Marine Corps U S

Philippine prisons are better known for rats and vicious gangs than diplomatic niceties, which is why people here are angry that an American Marine convicted of rape is doing his jail time in the dignified U.S. Embassy. Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith was convicted in December 2006 of raping a 22-year-old Filipina a year earlier after they had been drinking in a bar in Subic Bay, a former U.S. naval base north of Manila.

More active-duty Marines committed suicide last year than any year since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, although the suicide rate remained virtually unchanged because the Marine Corps is increasing in size, according to a report issued Tuesday. Forty-one Marines are listed as possible or confirmed suicides in 2008, or 16.8 per 100,000 troops, the Marine Corps report said. Nearly all were enlisted and under 24, and about two-thirds had deployed overseas.

One night in April 2007, as Mike Partain hugged his wife before going to bed, she felt a small lump above his right nipple. A mammogram -- a "man-o-gram," he called it -- led to a diagnosis of male breast cancer. Six days later, the 41-year-old insurance adjuster had a mastectomy. Partain had no idea men could get breast cancer. But he thinks he knows what caused his: contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he was born. Over the last two years, Partain has compiled a list of 19 others diagnosed with male breast cancer who once lived on the base.

Forty-one Marines marched on command to the front of the hall and stared at hundreds of their comrades assembled Friday for a presentation ordered by top generals to try to stem a rising rate of suicide. The Marines represented the number who took their own lives last year, more than were killed in Iraq (34) or in Afghanistan (27). Losing a Marine to suicide, Col. Lori Reynolds told the group, is like abandoning a Marine in combat.

The signs -- mostly hand-drawn, all heartfelt -- told a story of stress and joy as 300 Marines and sailors returned Sunday to their base at Camp Pendleton after a year in Iraq. "Welcome Home From Iraq, Half Of My Heart Has Returned." "Welcome home Daddy! Can I have a puppy?" "Kayla Loves Riley." "Babe, 386 Days of Deployment Over!" Along with the signs came stories of how families coped with having a loved one in a war zone.

A former Marine counter-intelligence sergeant testified Tuesday that special operations Marines fired into oncoming civilian traffic in Afghanistan last March even though he saw no evidence that their convoy was fired upon. Appearing before a rare military court of inquiry, Nathaniel Travers, a former staff sergeant, said Marines in his convoy were rushing back to their base after a car bombing when Marine Humvee gunners fired into civilian vehicles on a highway in eastern Afghanistan.

Faced with rising violence, U.S. military officials have proposed sending additional troops to Afghanistan this spring in an effort to counter the growing power of Taliban militants. Pentagon officials want to deploy 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan for a standard seven-month stint and would not replace them when they leave. Added to the 27,000 U.S. troops there, the additional Marines would boost the U.S. force to the highest level since the 2001 invasion. The proposal is supported by Adm.

Three Marines and an Afghan translator testified Wednesday that their convoy came under fire in Afghanistan after a car bomb attack in March, prompting return fire as the Marines tried to escape what they called the "kill zone." As many as 19 Afghans were reported killed. The testimony came on the second day of a court of inquiry examining the incident.

A Marine who fired at least 200 machine-gun rounds during a March incident that left as many as 19 Afghans dead will not testify before a special court of inquiry unless he is granted immunity, his civilian lawyer said Thursday. Fellow Marines have testified that, after a car bomb attack on their convoy in eastern Afghanistan, Sgt. Joshua Henderson fired his M240 in response to what U.S. forces believed was enemy small-arms fire. Henderson "has nothing to hide," attorney Charles W.

A 20-year-old pregnant Marine who disappeared in December told victims' advocates at Camp Lejeune that she didn't feel threatened in the presence of the colleague she accused of raping her, who is now wanted in her death, Marine Corps officials said Tuesday. Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean never violated the military protective order directing him to stay away from Lance Cpl.