Jordan Matson: Ex- US soldier fighting with Syrian Kurds against IS: "This who I am. I'm a protector"

Hmmm......Somehow i get the feeling someone is warming the minds of the US voters to send boots on the ground.

Two-time US Marine deserter accused of faking his kidnapping in custody after spending 9 years on the run in Lebanon.

Two-time US Marine deserter accused of faking his kidnapping in custody after spending 9 years on the run in Lebanon. (DM).

A U.S. Marine charged twice with desertion has turned himself in to U.S. custody after hiding for nine years in Lebanon, authorities said Sunday.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, surrendered to NCIS investigators in Bahrain, reportedly telling them that he feared for his life in Lebanon.

Capt. Eric Flanagan said that Hassoun was being from out of the Middle East to Norfolk, Virginia on Sunday. From there, he is to be moved to Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in North Carolina, where authorities will decide whether or not to court-martial him.

'The Naval Criminal Investigative Service worked with Cpl. Hassoun to turn himself in and return to the United States to face charges under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice,' the Marines said in a statement.

Hassoun's saga began in 2004, when he allegedly constructed a hoax to make it appear that he had been kidnapped from Camp Fallujah, in Iraq.

Hassoun, who served as an Arabic translator, left the base on June 20, 2004. On June 27, a photographs surfaced of him being held blindfolded with a sword held above him.

The picture aired on Al-Jazeera, with the message that he was being held captive by a group called the National Islamic Resistance, who would decapitate Hassoun unless their demands of freeing prisoners from U.S. detention were met.

Hassoun returns to the United States facing two charges of desertion, the first being his initially allegation of it and the second for his disappearance in January 2005. It was not said what Hassoun had been doing in Lebanon during the nine years he hid there.Read the full story here.

The Story About Obama Wanting Marines To Wear 'Girly' Hats Is Total B.S.

The Story About Obama Wanting Marines To Wear 'Girly' Hats Is Total B.S. HT: BusinessInsider.

There's a big story getting passed around in military circles and beyond from The New York Post that President Obama wants the Marines to start wearing 'girly' caps.

The Post writer, Jeane MacIntosh, writes of a "plan by President Obama to create a 'unisex' look for the Corps, officials are on the verge of swapping out the Marines’ iconic caps – known as 'covers' — with a new version that some have derided as so 'girly' that they would make the French blush."

As a Marine veteran who knows how these changes actually happen, I can tell you the story is 100% B.S. The bottom line: The President doesn't involve himself in what troops happen to be wearing.

But just to make sure, I called Headquarters Marine Corps and a spokesperson confirmed that the process for making changes to Marine uniforms hasn't changed since I last left the service in 2010. 

Every year, a board (made up of senior enlisted Marines) meets and goes over things that they may want to change with uniforms. In 2007 for example, the board made a change that outlawed "sleeve" tattoos — and I don't remember thinking that was all President George W. Bush's fault.

"The President in no way, shape, or form directed the Marine Corps to change our uniform cover," said Capt. Maureen Krebs, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps. "We're looking for a new cover for our female Marines for the primary reason that the former manufacturer went out of business. The Marine Corps has zero intention of changing the male cover. Read the full story here.

Video - Unisex Marine Covers Scrutinized and Reviewed by Jessie Jane Duff - The Kelly File

Video - Unisex Marine Covers Scrutinized and Reviewed by Jessie Jane Duff - The Kelly File. HT: BarracudaBrigade.

No word if the new Marine covers come with a matching Umbrella.

'Commander-In-Chief' Obama Disarmed Marines During Inauguration.

'Commander-In-Chief' Obama Disarmed Marines During Inauguration.(IW).David Codrea reported on February 9 that a United States Marine Corps source forwarded an email to the Gun Examiner stating that soldiers marching up Pennsylvania Avenue in Obama’s inaugural parade had the bolts removed from their rifles.
“The email linked to a YouTube video of the 57th Presidential Inaugural Parade, embedded in this column, featuring Bravo Company Marines from the Marine Barracks Washington,” the USMC page on the Examiner reported. “Sure enough, the observation in the email is confirmed by watching the video, with screen shots provided in the photo and slide show accompanying this article.”
“Apparently Obama’s Secret Service doesn’t trust the USMC. Simply searching each guy to make sure he didn’t have a live round hidden on him wasn’t enough, they had to make sure the guns were inoperable,” the Blur-brain blog wrote on February 8.
Is it possible that the notorious “litmus test” reportedly used by Obama to determine what military leaders must stay and which must go has experienced some sort of reversal? The test was allegedly concocted to determine if the military will fire on U.S. citizens. The claim was made by 2009 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jim Garrow.Hmmmm.....I wonder if he'll demand they disarm the Israeli and Palestine military during his visit, well i doubt about the latter....but surely the Israeli.Read the full story here.

"You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic." ~ Sir Winston S. Churchill,     'Blood, Sweat and Tears'.

Video - " Semper Fi " - US Marine Being Investigated For Posting "Obama Is The Domestic Enemy Our Oath Speaks About".

U.S. Marines Asked to Disarm Before Leon Panetta Speech.........."Who Cut their pay again"?

U.S. Marines Asked to Disarm Before Leon Panetta Speech.........."Who Cut their pay again"?(MSNBC)In a highly unusual move, around 200 U.S. Marines were asked to leave their weapons outside the tent where U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was set to speak during his trip to Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Although the military said the order was not given in response to Sunday’s shooting of 16 Afghan civilians allegedly by an American soldier, it possibly underlined how high tensions were running after the incident.“You’ve got one of the most important people in the world in the room,” Major General Mark Gurganus told reporters at Camp Leatherneck, dismissing concerns related to the shooting. “This is not a big deal.”
He said he had given the order because the two dozen Afghan soldiers also there were unarmed and he did not want to treat them differently.According to reporters at Camp Leatherneck, the Marines were waiting to hear Panetta’s speech when they were abruptly told by their commander to get up, leave their weapons, including M16 and M-4 automatic rifles and 9 mm pistols, outside and return unarmed.“All I know is I was told to get the weapons out,” Sergeant Major Brandon Hall told The New York Times. Asked why, he replied, “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.”Hmmmm........Yup cutting their pay is easy.....Getting shot at is a whole different ballgame?Read the full story here.