The World's Strangest Combat out Post.

“Their lives are very hard... but they are Marines. They are used to that kind of thing,” said the retired general

via the Philippine Star.

A handful of Marines living on a World War II-era ship that is grounded on a remote, tiny reef is the  Philippines’ last line of defense against China’s efforts to control most of the South China Sea.  The soldiers are stationed on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands aboard a former US tanklanding vessel that was deliberately abandoned there to serve as a base, according to their former
commander, Juancho Sabban.  “Their lives are very hard... but they are Marines. They are used to that kind of thing,” said the retired  general, former head of military forces in the western Philippines that  has jurisdiction over the area.
“There is no ground, they live on a grounded ship. They depend only on supplies that are delivered to  them on logistics runs.”
The shoal and the lives of the troops guarding it were thrust into the global spotlight this week after the  Philippines said a Chinese warship was “illegally and provocatively” circling the area.  It was the latest in a series of aggressive steps by China in recent years to assert its claim over the  South China Sea that have rattled the Philippines,  with others including the Chinese occupation of another Filipino-claimed shoal.  China says it has sovereign rights over nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters far away from its  main landmass and approaching the coasts of Southeast Asian countries.  The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the sea, and the area has for  decades been regarded as a potential trigger for major military conflict in the region.  Dozens of Vietnamese soldiers died in losing battles in 1974 and 1988 with Chinese forces for control of  islands in the sea, which are believed to sit  atop reserves of oil and gas worth billions of dollars  The Spratlys archipelago, which has hundreds of islands, reefs and atolls, is one of the most hotly  contested areas of the sea.  All claimants, except Brunei, station troops on various sized islands and atolls in the Spratlys to back their  claims.  The Philippines occupies nine of the Spratlys, including Thitu island, the second-largest in the area.  Second Thomas Shoal is a tiny group of islets and reefs about 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of  the Philippine island of Palawan, the nearest major landmass.  Resupply ships take between 36 and 40 hours to reach it, depending on the weather.  Eugenio Bito-onon, mayor of the region that oversees the Philippine-held Spratlys, described the shoal as  an eight-kilometer-long, oblong-shaped coral reef that barely rises above the water.  “It sinks at high tide,” Bito-onon told AFP.  The BRP Sierra Madre, a 100-meter (328-foot) amphibious vessel built for the United States in 1944 and  acquired by the Filipino navy in 1976, was  deliberately grounded in the late 1990s to shelter the garrison, according to Bito-onon.  He said each of the Philippine-held islands was manned by “at most” a dozen Marines or navy personnel.  Neither Sabban nor defense department spokesman Peter Galvez would confirm to AFP the troops’ exact numbers, nor their weaponry.  However, Galvez said the grounded vessel produces its own electricity generated from its fuel-powered  engine, giving the shoal garrison access to indoor entertainment, including movies and video games.  “It’s still a functioning ship. It’s just considered a ship in distress,” Galvez told AFP.

Crazy cool.