Camp Lejeune: Wounded Warriors break ground on new barracks

Wounded Warriors break ground on new barracks - Jacksonville Daily News

Marines and sailors broke ground Friday on a place where wounded warriors will be able to heal, mentally and physically.

The new Wounded Warriors barracks, which is scheduled to take about 18 months to build, will include 100 two-man rooms, living area and kitchenette, fitness, physical therapy and counseling space.

The rooms are designed to accommodate two wheelchair-bound Marines without collisions, said Lt. Col. Thomas Siebenthal, commander of Wounded Warriors Battalion-East.

Camp Lejeune's wounded warriors are currently housed in a 1940s-era building across base from the Naval Hospital. The new facility is just steps away from the hospital.

"It's convenient," said Cpl. Bobby Joseph, a Marine who was injured by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol in Iraq in November 2006. "It is a pain in the butt to get transportation (from the current location to the hospital)."

The barracks is definitely needed, Joseph said.

"This is the best idea I've ever seen," he said. "It's the best thing they've done."

The concept for the wounded warriors barracks came about after Lt. Col. Tim Maxwell and then-Gunnery Sgt. Ken Barnes were wounded in Iraq in 2004. The two, who were both with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, realized as they were recovering that part of the healing process involved interacting with and bonding with other injured Marines.

"How do you get that shared experience when you're all by yourself?" Gen. James Amos, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps said, explaining the concept behind the barracks.

Amos previously served as commander of II Marine Expeditionary Force, and created the Wounded Warrior Support Section in 2005 in a renovated barracks at Camp Lejeune.

"This is probably the greatest day I've had all year long," Amos said Friday. "It's not the culmination, it's just the beginning."

Col. Gregory Boyle, commander of the Wounded Warriors Regiment, said the barracks and other facilities being built on the site - including a Warrior Hope and Care Center and a Fisher House for families of the wounded - will help the Marines "get back to that ‘new normal.'"

"These Marines made a commitment to our country. We owe a commitment to them," he said.

May 8th is Military Spouse Appreciation Day!

Thank you, military spouses, for all you do!!

AP News: Marines helicopter crashes in Calif.; 2 killed

Thoughts and prayers going out to these Marines’ families.

AP: Marines helicopter crashes in Calif.; 2 killed

ALPINE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities in California say a Marine Corps helicopter has crashed in a remote area of San Diego County, killing both people on board.

California Forestry Department Captain Daryll Pina says the Cobra attack helicopter crashed late Tuesday in the Cleveland National Forest.

Pina said Defense Department investigators were at the scene Wednesday morning.

Officials at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar said it was a Super Cobra helicopter from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The Marine Corps confirmed that both pilots were killed.

Pina said the crash started a one- to two-acre fire but the flames quickly burned out.

Pendleton, Miramar lose print newspapers - Marine Corps News

Pendleton, Miramar lose print newspapers - Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Pendleton, Miramar lose print newspapers

By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 4, 2009 5:40:56 EDT

SAN DIEGO — The recession has trickled down to the San Diego area’s three major base newspapers, forcing their publisher out of business and leaving the Marine Corps and Navy to publish local content only online for now.

The Scout, serving Camp Pendleton, Flight Jacket, serving Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and The Compass, which covers Navy life in and around San Diego, all terminated their joint contract with publisher TFM Associates in April after it struggled to meet its contractual agreements, officials said. A handful of civilians employed by TFM to help produce the weekly papers were laid off in early April.

Marine Corps Installations-West and Navy Region-Southwest plan to find a new publisher, but it’s not clear when that will be.

The Scout, which has served Camp Pendleton since its inception in 1942, exists now online at http://scoutnewspaper.com. It had a weekly circulation of about 30,000 papers, which were distributed throughout the base and at several locations outside the gates, and over the years garnered several top awards from the Defense Department.

Pendleton officials intend to maintain the Scout’s online presence after the new contract is issued. “We are going to continue this, regardless, because it provides up-to-date news,” said Maj. Kristen Lasica-Khaner, a base spokeswoman. “That more mirrors what the local papers do.”

The base, which runs Pendleton’s main Web site, www.pendleton.usmc.mil, and The Scout’s, has linked with I Marine Expeditionary Force and other major commands to get more stories and photographs onto the newspaper’s site, she said.

The Flight Jacket, which distributed about 10,000 printed copies weekly, exists now in a digital format at Miramar’s Web site, www.miramar.usmc.mil. Officials opted to keep the same broadsheet format — The Flight Jacket is created as PDF files, without ads — so Marine combat correspondents who write, edit, take photographs and lay out the pages can continue to get the experience, said Maj. Jay Delarosa, Miramar’s spokesman. Marines “still need to keep up with the basic skills they need to learn,” he said.

The Compass, which distributed about 35,000 copies weekly, can be found now at http://navycompass.com. But it’s not just short news items being posted there. The paper’s staff of one chief petty officer and four mass communications specialists is still writing and reporting on happenings at commands and aboard ships throughout the San Diego area, said Brian O’Rourke, a spokesman for Navy Region-Southwest.

“Our folks are still covering new things that are going on,” he said. “We’re definitely still covering the waterfront.”

Like the Marine bases, Navy officials want to bolster The Compass’ online presence even after the newspaper returns to a printed edition.

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Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen........ we love you.

Freedom Calls Foundation

Please read and pass this on. Good information for our service members and their families!

Freedom Calls Foundation

Working closely with corporate contributors, individuals, and the military the Foundation has deployed its first wireless VOIP telephone and video conferencing services in an Army Camp located in the Sunni Triangle. The Foundation's network offers 50 soft-phones and 20 hard-phones, 6 video conferencing stations, 10 video email stations, and 50 computers with email and internet access. As a result the more than 10,000 soldiers in the camp will be able to communicate with their families and loved ones at home on a regular basis free of charge.
The Foundation's network offers soldiers more than 8,000 miles away the opportunity to participate in milestone family events such as births, birthdays, weddings and school graduations. The Foundation's network will soon include installations at military hospitals here in the United States, to enable soldiers to interact with their newborn children and loved ones who have become ill; And, installations at Family Readiness Centers, to enable families and loved ones (who do not have broadband connections at home) to video conference with soldiers.

Future deployments overseas will encompass as many as 200 additional locations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations where our overseas troops lack regular communication with their families and loved ones at home. With your support, we hope to deploy 1-2 camps per month in the coming months.

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