Tag: U.S. Marines

What is ironic about this story is that Arnett did not get in trouble for not taking the COVID vaccine, she got in trouble for refusing to obey orders to board an airplane three times. That is why she was jailed and had nothing to do with the COVID vaccine. Now she is back in Japan getting into more trouble with local authorities:

 A Marine veteran who refused the COVID-19 vaccine while serving in Japan and defied orders to return home was arrested this month at her former duty station.

Japanese police allege that Catherine Arnett, 25, was detained by military police after attempting to enter MCAS Iwakuni around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 1, a city police spokesman told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday. She was turned over to Iwakuni city police around 11:30 a.m. that day and released from custody “last week,” the spokesman said.

Arnett was returned to California in Marine Corps custody earlier this year and spent 113 days in brigs awaiting a court-martial before the Corps dropped all charges against her, set her free and administratively discharged her. 

As a lance corporal at MCAS Iwakuni, Arnett refused at least three times to board aircraft bound for the U.S. and faced discharge for refusing the vaccine. She was charged separately with insubordination, missing a military flight, disobeying an officer and other offenses over her refusal to leave Japan. 

Arnett, who described herself as a staunch Catholic, said the 2021 vaccine mandate from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was an unlawful order. Her case drew attention from a foundation critical of vaccines, Children’s Health Defense, founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who interviewed her on his podcast. 

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I guess he should have told them to turn that f-ing crap off instead and he would have been okay:

It came in response to complaints from Marines who said Neary used the N-word in front of them after taking offense to the use of the word in a rap song that was being played during physical training outside MARFOREUR headquarters. 

Neary acknowledged his use of the N-word in that instance, according to his statements contained in the IG report.

“I was using this as a teaching moment, is what I was doing,” Neary told the IG. “Because again, there is no place for discriminatory behavior at all, in our Marine Corps, across the board.”

However, the IG said Neary’s language, which it said also involved the phrase “you people” when addressing Marines “under the guise of providing correction,” made the situation worse.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but Neary claims he never said “you people”.

This is a pretty cool story about Marines on Okinawa showing initiative to produce face shields for medical personnel using 3D printers:

Armed with a cache of warehoused 3D printers and spools of orange thermoplastic, Marines have waged war against the coronavirus by turning out thousands of frames for face masks and face shields for use on Okinawa.

The III Marine Expeditionary Force’s 3rd Maintenance Battalion has 17 3D printers in a Camp Kinser warehouse “factory” running 24 hours per day to provide medical personnel with vital supplies and alleviate pressure on the supply chain as the virus gains a foothold on Okinawa. (…………..)

The Marines at Kinser were about to kick off a series of technology courses that involved 3D printing with Building Momentum, a Virginia-based, veteran-owned small business that specializes in technology training programs. Their “Innovation Boot Camp” was canceled due to the coronavirus, but Marines like Reynolds saw the potential in the 24 Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D printers stacked unopened against the warehouse wall.

“We were lucky enough to have the printers on hand,” he said.

With the blessing of Building Momentum, the battalion put its LulzBot TAZ 6 3D printers to the side and opened the Ender 3 printers, as well as spool after spool of orange polylactic acid filament, Reynolds said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more and watch a video of the Marines at the link.

Great job by these U.S. Marines who immediately helped this Japanese man impaled with a spear gun:

Two Iwakuni-based Marines were lauded Tuesday for aiding a Japanese man who was injured while spear fishing near the air station on July 27.

Cpls. Jose Castrobaez and Raekwon Johnson — C-130J engine mechanics from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 — were flying drones on the bank of the Nishiki River near the Kintaikyo Bridge when a friend of the injured man asked the Marines for help, the pair told Stars and Stripes on July 31.

“We met these guys who were having their own barbecue,” Castrobaez said. “They invited me to go swimming with them. I believe they were practicing how to spear fish, and the next thing you know I was doing my own thing and they told me, ‘Hey our buddy needs help.’”

Castrobaez walked over to investigate and saw a spear sticking out of the man’s torso.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This Marine was clearly out of control and hopefully will be held accountable for his actions:

The U.S. military has confirmed Japanese media reports that a Marine is facing theft and assault accusations following a weekend incident in Tokyo.

Lance Cpl. Kahsai Hill, 21, was taken into custody Saturday by Tokyo Metropolitan Police on suspicion of robbery resulting in bodily injury after he allegedly punched a taxi driver in the face after not paying his approximately $7.40 fare, according to Kyodo News agency.

The incident happened at about 5:45 a.m. in front of a Shinjuku hotel, the report said.

Hill is also suspected of causing serious injuries to a 19-year-old female member of the Japan Self-Defense Force after allegedly strangling her and breaking her jaw in a fast-food restaurant that he entered while running away, according to investigators quoted by Kyodo.

“I don’t remember. I don’t want to talk until I consult a lawyer,” Hill told police, according to the report.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Only in Korea does the holiday season mean that once again we get to see the annual pictures of half naked Marines frolicking in the snow:

About 400 U.S. and South Korean Marines took a break from honing their winter-warfare skills Tuesday for some friendly competition in the city that will host the upcoming Winter Olympics.

After doffing their shirts and yelling half-naked in the snow, the allies teamed up to battle each other in chicken fights, relay races and a free-for-all wrestling match.

It was a bit of levity to wrap up a tense year on the Korean Peninsula that saw more than 20 North Korean ballistic-missile tests, two underground nuclear blasts and an ongoing bitter war of words between Washington and Pyongyang.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

For everyone on Okinawa get ready for likely major anti-US protests due to what this idiot did:

An Okinawa-based Marine’s blood-alcohol content was triple Japan’s legal limit Sunday when his vehicle collided with a minitruck, killing its Japanese driver, police say.

The Marine was “slightly injured” in the 5:30 a.m. JST crash at a Naha intersection, Okinawa policeman Kazuhiko Miyagi told The Associated Press.

The victim – a 61-year-old man – was making a turn when his vehicle was hit by the servicemember’s truck, which was coming in the opposite direction, Japanese media reports said. Witness accounts say the Japanese driver had the right of way, and that the Marine may have gone through a red light.

Miyagi told AP that a breath test indicated the servicemember had a blood-alcohol level that was three times Japan’s legal limit of 0.03 percent.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but three time the legal limit would be a BAC of .09.  So he was not completely smashed, but regardless would be legally drunk in the United States as well.  The highest limit in the US is a BAC of .08.  Then there is the fact he was driving a military vehicle.  If he was drunk on duty that makes this even worse or did he steal the vehicle?  I guess we will eventually find out what happened, but condolences to the family of the deceased driver.  There is never an excuse to drive drunk especially some place with easy access to taxis like Okinawa.

My favorite part of the below story is how one of the officers was accused of not completing their Anti-Terrorism Level-1 training.  Wearing a PT belt might be more effective at stopping the below stupidity than the AT Level-1 training:

Three married U.S. Marine officers have found themselves under investigation for a night in February that went off the rails in Bogotá, involving allegations they went drinking with some local women, were slipped illicit drugs, robbed of U.S. property and landed in a local hospital emergency room.

The men may have fallen prey to what is known as “burundanga poisoning,” according to a report on the investigation conducted by the Marine Corps Forces, South, a Southern Command subsidiary, and obtained by the Miami Herald.

The report recommended that Marine Col. Roger T. McDuffie, a Harrier pilot who serves as the chief of operations at the unit known as MARFORSOUTH; Maj. Andrew L. Mueller, described as a theater security cooperation planner; and Maj. Mauricio Saenz, exercise planner, face “appropriate administrative or judicial proceedings.”  [Miami Herald]

You can read the rest at the link, but these three ended up bringing the prostitutes back to their rooms at the hotel, while walking by other Marines at 4:30 in the morning mustering to get on a shuttle bus to the airport.  After getting to their rooms they were then robbed of their government phones and laptops among other personal possessions by the prostitutes.  To make this story even more incredible is that one of the officers actually used his government travel card to take out a cash advance to pay two of the prostitutes.

What were these guys thinking, that this was a Secret Service job interview?

It looks like ROK and US Marines are getting some good winter training in which the Kim regime is not happy about:

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: South Korean and US Marines are conducting military exercises on ski slopes in sub-freezing temperatures, including shirtless hand-to-hand combat in the snow, prompting warnings of retaliation from North Korea over “madcap mid-winter” drills.

More than 300 Marines are taking part, simulating combat on the ski slopes of Pyeongchang, host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, amid speculation North Korea could be planning another missile test in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

“U.S. Marine Corps and ROK (Republic of Korea) Marine Corps partnered together at every level to build a camaraderie and friendship of the two countries’ militaries but also to increase our proficiency in the event where we have to fight a war together,” U.S. Captain Marcus Carlstrom told reporters.   [Channel News Asia]

You can read more at the link.