One Marine's View

Yesterday at DFW Airport.....GW

Yesterday at DFW Airport, George and Laura Bush greeted 150 (very surprised) troops as they arrived home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Their expressions were so priceless! (Thx DH)

Sergeant Major's Bark, and Bite

As part of our continuing coverage of "Afghanistan: the Road Ahead," CBS News correspondent Terry McCarthy follows the Third Battalion, First Marines at home, and abroad in Afghanistan.

One recent evening we were sitting around the 3/1 battalion commander's armored truck when Sergeant Major Scott Samuels, (left) the top enlisted man in the battalion, dropped a gem.

He explained his simple method for drying off his boots after going on a patrol that required wading in irrigation ditches.

"I put my boots on the exhaust pipes of the MATVs," he said.  MATVs are the armored trucks that the Marines use.

We all laughed. Until we realized he wasn't joking.

A piece of the pie

Local leaders continue to work with Coalition and US Marines in southern Afghanistan. They know we are there to help them and they are making quicker gains by working with us than we made in Iraq. They know we do what we say and we are beginning to see the same from them.

Before birther row, Lt. Col. Lakin racked up medals as flight surgeonBefore birther row, Lt. Col. Lakin racked up medals as flight surgeon

(CNN) -- Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin is a poster soldier for the so-called birther movement, but for 17 years prior to his court-martial proceedings, the flight surgeon served around the globe, racking up a chest full of medals.

Navy invention gives Marines secure data connection in field

By Jeanette Steele, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 10:31 p.m.

/ SPAWAR photo

A vehicle carrying a SPAWAR invention that is providing troops in Afghanistan secure data networks in the field is tested at Camp Pendleton in September.

Imagine trying to do business on the go without your BlackBerry or laptop. No information, no good.

AV-8B Harrier flares....kicking ass

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. - An AV-8B Harrier from Marine Attack Training Squadron 203 fires flares during a training flight July 27, 2010. The flares are meant to misguide any heat-seeking ordnance fired at the aircraft. VMAT-203, which is the lone Harrier pilot training squadron in the Corps and based in Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., brings its distinctive two-seated Harriers and students to the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz., several times a year to take advantage of the vast range and availability.

Photo by Cpl. Graham J. Benson

U.S. Military in Afghanistan Responds to Pakistan Floods

This is a good article that shows the dynamics of our ability. Many times Marines will engage in combat one second, then the next move into aid work. That, is your Marine Corps.

From a U.S. Forces Afghanistan News Release

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 3, 2010 - The U.S. military in Afghanistan is responding rapidly to the disastrous flooding that reportedly killed more than 1,200 people in Pakistan and 60 in Afghanistan and has affected millions of others.