SHAKO: Long Wait For A Hero Is Over

NO MAN LEFT BEHIND

President Joe Biden congratulates Medal of Honor recipient, retired U.S. Army Colonel Paris D. Davis on March 3, 2023, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

Almost fifty-eight years after a young Army Special Forces captain braved exploding mortar rounds and hand grenades as well as rifle and machine gun fire to rescue three other wounded Green Berets, the world now knows what the soldiers who survived that deadly ambush and two-day battle in Vietnam know — Paris Davis deserves the United States’ highest award for military valor — for his staggering bravery and incredible selflessness under fire.

At a White House ceremony on March 3, 2022, President Joe Biden presented the now 83-year-old retired Army colonel with the Medal of Honor for his actions in the vicinity of Bong Son, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) on June17-18, 1965. “This … may be the most consequential day since I’ve been President. This is an incredible man,” Biden said at the opening of the ceremony.

Then-Captain Davis led a Special Forces team and some 80 inexperienced South Vietnamese soldiers in a nigh time attack on a Viet Cong camp. At first the element of surprise worked but then the V.C. counterattacked. Davis’ unit was vastly outnumbered, but he captain rallied the troops, took the fight to the enemy and rescued his men who were cut off and wounded. Once support arrived, he was ordered to leave, but despite his wounds, he opted to stay to ensure that no man was left behind.

Capt. Paris Davis, Vietnam, 1965. (Photo by Ron Deis)

Over the course of two days, Davis selflessly led a charge to neutralize enemy emplacements, called for precision artillery fire, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and prevented the capture of three American soldiers (Robert Brown, John Reinberg, and Billy Waugh) while saving their lives with a medical extraction. Davis sustained multiple gunshot and grenade fragment wounds during the 19-hour battle and refused to leave the battlefield until his men were safely removed.

Davis, who was among the first African American officers in the Green Berets, was awarded the Silver Star medal (the nation’s third highest decoration for bravery in combat) but those who were there that day. Those whom he saved, said Davis should get the Medal of Honor and they put it in writing.

“I wish I could say that this story of Paris’s sacrifice on that day in 1965 was fully recognized and rewarded immediately. But sadly, we know they weren’t,” Biden told the audience at the White House ceremony.

“At the time Captain Davis returned from war, the country still battling segregation. He returned from Vietnam to experience some of his fellow soldiers crossing to the other side of the street when they saw him in America. And although the men who were with him on that June day immediately nominated Captain Davis to receive the Medal of Honor, somehow the paper- — the paperwork was never processed not just once, but twice,” Biden said.

“But you know what Colonel Davis said after learning he would finally receive the Medal of Honor?  Quote, ‘America was behind me. America was behind me.’  He never lost faith, which I find astounding,” Biden added.

For more on this remarkable soldier, commando, officer and leader, click here and here  (reading of the Medal of Honor citation) and here.

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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (March 10, 2023)

THE ONE WITH THE RED STRIPE

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Diolanda Caballero) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Terrapin makes its way surrounded by U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) response boats and Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) response boats near Vancouver, British Columbia on February 28, 2023.

The MSRT is an elite Coast Guard unit that specializes in maritime counter-terrorism operations and high risk law enforcement. MSRTs are trained to board from small boats or helicopters and secure vessels including those controll by terrorists holding hostages.

During this joint exercise, MSRT West and the RCMP practiced tactical maneuvering such as defensive approaches, coming alongside a vessel and helicopter operations. The crew of the Terrapin, an 87-foot long patrol boat, noted on their Facebook page that “In typical PNW (Pacific North West) fashion, it snowed as well, making it slightly more challenging!”

We thought the colors, or lack thereof, in this photo were quite arresting. No pun intended. Everything in this photo, the sky, trees, water — even the snow appears gray — except for the white boat with the red slash on its hull. The iconic blue, white and red slash racing stripe emblem was created in the 1960s by the design firm of Raymond Loewy/William Snaith, Inc., which had just redesigned the interior and exterior of President John F. Kennedy’s aircraft, Air Force One.

Loewy was a legendary industrial designer credited with the white logo on Coca-Cola bottles, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, the supersonic Concorde jetliner’s interiors, NASA’s Skylab, as well as logos for Lucky Strike cigarettes, Shell and Exxon oil companies and the Art Deco-styled Pennsylvania Railroad’s S1 steam locomotive.

Loewy also redesigned Nabisco’s red corner logo that’s still in use today. (Photo Raymond Loewy/Facebook via allthatsinteresting.com)

The president was so pleased with the design outcome that he suggested the firm look into improving the visual image of the federal government.  Kennedy suggested starting with the Coast Guard.  “The firm recommended the Coast Guard adopt an identification device similar to a commercial trademark. The firm believed the symbol should be easily identifiable from a distance, easily differentiated from other government or commercial emblems or logos, and easily adapted to a wide variety of air and sea assets,” according to a 2012 article in Sea History.

The company presented its findings to Coast Guard leadership in January 1964. After four years of study, testing and tweaking some of the design firm’s ideas, Coast Guard Commandant Edwin Roland issued Instructions on April 6, 1967 ordering servicewide implementation of the Integrated Visual Identification System.

SHAKO: Remembering the Deadliest Disaster in Coast Guard History

DESTRUCTION OF THE USS SERPENS.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the USS Serpens Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery on .January 27, 2023. Seventy-eight years ago, the explosion and destruction of the Navy cargo ship in which 250 were killed was the largest fatal disaster in the history of the Coast Guard. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery)

Named after the Serpens constellation, the USS Serpens was a Crater-class Navy cargo ship commissioned in May 1943. On the night of January 29, 1945, the freighter was anchored off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, carrying ammunition and other cargo bound for U.S. bases in the Pacific.

While the crew was loading depth charges into the holds, a massive explosion occurred. The explosion destroyed the entire ship, save for its bow, which sank to the bottom. More than two hundred and fifty men lost their lives: 196 Coast Guardsmen, 57 U.S. Army stevedores and a U.S. Public Health Service surgeon, Dr. Harry. Levin. Only two of the 198-man Coast Guard crew aboard that night survived: Seaman 1st Class Kelsie Kemp and Seaman 1st Class George Kennedy. Both awarded the Purple Heart medal.

USS Serpens (Photo U.S. Coast Guard)

The cause of the explosion was never definitively determined. At first report, the incident was attributed to enemy action but a court of inquiry later determined that the cause of the explosion could not be established from the remaining evidence.

Those who died in the Serpens disaster were originally buried at the Army, Navy and Marine Corps Cemetery on Guadalcanal. On June 15, 1949, their remains were re-interred in Section 34 at Arlington National Cemetery.

The USS Serpens Memorial was dedicated on November 16, 1950. The Octagon-shaped memorial is inscribed with the names and ranks of those who perished. At the dedication ceremony, Vice Admiral Merlin O’Neill, Commandant of the Coast Guard, stated, “We cannot undo the past, but we can ensure that these men shall be respected and honored forever.”

The USS Serpens earned one battle star for her World War II service.

The U.S.S. Serpens Monument is dedicated to those who lost their lives when the 14,250-ton ammunition ship exploded off Lunga Baech, Guadacanal on the night of January 29, 1945. (U.S. Army photo by Rachel Larue)

Click here to see the names listed on the monument.

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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress, or parade, uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York in the photo.

 

 

 

 

THE FRIDAY FOTO (February 17, 2023)

PREPARING FOR THE WORST.

    (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Rowe)

U.S Navy sailors combat a simulated casualty emergency aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the South China Sea on February 2, 2023.

Nimitz is in the U.S. 7th fleet area conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

As we’ve said in the past at 4GWAR Blog, the U.S. Navy takes fires very seriously. At the Navy’s only boot camp, Naval Service Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, recruits are trained in firefighting as one of five basic competencies, which also include: Damage control, watch standing, seamanship and small-arms handling/marksmanship.

The importance of firefighting aboard ship was driven home in July 2020 when the amphibious assault ship, USS Bonhomme Richard, caught fire beside the pier at Naval Base San Diego, California and burned for four days. No one died but the 22-year-old Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) was a total loss.

SHAKO: Some Marine Corps Hairstory

TALE OF THE PONYTAIL.

For the first time in the more than 100 years since the first women were sworn in as U.S. Marines, the Corps is letting female Marines wear their hair in a ponytail … well, sort of.

In late November, the Marines’ Training and Education Command announced updates to approved female hair styles via Marine Administrative Message 615/22.

The changes include: twists for short hair, an increase in maximum length for medium hair, half-ponytails or up to two half-braids for medium hair, and overall increase in styled length for long hair.

Consistent with current rules, long hair must be secured up (defined as no portion of the hair should be left to fall naturally / unsecured or with exposed ends), except when authorized during non-combat physical training. Medium and long length hair may be worn in an unsecured full ponytail or unsecured braid during non-combat physical training only, according to a Marine Corps press release.

Until the new hair policies were announced, the Marine Corps was the last U.S. armed service to allow women to wear ponytails whilein uniform. The Navy has permitted them since 2018. The Army, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard changed policies for women’s hair in 2021.

Previously, most women Marines with long hair, had to wind it into a very tight bun (photo below), often with the aid of a lot of hairspray. The onerous process also  put a lot of tension on the hair which can lead to damage and hair loss.

The updates to the hair regulation also clarify that tightly pulled or slicked back hair is not a requirement, and Marines are encouraged to avoid potentially damaging or harmful products.

Male and female drill instructors with the 1st Recruit Training Battalion of the Recruit Training Regiment, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, render a salute during a ceremony on December 21, 2022.  (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Grace J. Kindred) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

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.BEARDS AND BOOT CAMP.

In another Marine tonsorial issue, a federal court in Washington recently ruled in favor of three Sikh men and overruled the Corps’ requirement that all male recruits in boot camp must receive the traditional extreme haircut and be clean shaven.

Marine Corps recruits practice how to fall during martial arts training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego on January 23, 2023. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal  Jacob Hutchinson) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

The federal appeals court in the District of Columbia ruled that the Marine Corps cannot deny entry to Sikhs because of their unshorn beards and hair.

The three men, Jaskirat Singh, Milaap Singh Chahal and Aekash Singh, all wanted to serve their country and were qualified to enlist but the Marine Corps told them they could serve only if they shaved before going into basic training. Most Sikh men don’t cut their hair as a sign of their religious commitment, but serving in the military is another aspect of their faith, the lawyer representing the three told NPR.

“They believe, as part of their religious duty, in defending the rights of others,” said attorney Eric Baxter, Sikhs, he noted, “have served for a long time in militaries around the world, including in the United States, with all of their articles of faith in place.”

As part of the British Indian Army, from the late 19th Century, Sikh regiments fought in numerous wars all over the world, including the Second and Third Anglo-Afghan Wars, many campaigns on British India’s North-West Frontier, in World War I on the Western Front, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia and the North African, Italian and Burma campaigns of World War II, earning many gallantry awards and battle honors.

The Indian Army’s Sikh Regiment is said to be its most highly decorated.

The Sikh Regiment marching contingent passes in review at India’s 66th Republic Day Parade in January 2015. (Ministry of Defence, Government of India photo). Click on the photo to enlarge image.

In her December 2022 opinion, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Patrica Millett wrote the men’s Sikh faith requirement to maintain unshorn hair and beards conflicted with the Marines’ standard grooming policy for the 13 weeks of boot camp. The Corps argued that allowing the men to keep their beards would interfere with troop uniformity. The Marine Corps had agreed to accommodate the trio’s religious commitments after basic training was completed.

However, Millet said the Marines had not provided compelling arguments for any safety reasons supporting the policy or that unshorn hair would interfere physically with boot camp training. She also noted recruits were allowed to grow beards for medical reasons, like the skin condition known as shaving bumps, and that the Corps had eased restrictions on tattoos and women’s hairstyles.

The judge granted Jaskirit Singh and Chahal a preliminary injunction allowing them to begin basic training immediately. The ruling also found that Aekash Singh, who plans to enter officer candidate school, should have his related case reconsidered by a federal District Court, The New York Times reported.

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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

THE FRIDAY FOTO (January 6, 2023)

DELIVERY AT SEA.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Negron) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

We wonder if Amazon ever delivers this way. Sailors aboard the Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur receive supplies on pallets from the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Guadalupe during  a seaborne resupply on December 28, 2022 in the Philippine Sea.

Replenishment at sea is a method of transferring fuel, ammunition, food and other supplies from one ship to another while under way. It’s a tricky, inherently dangerous procedure. Both ships have to maintain the same speed as they send and receive fuel hoses and other lines and cables to pump fuel and swing cargo over the water separating the two ships. Click here to see a video explaining the procedure and what the risks are.

A shot line is fired from the receiving vessel to the supply vessel. That line is used to pull across a messenger line. The messenger is used to pull across other lines and equipment.

Civilian-manned ships of the Military Sealift Command like the Guadalupe are not commissioned ships; their status is “in service,” rather than “in commission.” They are, nonetheless, Navy ships in active national service, according to the Navy, and the prefix “USNS” (United States Naval Ship) was adopted to identify them.

USS Decatur is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer. Part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, Decatur is currently underway with the U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. The 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed, numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with 35 maritime nations in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

SHAKO: Amphibious Assault Ship, USS Fallujah and Other Name Controversies UPDATE

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“What’s in a name,” the poet and playwright William Shakespeare asked in Romeo and Juliet. Quite a lot, apparently, for many people in the United States — especially in Congress and the Defense Department.

In the wake of the death of George Floyd in police custody, and the ensuing societal reckoning on racial injustice and the enduring legacy of slavery, public opinion turned against honoring the men who rebelled against the United States and fought to defend slavery.

More than 100 monuments and statues of Confederate leaders were removed by local officials in cities like Richmond, Virginia, New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. Others in Birmingham, Alabama; Raleigh, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. were toppled by protestors.

Confederate War Memorial of Dallas, Texas was removed in 2020 and put in storage. (Photo by MarK Arthur, via Wikipedia/Creative Commons)

And in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law No: 116-283), Congress directed the establishment of “a commission relating to assigning, modifying, or removing of names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia to assets of the Department of Defense that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.”

In its final report, the commission recommended new names for nine military bases all named after Confederate officers (Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Rucker, Alabama; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett — all in Virginia).

The commission also made recommendations for renaming buildings, streets and other facilities, and removing monuments honoring Confederate leaders at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York and the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis Maryland.

During the same period the commission looked at Navy ships and facilities, leading Navy Secretary Carlos Del Torro to announce in September that the cruiser USS Chancellorsville, named for an 1863 Civil War battle the Confederacy won, and the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury, named for Confederate Navy officer Matthew Fontaine Maury, would be renamed.

Needless to say, many groups and individuals pushed back against changing the names of storied buildings at their academy, or the base where they trained before going off to war. Associations and societies of the descendants of Confederate warriors and some local politicians also took a dim view of name changes and statue removals, which they saw as an assault on their heritage and culture — and their ancestors.

Dallas Confederate War Memorial site after removal (Photo by Pete Unseth via Wikipedia)

But a controversy from an unexpected source developed recently with plans to name a new ship after a battle that had nothing to do with the Civil War or slavery.  Del Torro announced on December 13 that the Navy’s newest large amphibious assault ship would be named the USS Fallujah, to commemorate two fierce battles the Marines fought in the Iraq War.

However, a Muslim civil rights group is protesting the selection of the name of the Iraqi city because the battle resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and the locals are still suffering health issues they suspect are caused by the remains of weapons used in the fighting.

“The name selection follows the tradition of naming amphibious ships after U.S. Marine Corps battles [like Makin Island or Tripoli],  U.S. sailing ships [like USS Boxer and USS Kearsarge] or earlier carriers from World War II [like USS Essex], Del Torro said.

The First Battle of Fallujah occurred in April 2004 in an effort to capture or kill insurgents responsible for the killing of four U.S. contractors. The Second Battle of Fallujah, fought between November 7 and December 23, 2004, was a major U.S- led offensive to retake control of the city from insurgents and foreign fighters. With over 100 coalition forces killed and over 600 wounded, Operation Phantom Fury is considered the bloodiest engagement of the Iraq War and the fiercest urban combat involving U.S. Marines since the Vietnam War’s Battle of Hue City, according to the Navy.

“Under extraordinary odds, the Marines prevailed against a determined enemy who enjoyed all the advantages of defending in an urban area,” the Commandant of the Marine Corps,  General David H. Berger, said in the Navy press release announcing the new ship’s name. “The Battle of Fallujah is, and will remain, imprinted in the minds of all Marines and serves as a reminder to our Nation, and its foes, why our Marines call themselves the world’s finest,” Berger added.

Two America-class amphibious assault ships, USS Tripoli (LHA 7) and USS America (LHA 6) sail side-by-side during a photo exercise in the Philippine Sea, September 17, 2022. The future USS Fallujah (LHA 9) will be similar to these ships but equipped with a well deck. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Christopher Lape)

But the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), self-described as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, “called on the U.S. Navy to change the name of the future America-class amphibious assault ship ‘USS Fallujah,’” the SEAPOWER magazine website reported December 15.

The battles in Fallujah were the bloodiest fighting of the Iraq War and a painful memory for the people still living there. “Hundreds of civilians – including women and children – were killed during the battles. To this day, the civilian population is reportedly being negatively impacted by the weapons used in those battles,” CAIR said in a press statement, urging the Navy to pick another name.

“Just as our nation would never name a ship the ‘USS Abu Ghraib,’ the Navy should not name a vessel after notorious battles in Fallujah that left hundreds of civilians dead, and countless children suffering from birth defects for years afterward,” said CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell. “There must be a better name for this ship,” Mitchell added, saying “one that does not evoke horrific scenes” from what he called “an illegal and unjust war.”

When we first heard about the naming of the Fallujah, your 4GWAR editor wondered if it was too soon, in a region where U.S. troops are still fighting terrorists, to bring up a painful memory — not just for the Iraqis but for Americans and allies who fought there or lost loved ones.

Similarly, in 2020, your 4GWAR editor was struck by a FRIDAY FOTO we ran of U.S. sailors pulling a combat rubber raiding craft carrying Japanese soldiers aboard the amphibious dock landing ship, USS Pearl Harbor, in the Pacific Ocean. The photo was taken during Iron Fist, an exercise designed to enhance the ability of U.S. and Japanese forces to plan and conduct combined amphibious operations.

As mentioned, several U.S. Navy amphibious ships, like the Pearl Harbor, are named for famous Navy and Marine Corps battles — like  Belleau Wood or Fort McHenry — but others have been named for World War II engagements in the Pacific: Bataan, Iwo Jima and Bougainville. Your 4GWAR editor has often wondered if these reminders of bitter defeats and costly victories more than 70 years ago cause any uncomfortable moments of reflection when the forces of the United States and Japan — now close allies — engage in joint exercises and operations.

For that matter, we wonder if the ships named USS Alamo (signature battle of the Texas Revolution) or the USS Normandy (World War II) or USS Hue City (Vietnam War) cause any irritation or ill will in Mexico, Germany or Vietnam, countries with which we now have friendly relations.

UPDATES with photos and correction, substituting USS Alamo for USS Monterey

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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

FRIDAY FOTO (December 9, 2022)

WINTER STILL LIFE WITH SOLDIERS.

(Army National Guard photo by Sergeant Seth LaCount, 134th Public Affairs Detachment) Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Alaska Army National Guardsmen — assigned to the appropriately named Avalanche Company — patrol at sunset on December 3, 2022  during an Air Assault training exercise at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The exercise, part of the drill weekend for these members of the 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, sought to enhance the unit’s combat readiness while evaluating their proficiency in an arctic environment.

We note only a couple of the soldiers are wearing winter white garb.

SHAKO: U.S. Marine Corps Turns 247

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USMC

On this day, November 10, 247 years ago the Congress of Britain’s 13 American colonies decided it was time to start looking for a “a few good men” who could fight on land and sea.

The United States Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia. The memorial was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of the United States since 1775.  (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Master Sergeant Adrian Cadiz) Click on photo to enlarge image

The Marine Corps was created by the Second Continental Congress on November 10, 1775 and since 1921, Marines around the world have celebrated the Corps’ founding under Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921, issued by then-Commandant Major General John LeJeune. His order summarized the history, tradition and mission of the Marine Corps and directed that the order be read to every command on every subsequent November 10, the Marine Corps Birthday.

Since the 1950s, the Marines have marked the occasion with a birthday celebration and a cake cutting ceremony, where a senior Marine Corps officer slices the cake — usually with the traditional Mameluke officer’s sword, commemorating the Marines’ first overseas action near the shores of Tripoli in 1805. The first slice of cake is handed to the oldest Marine present. That senior Leatherneck then hands the slice to the youngest Marine on site.

In the photo below, retired Marine Colonel  Frank Harris III, representing the oldest Marine during the ceremony at Marine Corps Base Quantico (MCBQ), receives a piece of cake from the base commander, Colonel Michael Brooks, at at MCBQ’s Butler Stadium on November 9, 2022.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Eric Huynh) Click on photo to enlarge.

After Congress ordered the establishment of two battalions of Marines in late 1775, Captain (later Major) Samuel Nichols — considered the Corps’ first commandant — advertised in and around Philadelphia for “a few good men” and signed them up at Tun Tavern in that city. Those early Marines first saw action in the Bahamas in a March 3, 1776 raid on New Providence in the Bahama Islands, to capture naval supplies from the British.

Three days before this year’s birthday celebration, General David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, advised his troops to “prepare for uncertainty.”

“When called, we will fight and we will win — today, tomorrow, and in the future,” Berger said in a video message released on YouTube and elsewhere. “These victories are not won by our technology or our equipment, but because of all of you, because of everything you do every day to remain the best trained, the most professional, most ready force in the world. That has not changed.”

The Marine Corps has made drastic changes in force size, composition and weapons to meet emerging threats in the coming decade, primarily from China. With his Force Design 2030 plan, Berger seeks to reshape the Corps so it can operate and survive inside the area of operations of a peer competitor equipped with advanced manned and unmanned aerial systems and cruise missiles.

Critics have questioned Berger’s decision to eliminate all of the Marines’ battle tanks and most of their towed artillery in favor of highly mobile rocket and missile launchers to control maritime choke points. He and other Marine Corps leaders have noted Ukraine’s success against Russian tanks, armored vehicles and distant command and supply centers, using kamikaze drones and the truck-mounted High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HiMARS) shows the vulnerability of tanks and the importance of logistics and reconnaissance, which are a key focus of Marine Corps planning.

Marines with 2nd battalion, 14th Marines regiment, 4th Marine division load rockets into a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System in California in 2017. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal AaronJames B. Vinculado)

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SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress, or parade, uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

FRIDAY FOTO (September 30, 2022)

NIGHT MOVES.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David Rowe)

Sailors rig the flight deck barricade during a general quarters drill aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on September 15, 2022.

The barricade is an emergency recovery system used only for emergency landings when a normal tailhook arrestment cannot be made.  They are designed to stop an aircraft by absorbing its forward momentum in an emergency landing or an aborted takeoff.

Barricades are rarely used but flight deck crews train how to set up the barricade webbing in a matter of minutes. The barricade is normally in a stowed condition and rigged only when required. To rig a barricade, it is stretched across the flight deck between stanchions, which are raised from the flight deck.

Click here to see a very short video on flight deck barricades work.

The Nimitz is currently docked in San Diego due to jet fuel contamination of the ship’s drinking water.