good until the economy in general improves.

While this humble blogger did serve in the United States Army, this was in the epoch before pixellated camouflage, velcro nametags or unit patches and Stryker brigades. In fact, since my honorable discharge, my former division has moved on the bigger and much more audacious things.

For those of you that have served, I can only offer my sincere gratitude and appreciation.

Thanks you and may God bless America.

August 14- Navajo Code Talkers Day

Navajo Code Talker Joe Morris Sr in 2007 photo

Twenty nine years ago yesterday, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation that August 14 be known as Navajo Code Talkers Day. This was among the first official acts of recognition since the program was declassified in 1968.

"Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate August 14, 1982, as National Navaho Code Talkers Day, a day dedicated to all members of the Navaho Nation and to all Native Americans who gave of their special talents and their lives so that others might live. I ask the American people to join me in this tribute, and I call upon Federal, State and local officials to commemorate this day with appropriate activities."

[Sorry I'm a day behind with this, by the way- NANESB!]

At the outbreak of WWII, it was believed that there were no more than 30 non-Navajo people in the world familiar with the language- none of them Japanese.

Sensing an opportunity to confound Japanese eavesdroppers, in 1942 Marine Corps brass began gathering and training Navajo recruits to create and communicate a code in their native Navajo tongue. Throughout the war, Imperial Japanese military cryptographers were never able to decipher the Navajo's code. However, after the war, the program remained secret and the departing Navajo recruits were sworn to secrecy until the Code Talker project was declassified in 1968.

The Code Talkers participated in nearly every Marine assault in the pacific theater between 1942 and 1945. To this day, the Navajo Code Talkers proved to be the most effective known means of encrypted communication in modern warfare.

On Sunday, July 17th Code Talker Joe Morris Sr passed away at age 85 from complications due to a stroke at the VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, CA.

Morris had just turned 17 and was working in an Arizona mine when he was drafted in 1943. He credited a Navajo medicine man that also worked in the mine with keeping him safe throughout the war, saying that the shaman prayed a day and a half for his safety. After the war, Morris married and settled in Dagget, CA where he had a civilian job with a Marine supply center until he retired in 1984.

Joe Morris Sr is survived by his wife of 61 years, two sons, a daughter, three brothers and three grandchildren.

Not Another New England Sports Blog! Wishes You a Happy Memorial Day Weekend

(Steve Breen- San Diego Union-Tribune)

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everybody a good and safe Memorial Day weekend from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Some of the more astute observers of this blog might recognize the above image as the same one I had up for Memorial Day weekend last year. Although I'll cop to being a fairly lazy individual, it wasn't laziness that prompted me to post the same image for a 2nd year in a row. I thought it was a well done piece by editorial cartoonist Steve Breen of the San Diego Union-Tribune and I figured I'd like to share it with some of the newer visitors to this blog who may not have had a chance to see it before.

If you're a veteran such as myself or just a big supporter of the troops in general, I thought I'd leave you with a couple of links to some veterans and supports organizations for your perusal.

Wounded Warrior Project

Operation Homefront

Home Base Program

Semper Fi Fund

SUDS- Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba

Project Healing Waters

Happy Armed Forces Day from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Just a quick reminder that today is in fact Armed Forces Day here in the USA. And as demonstrated in Abbotabad earlier this month, they are pretty awesome- aren't they?

9 Americans Killed After Afghan Air Force Officer Opens Fire at Kabul Airport

A veteran officer in Afghanistan's Air Force opened fire on American and Afghan troops during a meeting at Kabul's airport on Wednesday, killing 8 US troops and an American contractor.

The Afghan officer, who was a veteran military pilot, fired on the Americans after an argument, the Afghan Defense Ministry said.

All nine killed were American, according to a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been made public.

The shooting occurred in an operations room of the Afghan Air Corps at Kabul airport.

"Suddenly, in the middle of the meeting, shooting started," said Afghan Air Corps spokesman Col. Bahader, who uses only one name. "After the shooting started, we saw a number of Afghan army officers and soldiers running out of the building. Some were even throwing themselves out of the windows to get away."

It was the seventh time so far this year that members of the Afghan security forces, or insurgents impersonating them, have killed coalition soldiers or members of the Afghan security forces.

Before the airport shooting, the coalition had recorded 20 incidents since March 2009 where a member of the Afghan security forces or someone wearing a uniform used by them attacked coalition forces, killing a total of 36. It is not known how many of the 282,000 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in these type of incidents.

Storm Spawns Deadly Weekend Tornadoes Tearing Through North Carolina

At least 22 people were killed and another 130 seriously injured over the weekend when tornadoes tore through at least 20 counties across the state.

The fatalities occurred in Wake, Johnston, Cumberland, Harnett, Lee, Bertie and Bladen counties, said Julia Jarema, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

The worst-hit area appears to be Bertie County, where authorities say 11 people are dead. About 75 people were going from door-to-door looking for victims and survivors Sunday.

Several of the dead were all from one family, Bertie County Manager Zee Lamb said.

"It's very devastating. These kinds of fatalities are not something we're used to," he said.

Some people survived even as their homes were torn apart around them, he said.

"There were several cases of houses being totally demolished except for one room, and that's where the people were," Lamb said. "They survived."

The US Army's Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, NC and USMC's Camp Lejeune outside of Jacksonville, NC lost power and had structures damaged in the storms. Although there were no reports of injuries or fatalities, Fort Bragg was closed off to non-essential personnel for the remainder of the weekend as utility crews worked to restore power and clear fallen trees and debris. Some 70 miles to the east a tornado struck a USMC family housing area in Camp Lejeune. There were no reports of fatalities, but Marines pulled a 23 month old boy from the rubble of one home. He was life-flighted to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, NC with fractured ribs, a cracked pelvis, broken femur and collapsed lung.

Sgt. Jarred Boone, Lance Cpl. Thomas Dickerson, and Sgt. Greg Shafer said they had run to the aid of a screaming woman while the tornado winds continued to blow. Clearly injured herself, with cuts on her face and a tooth puncturing her lip, the woman told them she couldn’t find her baby. The Marines began to root through a home that had been reduced to boards, finally lifting a wall to find the toddler underneath.

“The baby was blue,” Shafer said. “I lifted that wall up, and we brought him in the back door of (Dickerson’s house) and laid him on the floor.”

The men said one of the other heroes of the day had been a Navy medical officer who appeared seemingly from nowhere, administered CPR and kept the baby alive until officials from the appear Provost Marshal’s Office could arrive.

The man, Lt. J.G. Jonathan Hamrick, a Navy critical care nurse, told The Daily News via email he lived in a home nearby and had operated on adrenaline, rushing to the aid of the distraught mother.

Although Hurricanes are a common hazard in the Carolinas and smaller tornadoes aren't completely unheard of, it's unusual for a storm to spawn this many funnels outside of tornado alley in the midwest.

Possible Jihadi Probe of California Marine Base?

Officials with the United States Marine Corps said they have stepped up security procedures after a suspicious incident involving three Middle Eastern men took place at Camp Pendleton just north of San Diego last weekend.

SAN DIEGO -- One of the nation's largest military bases is reportedly under tighter security after three Middle Eastern men tried to enter without proper authorization. 10News learned the three men -- 40-year-old Afghani Ahmad Rahmani Naeem, 41-year-old Iranian Vahik Petrossian and 27-year-old Iranian Sengekdi Norvik Avanosian -- attempted to get into Camp Pendleton last weekend under what was considered suspicious circumstances.

According to a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) alert issued to high-ranking Camp Pendleton officials, someone reported hearing hateful comments and terrorist threats from three men at a gas station in Oceanside Saturday.

Investigators at Camp Pendleton said the men asked the attendant for directions on how to get to Camp Pendleton before they left the gas station. According to the alert, shortly after midnight Sunday, a rented silver Toyota Corolla driven by Naeem attempted to enter Camp Pendleton through the main gate.

As it was being searched, Petrossian and Avanosian drove up in a black Mercedes, but were told to wait. Instead, they continued past the gate and onto the base. Following a short pursuit, the Mercedes was stopped and searched. No weapons or contraband were found in the Mercedes, but base security noticed the air bag in the steering wheel of the Mercedes had been pulled out and re-attached with duct tape and had wires hanging free, the alert said.

According to the alert, Naaem told base security he was lost and was trying to go to Glendale. When interviewed, Petrossian and Avanosian said they were lost and trying to go to Glendale.

The three men claimed not to know each other, the alert said. Naaem, Petrossian and Avanosian were photographed and released after questioning, and a warning about the trio was posted to law enforcement. However, later that morning about 8:30 a.m., Naeem returned in the Toyota and tried to get on the base again, saying he made a mistake and was trying to enter Interstate 5, the alert said. After his vehicle was searched, Naeem was issued a letter of debarment from the base and escorted to the freeway.

[Petrossian and Avanosnian may very well be Armenian surnames, but keep in mind there is a sizable ethnic Armenian population in the northwestern corner of Iran around Tabriz, not to mention the two men could just as easily be travelling under an alias- NANESB!]

Investigators at Camp Pendleton also said that a criminal background check on the three men turned up nothing. At a cursory glance, this would appear to be some sort of probe to gauge the security at Camp Pendleton (however poorly executed)- one vehicle to distract/occupy the guards while the second one would make their move on targets further into the base.

The incident comes a little over a week after the US Border Patrol arrested a van full of illegal immigrants who were wearing Marine uniforms. A Border Patrol agent who had previously served with the USMC grew suspicious while working at a checkpoint outside of Pine Valley, CA (some 40 miles east of San Diego) when the van full of men were unfamiliar with the Marine Corps' 'Ooo-Rah!' salutation or the Marine Corps birthday.

Also worth mentioning is that about 15 miles north of Camp Pendleton is Edison International's [NYSE: EIX] San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, so there would be an abundance of potential targets out there for anybody interested in causing mayhem.

[Hat tip: The Jawa Report]

Libyan 'Kinetic Military Action' Update, Now with Kung Fu Grip!- Downed US Pilots Rescued by Marines; Ghdaffi Arming 'Volunteers'

We're bombing a new Muslim dictator with a smaller coalition and no Congressional approval. This is, indeed, change we can believe in.
- Jim Geraghty, National Review

You thought this was a war with Libya? Don't be silly! It's a 'kinetic military action'. Then again, one man's 'kinetic military action' is another man's 'man caused disaster'.

BENGHAZI: Two Aviano, Italy-based U.S. Air Force Pilots were uninjured after their F15E crashed in rebel held territory outside of Benghazi earlier this week. Within a half hour, Marines on the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge deployed two Harriers, two CH53E Super Stallion helicopters and two V22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (pictured above) to rescue the downed pilots in what the USMC called a 'tactical recovery of personnel'. At least one of the pilots had reportedly made contact with some of the Libyan rebels before the Marines showed up.

The cause of the crash is thought to be a malfunction, as the F15E was reportedly well beyond the range of ground fire. The two pilots, who's names haven't been disclosed, are undergoing evaluation in Germany.

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffy is said to be distributing arms to 'volunteers' in the capital city of Tripoli, according to a Pentagon report.

"We've received reports today that he has taken to arming what he calls volunteers to fight the opposition," Vice Admiral William Gortney said on Friday.

"I'm not sure... if they are truly volunteers or not and I don't know how many of these recruits he's going to get, but I find it interesting that he may now feel it necessary to seek civilian reinforcements."

Advertisement: Story continues below The official said Gaddafi "has virtually no air defence left to him and a diminishing ability to command and sustain his forces on the ground" following seven days of coalition air raids.

"His air force cannot fly, his warships are staying in port, his ammunition stores are being destroyed, communications towers are being toppled, his command bunkers rendered useless," Gortney said.

ELSEWHERE : Call it a coalition of the unwilling, I guess. NATO has tentatively agreed to take over part of the multinational operations against Libya, but attacks on ground targets will continue to fall under the command of the USA- which has indiacted it eagerness to relinquish that role.

Meanwhile, rebels in Eastern Libya have appeared to borrow a page from Ghdaffi's playbook, arbitrarily detaining and interrogating suspected Ghdaffi loyalists.

For a month, gangs of young gunmen have roamed the city, rousting Libyan blacks and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa from their homes and holding them for interrogation as suspected mercenaries or government spies.

Over the last several days, the opposition has begun rounding up men accused of fighting as mercenaries for Kadafi's militias as government forces pushed toward Benghazi. It has launched nightly manhunts for about 8,000 people named as government operatives in secret police files seized after internal security operatives fled in the face of the rebellion that ended Kadafi's control of eastern Libya last month.

"We know who they are," said Abdelhafed Ghoga, the chief opposition spokesman. He called them "people with bloodstained hands" and "enemies of the revolution."

Any suspected Kadafi loyalist or spy who does not surrender, Ghoga warned, will face revolutionary "justice."

The roundup by the Libyan rebels seems to primarily target black immigrants in Libya, as there were reports of the Libyan dictator hiring black, french-speaking mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa to crush the protests and uprising that began several weeks ago.

However, long before the uprising many West Africans had also found work in Libya as construction workers and day laborers.

Maryland Man Arrested in Attempt to Bomb Recruiting Center

Federal authorities alleged that a recent convert to Islam attempted to blow up a military recruiting station in Catonsville, MD in what turned out to be an FBI sting operation.

Federal authorities said Antonio Martinez, a recent convert to Islam who called himself Muhammad Hussain, watched videos of Osama bin Laden and mused about "dying for the cause" by joining militant forces overseas.

Unable to afford to travel to Pakistan or Afghanistan, Martinez instead proposed hitting local military installations to send a message. Officials say those plans culminated when he parked an SUV equipped with a dummy bomb in a suburban parking lot not far from his home.

Martinez was described by authorities as a 'lone wolf' with no known ties to terrorist groups.

The Wednesday arrest comes only a few weeks after a Somali immigrant attempted to blow up a van parked near a crowd gathered for a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Oregon in a similar sting.