After serving at both Recruit Depots, Marine Corps Schools of Infantry East and West, Officer Candidates School, and The Basic School for the last 17 years, athletic trainers are now being assigned to units in the fleet.Since late 2018, athletic trainers have been slowly arriving at units throughout the Marine Corps to help keep Marines in the fight longer. Because of their immediate availability at the unit level to commanders and Marines, athletic trainers are able to help prevent injuries and evaluate and treat injuries when they occur.With the combination of one-on-one care, their immediate availability, and involvement with force fitness instructors in conducting training courses, education and preventative measures commanders have

Third Marine Air Wing made history when it welcomed the Marine Corps’ first F-35C Lightning II to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Jan. 21, 2020. The Marines and sailors of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, the “Black Knights,” are extremely proud of their legacy and tradition of making aviation history.“It should be no surprise that VMFA-314 is once again leading the way into the next generation of fighter attack aircraft,” said Lt. Col. Cedar Hinton, commanding officer of VMFA-314.The squadron’s history began with its commissioning in 1943 at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., as the “Bob’s Cats.” In 1952, they were the first squadron in 3rd MAW to transition to jet aircraft and fly the F-9F Panther. In 1957, they officially

During the regularly-scheduled exercise after the Battalion Landing Team’s relief-in-place, components of the 31st MEU planned and executed full-mission profiles. The exercise is designed to simulate missions that the MEU could be tasked with at any moment by the geographic combatant commander, and to improve the unit’s lethality and readiness. MEUEX missions range from small boat raids including a Marine amphibious force riding combat rubber raid craft to clandestinely insert on shoreline objectives, to company-sized expeditionary advanced airfield seizures using a vertical-assault force in MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, and CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopters, prior to establishment of forward arming and refueling points for

Across the Department of Defense, military working dogs serve many purposes. K-9’s are utilized to subdue suspects, find specific items, and people. Most are only capable of one or two of these functions; Diego and Yenkie, residents of the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Provost Marshal’s Office kennels, are a bit different.Typically, military working dogs are dual purpose; Diego and Yenkie, however, are the first K-9’s in DoD law enforcement to fulfill all three of these functions.“With these two military working dogs, we have added the combat tracking asset in the Provost Marshal area of operations,” said U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Matthew Settle, kennel master, PMO, MCBH. “I picked the dogs that had the characteristics of good tracking dogs