24th MEU at Eager Lion 12. Straight Grunt Work.

Photos by Lance Cpl. Tucker Wolf

Blast from the Past. The Story of Naval Aviation (1954)

Take the time to watch the entire video.  Well worth it.

BRV-O finally unvieled.

The BRV-O is finally being unvieled.

Its been visible for a while now but I guess this is its "official" grand opening.  I like its looks and wonder if this just isn't a product improved HUMVEE.  If it is and if it has a price point that's attractive then the Marine Corps needs to jump on it or something like it with two feet.  Of all the modern armored vehicle programs this one makes the least sense.

There isn't the money and there isn't the need.  

If we run into another IED saturated area then we bring MRAPs out of storage.  'nuff said.

via PRNEWS.

LIVONIA, Mich., May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AM General LLC will exhibit its Blast-Resistant Vehicle – Off Road (BRV-O) for the first time at the Defense Industrial Base Expo of the National Defense Industrial Association in Warren on May 15-16. 

AM General, whose Engineering and Product Development Center is based in Livonia, announced in March it is backing two separate proposals for the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) phase of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.  BRV-O is based on more than a decade of the company's own investments in research, development and testing for the next-generation light tactical military vehicle. 

BRV-O features a crew capsule and modular armor already proven effective in government-supervised blast testing.  This AM General design can be readily adapted to future changes in U.S. military missions, enemy threats and new protection technologies as they emerge.  BRV-O also features a self-leveling suspension system, a C4ISR backbone with open-standard networked architecture and clustered super-computing power, and other advanced components.   These and other mature subsystems make BRV-O a highly mobile and versatile platform that meets or exceeds 100 percent of JLTV EMD phase evaluation criteria including protection, performance, payload, transportability, reliability and affordability. 

The lightweight, fuel efficient and high performance Optimizer 3200 engine powering BRV-O also will be exhibited at the expo, along with other products of General Engine Products and General Transmission Products, subsidiaries of AM General.  The six-cylinder, 3.2 liter, sequentially-turbocharged engine is rated at 300 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque.  GEP will also introduce its proposed solution for the Next Generation Combat Engine based on Optimizer 3200 technology.

Brit Junglies support youth activities.

via Royal Navy News.

Naval aviators flew scores of missions over Dartmoor at the weekend to support a massive outdoor challenge involving over 2,000 young people.
Sea Kings and Lynx transported food, equipment, people and even a few injured youngsters, as they helped out at the annual Ten Tors challenge.

and...

Helicopters from Yeovilton provided support throughout the weekend with a Lynx Mk 8 from 815 Naval Air Squadron and two Sea King Jungly Commando Helicopter Force aircraft from 848 Naval Air Squadron – including one painted in the force’s famous green and white stripes.
Over the busy weekend the helicopters lifted more than 50 under-slung loads to the tors, resupplying items from jerrycans of water and rations to radio equipment and safety stores.
They helicopters also lifted over 500 people to remote outcrops on the moor, reaching the most inaccessible corners, many miles from roads or the rough tracks which criss-cross the landscape.

There were also more than 40 minor casualties airlifted off the moor, either back to the base camp at Okehampton or straight to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. All the casualties have since left hospital and return with their starting teams.
“We train and fly over Dartmoor quite a lot, and it can produce some really awful weather. Ten Tors gives us an ideal chance to train with real people in real situations,” said Cdr Richard Sutton – 848 NAS’ Commanding Officer and also one of the pilots for the Ten Tors.
Brigadier Piers Hankinson, Commanding Officer of 43 Wessex Brigade who runs the event, said: “It is tough for them. The routes are arduous and they have to carry everything they will need with them. To complete Ten Tors takes considerable determination and commitment.”

This is pretty awesome.

In my way of thinking this would be similar to the US Navy and Marines supporting a Boy Scout Jamboree.

Love it.

NCIS investigating/prosecuting widescale theft of rifles/night vision devices.

Geez.  Wide scale theft of govt. property to include rifles and night vision devices.

Check out this tale of woe.

LINDELL KAY and MIKE MCHUGH - DAILY NEWS STAFF

A wide-reaching investigation by military and civilian authorities has uncovered a criminal conspiracy within the Armed Forces to steal and sell nearly $2 million in guns and combat gear to gangs in the U.S. and foreign countries including China, military officials have confirmed.

The probe began more than a year and a half ago when agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service began to conduct undercover operations to disrupt and reduce the theft, transfer, sale and possession of stolen U.S. Government property. With the aid of Marine and Naval authorities, NCIS has recovered $1.8 million in stolen guns and combat gear to include assault rifles, night-vision goggles, flashlights and other items, military officials said.

Those involved are accused of stealing, over-ordering or otherwise obtaining equipment and selling guns locally and other gear over the Internet to people in foreign countries including China and Russia, officials said.
Those involved in the criminal enterprise did so for a multitude of reasons including but not exclusive to human greed and the ease by which the material could be pilfered, according to a government official familiar with the operation.
“We’re talking about sophisticated, hi-tech flashlights that cost the government up to $800 per unit. The temptation and ease with which to steal and sell them, for some, is irresistible,” the official said.
The commanders from Camp Lejeune and II Marine Expeditionary Force have been working closely with NCIS during the investigation, said Nat Fahy, deputy director of public relations for Marine Corps Installations East.

With cooperation from Marine and Navy officials, NCIS has been able to conduct 66 investigations involving 47 active duty Marines and sailors to include enlisted and high-ranking officers and 21 civilians who are now in various stages of prosecution.

NCIS agents identified stolen property from the Army and Air Force which launched numerous investigations involving soldiers and airmen, military officials confirmed.

The ever-widening probe now includes the FBI; Homeland Security; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Defense Logistics Agency; Defense Criminal Investigative Service, N.C. State Bureau of Investigations, and several local agencies including the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office and the Jacksonville Police Department.

In email correspondence about the operation, a NCIS spokesman told The Daily News more information would be forthcoming. Agents were tying up loose ends in some of the cases before releasing details, said Ed Buice, public affairs officer for NCIS in Quantico, Va.
A handful of those arrested in the sweeping operation have already been court martialed.

A sergeant with Marine Corps Special Operations Command was found guilty of stealing and reselling military property, said MarSOC spokesman Maj. Jeff Landis.

Sgt. Daniel Adam Reich, a former member of 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion, was convicted of four separate counts: Article 80 for attempt to sell military property of a value more than $500; Article 81 for participating in a conspiracy; Article 108 for selling military property of a value more than $500; and Article 134 for wrongfully receiving military property of a value more than $500.

Reich was sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, reduction in grade to private, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, a $2,500 fine and confinement for 40 months.

Reich’s charges are indicative of those involved, officials confirmed.

Contact Daily News Senior Reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456 or lkay@freedomenc.com. Read his crime blog, "Off the Cuff," at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com. Follow him on Twitter and friend him on Facebook @ 1lindell.

This ain't a MARSOC story.

This ain't a NCIS or any other law enforcement agency story.

This is a Marine Corps story.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH MY MARINE CORPS?

African Partnership Station 12 Marines conduct unit certification exercise.

Photos by Staff Sgt. Jemssy Alvarez

  This evolution was designed to refresh both the Marines and sailors of Security Cooperation Task Force Africa Partnership Station 12 on the embarkation procedures in support of contingency missions APS-12 may face on their upcoming deployment to Africa.

Scout SV family of vehicles.

Once a Marine...Always a Marine.