1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing Remembered at Camp Lejeune

Remembering Camp Lejeune Marines killed in 1983 Beirut Barracks bombing
Examiner
Susy Raybon
Military Community Examiner
October 23, 2014

Yesterday’s attack in Ottawa, Canada, is another ugly reminder that there will always be radicals and extremists in the world who, by acts of terrorism, commit horrific deeds. One of the first and most deadly to American servicemen happened at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983.

Thirty-one years ago, today, 220 Marines of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines of Camp Lejeune were killed in the worst attack on the U.S. Marine Corps since Iwo Jima in World War II.

The American death toll that day was 241 servicemen; besides the 220 Marines, 18 were Navy and three were U.S. Army. The French also suffered the loss of 58 of their peace-keeping servicemen that day.

That deadly attack by suicide bombers in explosives-laden trucks marked the beginning of an era of terrorism not quite realized in the world before. Many of today’s Marines were not even born when that attack occurred.

In July of this year, some of those troops’ surviving family members were awarded a small restitution for their loss.

A settlement of $1.7 million from the Iranian government was awarded to 1,300 families who lost loved ones in the attack. The award brought an end some 13 years of legal wrangling.
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Bombing near US Embassy leaves 2 US servicemembers dead

2 US troops, 1 Polish sergeant killed in bombing near US Embassy in Kabul
Stars and Stripes
By Slobodan Lekic
Published: September 16, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two U.S. servicemembers and a Polish soldier were killed Tuesday when a suicide bomber struck a convoy of vehicles near the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul, officials said.

The International Security Assistance Force said three of its servicemembers died “as a result of an enemy attack” in Kabul, but did not disclose the nationalities. Five ISAF members were reported wounded.

In Washington a defense official said two of the three fatalities were Americans. The third was a Polish sergeant, the Poland’s Defense Ministry said.

Separately, another coalition soldier was killed on Monday in an apparent insider attack in western Afghanistan, an ISAF statement said. A Pentagon official said the victim was an American.

Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack.
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Family seeking justice after Greek Officials removed heart of Marine

Family seeking heart of dead Marine son loses round in court
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Jeremy Roebuck
Published: July 15, 2014

PHILADELPHIA — A Coatesville, Pa. family seeking to learn how their son's heart went missing after his death in Greece two years ago will have to find answers outside of a courtroom, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell tossed out the family's claims against the Greek government and an Athens hospital, saying they had not met the high burden required to sue a foreign government in American courts.

In a ruling Thursday, the judge did, however, clear the way for the parents of Marine Sgt. Brian LaLoup to pursue a claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress against the U.S. government, which the family says withheld information about their son's incomplete remains.

The LaLoups filed their suit last year against Greece and Evangelismos General Hospital in Athens, alleging the autopsy in which their son's heart went missing was conducted over objections from U.S. military and diplomatic officials.
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Also from last year

Greek Government 'Harvested' Dead U.S. Marine’s Heart
Family says the Defense Department lied to them about the missing heart and that the Greek government later sent a heart that was not their son’s back to United States
NBC 10 News
By Vince Lattanzio
Saturday, Dec 7, 2013

The family of a U.S. Marine who committed suicide inside a U.S. Embassy in Greece says their son was buried without a heart, after the Greek government performed an illegal autopsy on his body and “harvested” the organ.

Craig and Beverly LaLoup, of Coatesville, Pa., filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday against the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Navy and U.S. government for negligence, emotional distress and alleged mistreatment of their son’s body.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Brian LaLoup, who was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece, shot himself following a night out drinking in the Greek capital on Aug. 12, 2012, according to the court filing.

The 22-year-old allegedly had been at an off-duty party when he told a fellow officer he was considering ending his life.

“I don’t have anyone who loves me,” he allegedly said. He then apparently told the officer he was planning to shoot himself in the face with a shotgun.

That officer notified a superior, listed in the suit as Staff Sgt. Martinez, about Brian’s intentions. But instead of getting him medical care, the commander allegedly took him out to drink more – a violation of Marine Corps protocol, the lawsuit claims.
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Greek officials offer clue on dead Marine's missing heart
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Jeremy Roebuck
Published: December 12, 2013

COATESVILLE, Pa. — The missing heart of a dead Marine sergeant from Chester County was removed during an autopsy last year for toxicology testing, Greek consular officials said Wednesday.

But that explanation - offered without comment on where the organ is now - only begins to answer the questions raised by the Marine's parents in their lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, Craig and Beverly LaLoup of Coatesville, parents of Sgt. Brian LaLoup, added the Greek government and the Athens hospital that conducted the autopsy to the list of defendants in their suit, which previously included the U.S. Department of Defense and the Navy.
read more of this here

U.S. Troops on Search Team for Nigerian Girls

DOD Official
16 U.S. Troops on Search Team for Nigerian Girls
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2014 – A total of 16 military personnel from U.S. Africa Command have joined the interdisciplinary team led by the State Department at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, to help in finding hundreds of kidnapped girls, a Pentagon spokesman said today.

Members of the extremist group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls from the Government Secondary boarding school in the town of Chibok on the night of April 14. Several countries, including the United States, have offered help.

On May 6, President Barack Obama said on NBC’s “Today” program that the immediate priority is finding the girls, and then the world must address the broader problem of organizations like Boko Haram that “can cause such havoc in people's day-to-day lives.”

At the Pentagon today, Army Col. Steve Warren said the group of 16 military personnel includes experts in communications, logistics, civil affairs, operations and intelligence.

“Their role is to assess the situation, advise and assist the Nigerian government in their efforts to respond to this crisis situation, and find the young women kidnapped by Boko Haram,” the colonel added.

A majority of the group members were staff officers and personnel from the embassy’s Office of Security Cooperation, whose mission is to enhance the long-term bilateral defense relationship between Nigeria and the United States. The rest came into the country from outside Africa, he said.

The Office of Security Cooperation in Nigeria is the largest in Africa, Warren said. “We have a total of 50 or 60 military personnel assigned to the embassy there as part of the country team,” the colonel added, and 16 now are devoted to the interdisciplinary team to find the girls.

The Defense Department has no plans at this point, he said, to put more personnel into the country.

Marine Embassy Security Guard Bad Behavior

Witnesses: Marine flashed security badge on Obama trip, bragged of being ‘bullet catcher’
Washington Post
By Carol D. Leonnig, Michael Birnbaum and David Nakamura
Published: March 29, 2014

Military officials said they are investigating the conduct of a U.S. Marine who was on assignment for President Obama’s trip to the Netherlands last week, after witnesses said he was talking in detail about his job and passing around his government security badge during a night of drinking at a bar.

The Marine, Korey Nathan Pritchett, was first identified by a Dutch newspaper based on witness accounts and smartphone photos taken during the partying, which happened two nights before Obama arrived at The Hague for a nuclear security summit. The Washington Post confirmed and expanded on that reporting through interviews, social media postings and public records.

The Marine Corps began investigating the alleged behavior after The Post inquired about Pritchett. The Marines did not confirm whether he is the person in the photos.

Pritchett is a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Monte­negro and reports to the State Department, according to department and military officials. He was on temporary assignment for the Netherlands summit, officials said.
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150 US Marines ready to enter South Sudan

U.S. Marines poised to enter South Sudan
CNN
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian. Barbara Starr and Antonia Mortensen
December 23, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: U.S. special envoy to South Sudan says Kiir ready to begin talks with rival
About 150 Marines are headed to South Sudan to help with evacuations, security
Rebels seize Bentiu, capital of the oil-producing Unity state in South Sudan
U.S. citizens flown out of flashpoint town of Bor on Sunday

(CNN) -- About 150 U.S. Marines are poised to enter turbulent South Sudan to help evacuate Americans and provide security for the U.S. Embassy, two U.S. military officials said Monday.

The troops are moving from Spain to Africa, probably to the nation of Djibouti, the officials told CNN's Barbara Starr on Monday.

An estimated 100 U.S. citizens are believed to be in South Sudan, where steady violence is stoking fears of an all-out civil war in the world's newest country.

"By positioning these forces forward, we are able to more quickly respond to crisis in the region, if required," read a statement from U.S. Africa Command.

It cited the example of Benghazi, where an attack last year killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

"One of the lessons learned from the tragic events in Benghazi was that we needed to be better postured, in order to respond to developing or crisis situations, if needed. These precautionary movements will allow us to do just that," the statement read.
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Greek officials offer clue on dead Marine's missing heart

Update to this story Family says Embassy Marine's heart removed by Greece Officials

Greek officials offer clue on dead Marine's missing heart
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Jeremy Roebuck
Published: December 12, 2013

COATESVILLE, Pa. — The missing heart of a dead Marine sergeant from Chester County was removed during an autopsy last year for toxicology testing, Greek consular officials said Wednesday.

But that explanation - offered without comment on where the organ is now - only begins to answer the questions raised by the Marine's parents in their lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, Craig and Beverly LaLoup of Coatesville, parents of Sgt. Brian LaLoup, added the Greek government and the Athens hospital that conducted the autopsy to the list of defendants in their suit, which previously included the U.S. Department of Defense and the Navy.

Brian LaLoup, 21, had been stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. It was there, after a night of drinking, that he fatally shot himself in the head on Aug. 12, 2012. His parents allege that Greek medical examiners removed his heart in an illegal procedure.

U.S. military officials failed to notify the parents about the missing organ until after they had buried their son, the LaLoups claim.
read more here

Family says Embassy Marine's heart removed by Greece Officials

When I saw this headline I was thinking the source must be back to some outrageous publication in checkout area of Publix but it linked to NBC.

Greek Government 'Harvested' Dead U.S. Marine’s Heart
Family says the Defense Department lied to them about the missing heart and that the Greek government later sent a heart that was not their son’s back to United States
NBC 10 News
By Vince Lattanzio
Saturday, Dec 7, 2013

The family of a U.S. Marine who committed suicide inside a U.S. Embassy in Greece says their son was buried without a heart, after the Greek government performed an illegal autopsy on his body and “harvested” the organ.

Craig and Beverly LaLoup, of Coatesville, Pa., filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday against the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Navy and U.S. government for negligence, emotional distress and alleged mistreatment of their son’s body.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Brian LaLoup, who was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece, shot himself following a night out drinking in the Greek capital on Aug. 12, 2012, according to the court filing.

The 22-year-old allegedly had been at an off-duty party when he told a fellow officer he was considering ending his life.

“I don’t have anyone who loves me,” he allegedly said. He then apparently told the officer he was planning to shoot himself in the face with a shotgun.

That officer notified a superior, listed in the suit as Staff Sgt. Martinez, about Brian’s intentions. But instead of getting him medical care, the commander allegedly took him out to drink more – a violation of Marine Corps protocol, the lawsuit claims.

Later that night, Brian went into an unlocked room inside the embassy, where weapons were stored, and committed suicide. According to court documents, he was visibly drunk and distraught and passed a guard on his way through the building.
read more here

Recalling The Takeover: A Marine Captive In Tehran

November 24, 2012 8:00 AM

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StoryCorps' National Day of Listening encourages people to take advantage of the days following Thanksgiving to talk to a family member or friend and have a conversation. This year, host Scott Simon speaks with Marine Corps veteran Kevin Hermening about his time as a captive in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, during the Iran hostage crisis of 1980-81.

Ambassador said no to military offers of security in Libya, officials say

Considering General Carter Ham has never been afraid to tell the truth I believe he is telling it now. If you do not know who General Ham is, he spoke out about his own battle with PTSD so that he could help his men do the same. He did it way back in 2008!

Ambassador said no to military offers of security in Libya, officials say
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Foreign Staff
Published: May 15, 2013

CAIRO -- In the month before attackers stormed U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military official in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still-secret memorandum, two government officials told McClatchy.

Why Stevens, who died of smoke inhalation in the first of two attacks that took place late Sept. 11 and early Sept. 12, 2012, would turn down the offers remains unclear. The deteriorating security situation in Benghazi had been the subject of a meeting that embassy officials held Aug. 15, where they concluded they could not defend the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. The next day, the embassy drafted a cable outlining the dire circumstances and saying it would spell out what it needed in a separate cable.

"In light of the uncertain security environment, US Mission Benghazi will submit specific requests to US Embassy Tripoli for additional physical security upgrades and staffing needs by separate cover," said the cable, which was first reported by Fox News.

Army Gen. Carter Ham, then the head of the U.S. Africa Command, did not wait for the separate cable, however. Instead, after reading the Aug. 16 cable, Ham phoned Stevens and asked if the embassy needed a special security team from the U.S. military. Stevens told Ham it did not, the officials said.
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Pentagon timeline shows military response to Libya attack

Pentagon timeline shows military response to Libya attack
By LOLITA C. BALDOR AND DONNA CASSATA
The Associated Press
Published: November 9, 2012

WASHINGTON — New Pentagon details show that the first U.S. military unit arrived in Libya more than 14 hours after the attack on the consulate in Benghazi was over and four Americans, including the ambassador, were dead.

A Defense Department timeline obtained by The Associated Press underscores how far the military response lagged behind the Sept. 11 attack, due largely to the long distances the commando teams had to travel to get to Libya.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his top military adviser were notified of the attack about 50 minutes after it began and were about to head into a previously scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama. The meeting quickly turned into a discussion of potential responses to the unfolding situation in Benghazi, where militants had surrounded the consulate and set it on fire. The first wave of the attack at the consulate lasted less than two hours.
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US embassy vehicles torched in Afghan capital

US embassy vehicles torched in Afghan capital


By Agence France-Presse
Friday, July 30th, 2010 -- 11:24 am

Rioting erupted in Kabul Friday when scores of Afghan men set fire to two US embassy vehicles after one collided with a civilian car killing a number of occupants, officials and witnesses said.

Television pictures showed the vehicles in flames and young Afghan men throwing stones at them.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had despatched a quick reaction force to the area, outside the American embassy and near US and Afghan army bases in the centre of the city.

An ISAF official said the vehicles involved belonged to the US embassy.

"We don't know yet how many people were killed in the accident," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashery said.
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US embassy vehicles torched in Afghan capital

Marine helps save couple after hippo attack

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” he said. “I’m no hero. Any Marine would have done the same thing.”

Marine helps save couple after hippo attack
MarineCorpsTimes.com
By Staff writer
Corporal: ‘Any Marine would have done the same thing’
By James K. Sanborn - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Apr 11, 2010 8:35:24 EDT

Hippopotamus attacks aren’t covered during standard Marine training, but that didn’t stop one corporal from rushing to the aid of a married couple while on safari in Zimbabwe after their inflatable canoe was flipped and the husband mauled.

Cpl. Justin Trinidad, 24, a Marine security guard at the U.S. embassy in Zimbabwe, was with his girlfriend, Kaylynn Hankey, when the hippo attacked their tour group on the Zambezi River in mid-March. About 30 minutes into the trip, the group — which included four canoes — asked for a break. As they headed for shore, tour guides spotted the hippo and yelled for the canoes to move away, but Javier and Patricia Franco didn’t hear the warning.

“I look back and all I see is Mr. and Mrs. Franco thrown up in the air a few meters,” Trinidad told Marine Corps Times in a telephone interview from Africa.

Patricia Franco was thrown clear of the hippo, but her husband came down almost on top of it. That’s when the animal chomped down on his leg, nearly severing his foot, Trinidad said.

Gunmen storm UN guest house in Kabul, 12 dead

Gunmen storm UN guest house in Kabul, 12 dead
By RAHIM FAIEZ and AMIR SHAH, AP

KABUL -Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and police uniforms stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff in the heart of the Afghan capital early Wednesday, killing 12 people — including six U.N. staff. It was the biggest in a series of attacks intended to undermine next month's presidential runoff election.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the early morning assaults, which also included rocket attacks at the presidential palace and the city's main luxury hotel.
The chief of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said the attack "will not deter the U.N. from continuing all its work" in the country. One of the six U.N. dead was an American, the U.S. Embassy said.
The two-hour attack on the guest house where some 20 U.N. election workers were staying sent people running and screaming outside, with some jumping out upper-story windows to escape a fire that broke out. One American man said he held off the assailants with a Kalashnikov rifle until guests were able to escape.
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Gunmen storm UN guest house in Kabul

US Embassy fires guards shown in lewd acts

Watchdog fears contractor may impede investigation of Kabul ‘hazing’


Share on Facebook By David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: September 4, 2009
Breaking: US Embassy fires guards shown in lewd acts

Earlier this week, a watchdog group revealed flagrant misbehavior by employees of the private security contractor ArmorGroup North America assigned to guard the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photographs received from whistleblowers showed “hazing” that included simulated sex acts and guards urinating on one another.

The US Embassy in Kabul stated on Friday that it had already fired eight of the guards shown in the photographs, while two others had resigned, and that the contractor’s local management team was also being replaced. ArmorGroup’s parent corporation, Wackenhut Services, responded to inquiries by stating that it is “fully cooperating” with the Department of State in investigating the incidents.
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http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/04/state-dept-knew-of-deviant-behavior/