Marines evacuate Beaufort and Parris Island ahead of Hurricane Dorian

Parris Island Evacuates, Canceling Graduations as Dorian Threatens East Coast

Military.com
By Gina Harkins
3 Sep 2019

Beaufort and Parris Island are near Hilton Head Island, on South Carolina's southeast coast. Parris Island is a marshy base just a few feet above sea level.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island started the evacuation of recruits to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Ga., Sept. 3, 2019. (U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Dana Beesley)

Thousands of Marines and recruits will evacuate two South Carolina military installations as the deadly hurricane that devastated the Bahamas makes its way toward the East Coast.

Leaders ordered evacuations at Marine Corps Base Parris Island and the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort on Monday as Hurricane Dorian moves across the Caribbean and toward Florida and the Carolinas. Personnel and any dependents must head to safe locations at least 100 miles -- but no more than 400 -- away from the base, according to evacuation orders, which went into effect Monday.

All graduation events at Parris Island, where about 20,000 recruits train to become Marines each year, have also been canceled this week. That includes ceremonies for Golf and Papa companies, which were held at the base Sunday, ahead of schedule.
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Female Marines make history again

Female Marines have come a long way

Legend has it that the first woman Marine was Lucy Brewer who supposedly served, disguised as a man, on hoard the frigate Constitution in the war of 1812. While there is no evidence that Miss Brewer ever wore a Marine uniform there can be no question about Opha Johnson, who on 13 August 1918 enrolled in the Marine Corps to become America's first woman Marine. Her enlistment was a reflection of the dramatic changes in the status of women wrought by the entry of the United States into World War I.

All-female Marine platoon will train alongside men for first time in history

CNN News
January 4, 2019

A platoon of female Marine recruits will make history Saturday when they report for training with a historically all-male battalion for the first time in the Marine Corps.

The approximately 50 female Marines will train alongside five platoons of male Marines of the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, according to a news release.

“The decision was made by Marine Corps leadership in support of training efficiency,” the release says.

The all-female platoon comes three years after the Department of Defense began accepting women for all armed combat positions in January 2016.
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Gunnery Sgt. Thought Hating Recruits Was A Good Thing?

‘The more you hate them, the better you train them’: Parris Island’s most notorious drill instructor on trial

Marine Corps Times

Jeff Schogol

November 6, 2017

“You have to hate recruits to train them,” Felix told the investigator, according to Marine prosecutor Capt. Corey Wielert. “They get three meals a day, sleep eight hours. The more you hate them, the better you train them.”

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — ­Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix is a 15-year Marine, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and the father of four daughters. But he’s also become the Corps’ most ­notorious drill instructor, the Marine at the center of the Parris Island hazing scandal and now the defendant in a general court-martial that began Oct. 31 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 

Felix is accused of improperly hazing many recruits — for example, when one recruit puked in his chocolate milk, Felix allegedly made the squad leader drink it.
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Parris Island Marine Families Question Cause of Cancer in Their Children

Marine family wonders if child's cancer could be linked to Lowcountry military housing
WJCL News
Meghan Schiller
Jan 15, 2017

A Marine wife created a video last week in effort to warn and educate other military families living on or nearby Beaufort's Laurel Bay Housing. The mother, Amanda Whatley, believes there is the potential for those living in the area to develop cancer and other health problems.

A Marine wife created a video last week in effort to warn and educate other military families living on or nearby Beaufort's Laurel Bay Housing. The mother, Amanda Whatley, believes there is the potential for those living in the area to develop cancer and other health problems.

The Lowcountry military housing neighborhood, filled with Marine families stationed at Parris Island or MCAS Beaufort, is now under the national microscope.

The Whatley family lived in Beaufort from July 2007 to November 2010, according to her Youtube video. In the video, Watley talks about her daughter Katie's fight with cancer. She says that Katie is one of 8 children that she knows of that have been diagnosed since living at Laurel Bay.

Whatley recently posted an update to her Youtube post, saying that the number of children with cancer has grown from 8 to 13.
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Laurel Bay Military Housing and Kids with Cancer
Amanda Whatley
Published on Jan 7, 2017

***Edited to add.....The number of children with cancer has grown from 8 to 13 since the video went live. I have also received emails from at least 20 adults who were stationed in Beaufort and then diagnosed with cancer. I expect that number is actually exponentially higher. The only thing I wish I could add to the video is that we are not certain that the oil tanks are the issue. We have asked the Marine Corps to check a list of contaminated areas on Laurel Bay, Parris Island, and MCAS Beaufort. ***

This video is meant to serve as a public service announcement to all families that have been stationed at MCRD Parris Island or MCAS Beaufort and lived in the Laurel Bay military housing community. In the last several years, 8 children (that we know of so far) that lived at Laurel Bay have been diagnosed with cancer. Please share this video with the Marine Corps and Navy families you know that have lived there.

If your child has been diagnosed with cancer and you were stationed in Beaufort, please contact me at courage4katie@gmail.com

Marine's Death At Parris Island Under Investigation

Marine Corps investigating death of recruit at Parris Island boot camp
Washington Post
Dan Lamonthe
March 18, 2016

The Marine Corps is investigating the death of an enlisted recruit Friday at its iconic recruit depot at Parris Island in South Carolina, Marine officials said.

The death occurred during the day at the depot, where about half of the service’s recruits are trained each year, said Capt. Gregory Carroll, a Marine spokesman at the depot. The circumstances of the death were not immediately clear, but it will be examined by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The identity of the recruit was being withheld by the service until the family is notified.
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Parris Island Marine Hero Vanished?

Unidentified Marine hero injured in Burton roadway rescue
Live 5 News
By Georgiaree Godfrey
Monday, February 29th 2016

“There was a marine from Parris Island.

We're actually not sure who he is, but he went into traffic to help get someone who had been ejected from the vehicle, and in the process of bringing them to the shoulder, he was clipped by a car,” said Lt. Alex Murray, Burton Fire District.
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Marine Lt. Col Relieved of Her Command at Parris Island

Controversy Sparks at Firing of Marine Female Recruit Battalion CO
FOX News
July 13, 2015

Lt. Col. Kate Germano, ousted commander of Marine female recruit training on Parris Island. DoD photo

The Marine officer who made female recruits better shots at boot camp has been relieved of her command, igniting controversy.

Military Times reports that Lt. Col. Kate Germano served only a year as the head of the 4th Recruit Training Battalion on Parris Island, S.C., before her dismissal.

She got bounced June 30 after a command investigation accused her of "toxic leadership" by berating and showing contempt for subordinates in public. The 300-page report found her to be "hostile, unprofessional and abusive " and told recruits that sexual assault was preventable, and that those who drank put themselves in a position to be assaulted.

She also told recruits male Marines would never take orders from them and would see them as inferior if they couldn't meet men's physical standards.

But, according to the Times, her supporters say she was a blunt reformer only trying to make the unit better by holding women to tougher standards.

"What she did when she came is she changed the mentality of the Marines in the battalion and the recruits to not expect a historically lower performance than the male recruits at the battalion," a female Marine officer stationed at the recruit depot told the paper.

Parris Island officials admitted rifle range qualification scores improved dramatically among female recruits under Germano's tenure.
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Sgt. Maj. Paul Archie talks about career and what happened besides viral video

Sgt. Major speaks out: 'My career was defaced'
Marine Corps Times
By Hope Hodge Seck
Staff writer
October 27, 2014


Sgt. Maj. Paul Archie was fuming.

All day Marines had been coming to him with questions about a man who stood protesting outside Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, wearing the distinctive drill instructor’s campaign cover, known affectionately as a “Smokey Bear.” Like the Marines he spoke with, Archie felt that wearing the uniform item in a political protest was inappropriate and even against official regulations.

When he confronted Marine vet and former drill instructor Ethan Arguello, the heated exchange was caught on video by another protester. The 32-second clip that showed the two nose-to-nose in a shouting match was uploaded to YouTube and went viral, watched by more than 200,000 people.


The firestorm of news coverage the video created, coupled with third-degree assault charges pressed by Arguello that were later dropped, would ultimately result in Archie’s resignation from his post as sergeant major for Parris Island and the Eastern Recruiting District, along with his retirement from the Marine Corps soon after.
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Happily Ever After Marines Marry on Battleship

Marines marry on historic Battleship Texas
Wedding almost didn't happen after bride suffered hip injury in boot camp
Click2Houston
Author: Keith Garvin, Anchor/Reporter
Published On: Sep 26 2014

LA PORTE, Texas
The setting: The historic Battleship Texas on the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. The occasion: A wedding complete with an arch on the bow of the ship. Oh, and don't forget the beaming mother of the bride.

"I'm very happy and Kasey's awesome and she's really happy," said the bride's mother, Linda Hann. "You know, that's what we want for our kids."

Lance Cpl. Kasey Graham, from Tarkington Prairie in Liberty County, met his bride, Pvt. Mallory Curtner of Conroe, at a local Marine recruiting station earlier this year.
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Iraqi boy became a US Marine serving in Japan

How one Iraqi boy dodged extremists and came to serve in the US military
Stars and Stripes
By Matthew M. Burke
Published: April 12, 2014

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — While his fellow Marine recruits cried and urinated in their trousers in the face of Parris Island’s tough-as-nails drill instructors, Pvt. Mansure had never been more thrilled.

A drill instructor barked at him to run.

“My pleasure,” he enthusiastically replied.

He was told to do pushups.

“I will do this all day long,” he recalled thinking. “I’m like, ‘This is awesome. I have a bed to sleep in, food; I get to work out all day.’”

Plus, he had been spared from the Islamic militants hunting him in his native Iraq. Mansure — whose name has been changed by Stars and Stripes due to safety concerns for his family in Iraq — was so happy to accept the physical and mental punishment that he got in trouble for not looking depressed enough, the Marine said last month from his duty station near Hiroshima in southeastern Japan, where he works in administration.

His story is similar to that of thousands of Iraqis who worked for U.S. forces following the 2003 invasion.

After U.S. forces pulled out in December 2011, many were left to dodge extremists looking to kill “traitors” who had worked for the American military while trying to navigate the bureaucratic process to get U.S. visas.

Mansure knows some didn’t make it. But his story has a happy ending. Now a private first class, the hulking 6-foot-3, 24-year-old is having a big impact on fellow Marines in Iwakuni, where he has been stationed for about three months.
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Remarkable Billy Joel takes back seat for elementary school kids

Remarkable history of things he does just got more remarkable. Billy Joel attended a concert at Deasy Elementary because the students were singing his songs. He didn't sit on stage or in the front row. He sat behind parents several rows back. He was asked if he wanted to sit closer but said he didn't want to make the kids nervous.

As soon as I read this story, the song Goodnight Saigon started to play in my head. It is a haunting song about Marines fighting for their lives in Vietnam. I found this online from a concert he did. Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon (Live at Shea Stadium)

Goodnight Saigon Lyrics
We met as soul mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho
To lay down our lives

We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight

We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might

We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island

We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Billy Joel doesn't know it but he has helped to heal thousands of Vietnam Veterans.
I used this song a long time ago because of how powerful it is.


Nam Nights Of PTSD Still from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

Marine dropped 147 pounds to do "something bigger"

Pascagoula man goes from 338 pounds to 191 to become a Marine
Sun Herald
BY PATRICK OCHS
January 11, 2014

OCEAN SPRINGS -- E.J. Nunez wasn't always among the few, but the Pascagoula resident is now on the verge of becoming one of the proud -- the Marines.

Almost two years ago, Nunez decided he wanted to "be one of the best," so he picked up the phone and called his local U.S. Marine Corps recruitment office. After checking off various requirements, the recruiter asked Nunez about his weight.

The 18-year-old gulped. Always a heavy kid, Nunez crushed the scales at 338 pounds.

The recruiter told him he should probably consider a different career path.

Nunez took the conversation as a challenge, and Monday he is scheduled to ship out to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island, S.C., as an athletic 191-pound 20-year-old well on his way to achieving his goal.

"I just wanted to do something bigger than myself," he said. "I wanted to prove that I could do it. When I called the recruiter, he told me I was disqualified and it just kind of … I don't really know. I just knew I had to do this."
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Linked from Military.com

Female Marine Recruits learn ropes at Parris Island

Recruits of Papa Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, strengthen their upper body by performing rope heaves Aug. 30, 2013, on Parris Island, S.C. Recruits grabbed the rope, jumped up and slowly lowered themselves back to the ground. Papa Company is scheduled to graduate Nov. 1, 2013.

Parris Island has been the site of Marine Corps recruit training since Nov. 1, 1915. Today, approximately 20,000 recruits come to Parris Island annually for the chance to become United States Marines by enduring 13 weeks of rigorous, transformative training. Parris Island is home to entry-level enlisted training for 50 percent of males and 100 percent of females in the Marine Corps.
(Photo by Cpl. Caitlin Brink) see more pictures here

Marine Recruit Survives Medical Mystery

Marine Recruit Survives Medical Mystery
DVIDS
by Lance Cpl. David Bessey
Aug 02, 2013

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. – After overcoming a medical mystery that prevented him from accomplishing his dream, one Marine achieved his goal and finally graduated recruit training Aug. 2, 2013, on Parris Island, S.C.

Pvt. Aaron Sitka, a 20-year-old from Houston, Pa., has wanted to serve his country ever since he was a child. At first, Sitka didn’t know what branch he wanted to join until a friend of his told him about the Marine Corps.

When Sitka spoke to a Marine Corps recruiter, Sitka knew by the end of the conversation that the Marine Corps was exactly what he wanted for his future, even though he was barely halfway through high school.

“[The recruiter] was just so much more put together and more professional,” said Sitka.

Sitka first enlisted in the Marine Corps three years ago and was shipped to Parris Island for recruit training two days after graduating from Chartiers-Houston High School in 2011.

He reported for training with India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, and was assigned to Platoon 3065.

Training was going well for him until the company began basic water survival training, said Sitka.

Several recruits were already sick, and Sitka soon became ill. Over several days, his condition progressively worsened. He developed a cough that became so severe it made him cough blood. Sitka was unable to keep food down due to the cough.

Sitka said he refused to get himself checked by a doctor, because he feared the idea of being held back in training.
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Pictures Of Marine Drill Instructors Screaming

This is a great collection of what recruits willingly sign up for to become Marines.

29 Pictures Of Marine Drill Instructors Screaming In People's Faces
Business Insider
Geoffrey Ingersoll
Feb. 8, 2013

Parris Island Marine killed in motorcycle crash

Parris Island Marine killed in motorcycle crash was expecting birth of third son
By TOM BARTON
December 28, 2012

A Parris Island Marine killed Thursday while riding his motorcycle on Joe Frazier Road was looking forward to the birth of his third son in April, his family said Friday. Cpl. Cameron P. Branum, 23, was assigned to Headquarters and Service Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, serving as a company clerk, helping handle administrative matters and barracks maintenance, Gunnery Sgt. Bill Lisbon, base public affairs chief, said Friday.

Branum leaves behind a wife, Timi, who is pregnant, and sons Gavyn, 3, and Ayden, 1; according to his father, Gregory Branum.

The Marine grew up in a military family with service dating back to the Revolutionary War, his uncle Jeff Branum said. Both he, Branum's father and grandfather served in the military. A cousin serves in the Army, according to family.

"Cameron will never be forgotten," said Gregory Branum, who retired as a master sergeant in the Air Force in 2007 after 24 years.

"And as the military says, 'No man left behind,'" he said. "Cameron will be by our sides forever."
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Marine Brig. Gen. Lori Reynolds influential female athlete

USMC general named influential female athlete
By Gina Harkins
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 13, 2012

LANCE CPL. ANESHEA YEE / MARINE CORPS Brig. Gen. Lori Reynolds played basketball at the U.S. Naval Academy during the early 1980s. Reynolds will be honored next week in Washington as one of 40 influential women who participated in high school or college athletics.

The first woman to command the Marine Corps’ legendary recruit training facility in Parris Island, S.C., will be honored next week in Washington, D.C., alongside the likes of Tina Fey, Queen Latifa and Ellen DeGeneres as one of 40 influential women who participated in high school or college athletics.

Brig. Gen. Lori Reynolds, who played basketball at the U.S. Naval Academy during the early 1980s, took command of the Corps’ East Coast recruit depot in June 2011. Her military career includes stints as commander of 9th Communication Battalion and later as commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The event, to be held June 21 at the JW Marriott hotel in Washington, marks 40 years since Congress enacted Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972. The law requires institutions receiving federal funding to provide equal opportunity to women and men. That includes access to academic and extracurricular activities.
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71 years young Marine vet biking U.S. for injured Marine fund

Marine vet biking U.S. for injured Marine fund
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 23, 2012 9:21:27 EDT
PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. — A 71-year-old former Marine is setting out in an unusual manner to raise money for injured and ill veterans and their families.

Rick Hermelin leaves from the Parris Island Marine Corps Recruiting Depot on Friday to make his way across the nation on an elliptical bicycle.
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Parris Island to honor female Marines

Parris Island to honor female Marines
By PATRICK DONOHUE

Published Saturday, February 11, 2012


Get breaking news and story updates about local, state and national military issues by following On Base on Twitter.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island will honor the service and sacrifice of female Marines with a day of events Monday, base officials say.

It's been nearly 70 years since women officially became a part of the Corps, and the depot is celebrating with a morning colors ceremony, tours of Parris Island and other events, said Lt. Melanie Salinas, depot spokeswoman.

"The Marine Corps is known for ensuring our future generations of Marines learn the history, traditions (and customs) of our Corps during recruit training," Salinas said. "The celebration ... highlights the history and tradition of women's service in the Marine Corps..."
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Marine Brig. Gen. L.E. Reynolds is Parris Island’s first female commander

Marine Brig. Gen. L.E. Reynolds is Parris Island’s first female commander

(John Wollwerth/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) - Brig. General. Loretta E. Reynolds, 46, is the first female Marine commander of the Corps' iconic training ground for recruits at Parris Island, S.C. She took command in June.

By Craig Whitlock, Published: August 19

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. — There’s a new commander on this sandy, swampy spit of land that has transformed rawboned recruits into macho Marines for nearly a century. Brig. Gen. L.E. Reynolds, a 6-foot-tall Baltimore native and a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, is the latest in a long line of no-nonsense leaders to take charge here.

But she’s the first woman.

And for the tradition-bound Marine Corps, which endlessly promotes a tough-guy image and built its recruiting on the search for “a few good men,” the idea of all those ruthless Parris Island drill instructors having to salute a leatherneck named Loretta could take some getting used to.

“I am sure that some Marines, especially those who served many years ago, were disconcerted that a female Marine general would take over Parris Island,” said Maj. Jim Franks, who served under Reynolds as her executive officer when they were deployed to Afghanistan. “But if they had the opportunity to meet her, they would quickly see that she’s eminently qualified to do that job. . . . Take the female part out of it. She’s an outstanding officer.”

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