Military Training

The Warren Grove Gunnery Range says it tries hard to be a good neighbor to the growing communities in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. But if your neighbor set the neighborhood on fire repeatedly, crashed a plane into it, and shot up the local elementary school, how neighborly would you feel?

Common images of the U.S. Coast Guard's duties include boat rescues on the Great Lakes, pursuits of smugglers in the Caribbean and patrols of U.S. ports in the post-Sept. 11 security buildup. But "Coasties" are also hip-deep in one of the world's riskiest and most politically volatile missions: boarding ships in the Persian Gulf to search for contraband, weaponry and suspected terrorists.

A plan to expand an Army artillery range could annex as much as 500,000 acres of federally managed desert in southwestern Arizona that is home to a variety of wildlife, including desert bighorn sheep, Sonoran desert tortoise and endangered lesser long-nosed bats. The plan being considered by the Army's Yuma Proving Ground, near the border with California, would expand the facility beyond its 840,000 acres to accommodate the increasing distance that artillery shells can be fired.

The U.S. military is embarking on a new effort in Africa to help thwart the rise of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups and as a first step has launched a $500-million program to train African battalions in desert warfare. And when Uncle Sam commits to a project, contracts for U.S. technology firms are not far beyond. One of the first is a $300,000 deal with Sentek Consulting of San Diego to work with African governments on building an information-sharing system to connect far-flung nations.

CAMP PENDLETON -- Far from their South Pacific island homeland, members of the Tonga Defence Services are training here for hazardous duty in Iraq. Long days are spent doing exercises designed to help them in the uncertain days ahead. There's live-fire weapons training. Hand-to-hand combat. Singing. Yes, singing. But more on that in a bit. Soon the 55 Tongans will deploy to the Middle East to assume security duties at Camp Victory, near the Baghdad airport.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has given the U.S. Navy a temporary go-ahead to use high-powered sonar during nearly a dozen upcoming training exercises in Southern California waters. Friday's ruling puts a temporary stay on an injunction ordered last month by a Los Angeles federal judge to stop the powerful bursts of sonar -- used to detect hostile submarines -- because they could "cause irreparable harm to the environment." Scientists have linked sonar use to mass whale die-offs.

It was nearly 3 a.m. on a Monday when three weary teenagers arrived at the Marine Corps recruiting station in the Santa Clarita Valley. There to meet them was the station's chief recruiter, Staff Sgt. Juan Diazdumeng, an energetic and enthusiastic presence, even in the middle of the night. Daniel Motamedi, 17 years old and just 10 days past his high school graduation, rubbed his head and yawned. It was one of the most important days of his young life, and he seemed half-awake.

A fourth drill instructor has been criminally charged in the alleged abuse of recruits at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot here, officials said Friday. Iraq veteran Sgt. Mark A. Delarosa, 25, is facing court-martial on charges of assault, cruelty and maltreatment, violating an order and making false statements. The trial, set to begin Monday, is listed as a special court-martial, meaning that he faces a maximum of one year in the brig.

CAMP PENDLETON -- The names -- while comic -- were meant to reflect an unfunny reality: the sometimes overbearing stress felt by Marines and sailors serving in Iraq. Such as Cpl. Angermode, who after a roadside bomb exploded in Ramadi began telling his fellow Marines that he couldn't wait to begin killing Iraqis. Chief Screamer, who dealt with his stress by screaming at everyone. And Lance Cpl. Stoneface, who just shut down emotionally and kept silently to himself.

SAN DIEGO -- A drill instructor whose motto was "pain retains" kicked, hit and cursed recruits and forced an injured recruit to perform strenuous exercises that made his injury worse, a Marine prosecutor alleged Monday at the instructor's court-martial. Sgt. Mark A. Delarosa made a recruit with a fractured ankle repeatedly stomp his foot and taunted him with, "Does it hurt? Good. I don't care. Stomp your feet," the prosecutor told the jury at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.