New York Times – A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.
more…

Ohio News Network – Reports surfacing about the death of 20 Brook Park Marine reservists indicate that the Marines may have been betrayed.
more…

WKYT – An eastern Kentucky soldier became known as the Marlboro Man after his picture was featured in newspapers and on TV stations across the country???he has since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
more…

Marine Corps Gazette – The Marines contributation to Operation Anaconda.

more…

Leatherneck – Noncommissioned officers are up-front leaders, so who better to provide lessons for improving combat capabilities and tactics.

more…

Associated Press – A look at how post traumatic stress disorder has made one ex-Marine extremely controversial.
more…

New York Times – With the Marines in Anbar Province, attempting to implement the inkblot strategy???
more…

Christian Science Monitor – An interesting look at how the Marines feel about the media’s coverage of the war in Iraq.
more…

New York Times – On a Marine sweep through Husayba and neighboring Euphrates River towns near the Syrian border.
more…

Marine Corps Gazette – 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) embedded explosive ordnance disposal in every aspect of their Marine air-ground task force operations.

more…

Washington Post – US Marines broadened their offensive in western Iraq on Monday, launching a major attack on insurgent positions in the town of Ubaydi near the Syrian border and killing about 50 insurgents in precision airstrikes and house-to-house street fighting
more…

CNN – A street-level look at fighting in Husayba.
more…

New York Times – Thousands of American and Iraqi troops laid siege on Saturday to this town near the Syrian border in one of the largest military assaults since American-led forces stormed the guerrilla stronghold of Falluja last year.
more…

Virginian Pilot – Recognizing a growing need for sailors trained in close combat and security, the Navy has realigned and plans to expand its land-based forces under a single command.
more…

Copley News Service – When the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force resumes responsibility for volatile Anbar province in Iraq in February, the Marines will be bolstered by 18 battalions from the new Iraqi army, plus a large number of Iraqi police and border security forces.
more…

Associated Press – In a historic step designed to bolster the military’s ability to fight a global war on terrorism, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday he approved adding Marines to U.S. Special Operations Command.
more…

Washington Post – The United States and Japan agreed yesterday to move forward with the biggest overhaul of the Pacific alliance in decades, aimed at bolstering military cooperation against new threats while consolidating U.S. forces on the island and withdrawing about 7,000 Marines from Okinawa.

Japan Times – U.S. to shift 7,000 marines from Okinawa to Guam.

Associated Press – U.S., Japan Announce Military Agreement
more…

Economist – The future of America’s security policy in the region pivots on one little beach. A look at the future of Marine bases on Okinawa.
more…

Associated Press – The 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment from Camp Pendleton, Calif., is one of three Marine battalions sent to Iraq three times. Last November it joined in the battle for Fallujah, where several of its Marines were killed and dozens earned Purple Hearts while clearing out insurgents. Now it is trying to tame Anbar Province’s Sunni Arab cities in the west that previously had no U.S. or Iraqi security forces.
more…

Washington Post – More on the current US Marine sweep operations in the city of Sadah near the Syrian border.
more…

BBC – US marines are conducting a major assault on al-Qaeda-linked militants in western Iraq.
more…

Associated Press – The Pentagon on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to begin full-rate production of the V-22 Osprey, the hybrid helicopter-airplane that the Marine Corps considers vital to the future of its air fleet.
more…

Marine Corps Gazette – A perspective on combat stress from the psychiatrist of the 1st Marine Division.

more…

Marine Corps Gazette – For all those who thought that Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm were merely land campaigns fought by opposing forces, the author provides a detailed view of the important role amphibious planning and operations played in bottling up the forces under Saddam Hussein.

more…

Marine Corps Gazette – The author provides a fresh look at leadership challenges Marines and sailors face these days and offers some commonsense solutions using the Japanese pinball game of pachinko in his analogy.

more…