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News about the Marines you might not hear in the main stream media.

"Fly Marines" Exhibit Opens At Air & Space Museum

fly with the marines

“Fly Marines” at National Air and Space Museum

The Smithsonian´s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall opened a special exhibition on January 14, showcasing works of art depicting Marine Corps aviation. The year-long exhibit is in recognition of the 100th Anniversary of Marine Corps Aviation. The National Museum of the Marine Corps partnered with the Smithsonian on the exhibit, loaning 91 of the 8,000 works it manages as part of the Marine Corps Combat Art Program. Many know the Air and Space Museum for its grand displays of aircrafts, but the collection of art making up this special exhibit emphasizes the stories of the Marines who flew the various aircraft. In a Washington Post article reporting on the exhibit´s opening, Lin Ezell, director of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, was quoted, “If you came here today looking for pretty airplane pictures, you are going to be hard pressed to find but a couple of those. The show is a celebration not about the form of the aircraft itself but the function of aircraft in war, and that always has to do with people.” “Fly Marines! The Centennial of Marine Corps Aviation: 1912-2012” features portraits, scenes of combat and recruitment posters, among other subjects. Some of the works were created by renowned aviation artists such as R.G. Smith and Keith Ferris, while others were created by combat artists who sketched the very fights they endured. The exhibit spans the history of Marines in flight, including a depiction of the first Marine aviator, Lt. Alfred A. Cunningham, flying a Wright B-1 float plane. The exhibit will be open until January 6, 2013. Visit the Foundation YouTube Channel to watch videos from the exhibit tour.

2012 - Centennial of Marine Aviation

“For nearly 100 years, Marine Aviation has demonstrated the adaptability, agility and unique ethos that come with the title “Marine.” Supporting our ground and logistics brothers and sisters, Marine Aviation has forged a lasting legacy of professionalism, innovation and transformation. The centennial of Marine Aviation provides us a unique opportunity to reflect on this legacy of success as we turn our eyes to the future.”

— General James F. Amos,
35th Commandant of the Marine Corps

OFFICIAL MARINE AIR CENTENNIAL WEBSITE

Training With Special Effects

special effects

Special effects add new dimension to training

12/2/2011 By Lance Cpl. Mark W. Stroud, Marine Corps Bases Japan

MARINE AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. —

We train like we fight.

Marines have worked to make countless training evolutions more realistic based on this mantra and the

San Diego-based special effects and acting company, Strategic Operations, has helped bring training

experiences at Enhanced Mojave Viper closer to that of combat than ever before.

Combat Logistics Battalion 4 Marines participated in an improvised explosive device response drill that

was enhanced by Strategic Operations at Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Nov. 24.

"(Strategic Operations) added a new dimension to the training," said Sgt. Patrick S. Wros, security leader,

2nd Platoon, Company B, CLB-4, Combat Logistics Regiment 3, 3rd Marine Logistics Group,

III Marine Expeditionary Force. "They added real people with real looking wounds ... it provided the Marines

with a better idea of what they could face in country." The training was part of EMV, the battalion's final

training exercise before deploying to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom early next year.

The IED response drill was made more realistic by special effects; including smoke, explosions, heavily-damaged

tactical vehicles and professional actors with simulated wounds. "The training provides good insight as to

what is possible in (combat) and what the Marines will need to know to save each other's lives," said Capt. Victor V. Flores,

commanding officer, Company B.

The fundamentals included skill sets that the Marines had been working on throughout EMV, such as sweeping

the area for secondary IEDs, setting up security, establishing a casualty collection point, providing medical care for

the casualties and reporting relevant information back to the combat operations center. "(EMV) is cumulative,"

said 2nd Lt. Matthew E. Danielson, platoon commander, 2nd Platoon. "Every exercise builds on the training events before

it and incorporates all the different skills that were used in the past."

Combining these skill sets into a single training evolution gave the Marines confidence they could respond to a hard-hit

IED strike where a vehicle was immobilized or destroyed, according to Danielson. Instructors known as coyotes with the

Tactical Training Exercise Control Group provided feedback to the Marines on their performance in the exercise.

"For most of our Marines (the deployment) is the first time they will see other Marines in harm's way, that being combat," said Flores.

"Any after-action reports or lessons from those that have gone before them will help." The feedback from experienced

instructors helped the Marines benefit from the realistic training and take one more step in preparing for their upcoming deployment.

"It was a reality check," said Wros. "It gave the Marines the opportunity to think on their feet and apply the fundamentals of what they've learned."

The V-22 Is Safer Than Helos, Effective

The V-22 is Safer Than Helos, Effective, Says Man Who Wrote the Book

By Richard Whittle

Aol Defense Published: August 09, 2011

Once upon a time, the evil ogres of the military-industrial complex spawned a mutant flying machine, a freakish helicopter-airplane hybrid so dangerous and costly it deserved to die. Yet tribes of pork-addicted toadies and blind intellectual dwarfs shielded the beast from knights in shining armor who sallied forth tirelessly -- heavily armed with GAO reports -- to slay it.

That's the fairy tale the V-22 Osprey's bitterest critics like to believe, but the facts about the tiltrotor transport, which the Marines fought a quarter of a century to get into service, tell a far happier story. This ugly duckling is turning out to be a swan.

The Marines and the Air Force Special Operations Command have been flying Ospreys in combat zones nearly four years now and they love them, for while the V-22 isn't a very pretty bird to look at, it has a graceful and extraordinary way of flying. It tilts two big rotors on its wingtips upward to take off and land like a helicopter but swivels them forward to fly like an airplane. That lets it cruise at nearly 290 miles an hour – more than twice as fast as military helicopters, whose top speeds are limited by the aerodynamics of rotors to about 140 to 175 mph.

By the time the Marines first put the Osprey into service in Iraq in 2007, though, it had cost more time, money and lives than any other piece of equipment the Corps has ever bought -- 25 years, $22 billion and 30 deaths in crashes during its development. The Osprey was a very ugly duckling.

Read The Entire Article -

http://defense.aol.com/2011/08/09/the-v-22-safer-than-helos-effective-worth-buying/

Attention To Detail

An interesting article by a former Marine officer/current AID supervisor in Afghanistan

Attention To Detail

by "babatim", 8/18/2011

My good friend E2 has kept FRI alive, which enables me to throw up a post I’m dying to share. I’m still going to stay mum about where I am, and what we’re up to. It appears that we’ll complete our remaining projects in a few months, which will allow me to tell that story fairly soon…Inshallah from the comfort of my home in America. So, last week I got a treat – a chance to link up with my old friend, Col Dave Furness, USMC, who is soon going to take RCT 1 home after a year of dominating southern Helmand. Col Furness was heading out to look over the positions of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines (Lava Dogs), commanded by LtCol Sean Riordan, who as luck would have it, came through IOC when Dave and I were instructors there. I needed to see the USAID FPO’s in that neck of the woods too, which provided a perfect excuse for me to tag along. Catching up with Sean again was an added treat!

When Dave and Sean first showed up several months ago, there was a wee bit of hard fighting to do to get this far south, but that turned out to be the easy part. Terrain and vegetation forced the Taliban into linear defenses. They tried minefields in front in an effort to bog down the advancing Marines. But Marines have helicopters, so they would fix the villains with a frontal holding attack and then fly into their rear and chew them up. Now, Taliban are known for being rather tactically inept, but they were quick to figure out that move and countered with minefields and fighting positions to their rear too. So, the Marines started flying into their rear to fix them, a tactic which allowed the Marine infantry in front to flank the Taliban and pin them against the Helmand River. Fish in a barrel, except for the runners – one thing the Taliban excel at is running away – they look like olympic sprinters when there is a little 7.62 buzzing by them!

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE:

http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=4352