Salem-News.com Marine Corps articles Page 43

El Toro Water Contamination Reports Will Continue

Technical delays have slowed down progress but a number of reports will soon be posted.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - I have spent the last several days in the area of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in what is now Irvine, California, investigating the status of the water contamination that stems from the former air base.

For those who not familiar. El Toro, in the heart of Orange County, California, is an EPA "Super Fund" site and contamination in the groundwater here is connected to TCE- trichloroethylene, perchlorate and other chemicals. The base is being developed into a public park under the "Great Parks Corporation" in Orange County and also is the site of new home construction.

Irvine, California's city staff says it is the safest city in America, but mounting evidence from a number of sources including the Navy and the EPA, tell a story of decades of environmental abuse. A "plume" of TCE has traveled several miles from the base and now occupies an area in one of California's most affluent neighborhoods.

Sick Marines and Contaminated Water: Questions Surround El Toro Marine Air Base (VIDEO REPORT)

Marines who served here need to know the possible health hazards so they can seek treatment. TCE causes mutations, intestinal disorders and cancer.

(EL TORO, Calif.) - El Toro Marine Air Station used to be the premiere Marine Corps aviation facility on the west coast. It closed in 1999 and is in the midst of big change; a park will soon occupy the land and new homes are being built. But while the politicians move forward and families move into new homes on the former base, contamination in the base's water system from a degreasing chemical is staying off the radar.

A group of veterans that growing quickly in number, say El Toro, along with the active Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune on the east coast, are major TCE contaminant zones. TCE, Trichloroethylene, was a chemical degreaser used to clean the parts off Marine Corps jet fighters.

Watch for our Series on El Toro Marine Base Contamination

All Marines and their family members who were stationed at El Toro and Camp Lejeune, where the contamination-related problems are a matter of record and have inspired several ongoing investigations, need to be aware of the possible related health risks.

(SALEM, Ore.) - El Toro MCAS was the Marine Corps' top aviation base on the west coast until its 1999 closure that sent the 3rd Marine Air Wing down to Miramar, "Fighter Town USA", which booted the Navy and its Top Gun program off to the Nevada desert where it is now located in Fallon.

The story of El Toro begins in haste; World War Two was on and the Marines needed a place to train and organize the aerial arm of the war effort, so the farm fields and orange orchards around Trabuco Canyon Road in Orange County were plowed down and the runways and associated buildings were constructed.

Veterans Increasingly Becoming Victims of Violent Crime in the U.S.

The people who lay their lives on the line for their country are encountering violent crime for a variety of reasons.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Criminal, violent acts against American combat veterans are on the rise in the streets of this nation. It may not be anything new, but there does appear to be an increase in the number of crimes taking place against people who once served in uniform. Some of it relates to chance, but several of the reported cases apparently involved veterans specifically being targeted.

One recent story involves a 21-year old Marine Lance Corporal named Robert Crutchfield, who survived 14 months of intense fighting in Iraq, only to be gunned down by robbers at home on leave during the Christmas holiday, on January 5th. It happened at a bus stop at East 72nd Street and Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio; in America's heartland.

In-Depth Look at El Toro Marine Base TCE Contamination Begins Next Week

Time to get to the bottom of a big environmental mess involving a former Marine Corps base in Southern California.

(SALEM, Ore.) - For years, a chemical degreaser called Trichlorethylene, or TCE for short, was used to clean fighter jets at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Southern California. The U.S. government is notorious for poor environmental practices, and this ranks among its most profound; as generation after generation of Marines were exposed to the toxic and lethal nature of TCE, a product primarily manufactured by DOW Chemicals.

Various squadrons on the base used the deadly degreaser and all of the runoff was hosed away down the flightline and into the water basins.

The base of the 'TCE plume' as it is called, flowed right through the Marine Wing Support Group-37 area. This is where I spent the majority of a three year enlistment as a young Marine, totally oblivious to the condition of the water and the ground that we worked on every day.

Team Black Rhino - All Marines Are Infantrymen

From the article "Black Rhino Charges Through Desert" submitted to Salem-News.com by Lance Corporal Michael Stevens with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Iraq's AL-Jazirah Desert.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Unlike other military services, all Marines are trained as basic infantrymen, regardless of their military occupational specialty. This means that a general in charge of logistics, a military police Corporal trained in law enforcement, and others like communications specialists, pilots and Marines pushing papers in administrative services, are trained and qualified to grab an M-16 and instantly become a member of an infantry platoon.

When I was in the Marine Corps, serving with Marine Wing Support Group-37 in the 3rd Marine Air Wing during the early 1980's, stories about Vietnam were told and retold and one of the specific aspects was that guys from our squadron often served as helicopter door gunners.

Family Of Robbery Suspect Blames Retired Marine for Fatal Shooting

'If you want to kick a tiger in the ass, you'd better have a plan for dealing with his teeth.' - comment about this story on Topix.com

(PLANTATION, Fla.) - A Florida newspaper reported that John Lovell had just finished dinner at about 11:15 PM that night in June 2007, when the two men armed with guns quickly entered a Subway shop and demanded cash.

Acquittal of Another Haditha Marine Shows Overzealous Intent of Murtha and Military Prosecutors

Is John Murtha trapped in a time warp?

(SALEM, Ore.) - We sure have come a long way since the dark days of the Vietnam War, or have we? Many blame the current administration for what is wrong with our nation today; the crumbling economy, thousands of war dead and mounting tens of thousands of injured, and one of the biggest criticisms is that we as a nation, failed to learn the lessons gained during that bitter war in SE Asia waged from '64 to '75.

The even bigger truth, may be that while we did not learn many lessons from that war, we also have failed to recognize the vast and stark differences between the people who fought in Vietnam and today's American combat forces.

Navy and Marine Casualties Surge in Afghanistan

Most casualties in Iraq have been from the U.S. Army, but in Afghanistan six Marines and sailors have died in four days.

(SALEM, Ore.) - A number of Marines and sailors have been killed in Afghanistan in recent days, demonstrating a true shift away from the traditionally larger number of U.S. Army casualties reported in Iraq.

The Department of Defense this week announced that four Marines died June 14th while supporting combat operations in Farah Province, Afghanistan. Two sailors died June 18th as a result of wounds suffered from an enemy rocket attack in northern Paktika province, Afghanistan.

Former Marine Testifies Over Deadly Contaminated Water at Camp Lejeune

Former Marine and other witnesses tell subcommittee that communities were left vulnerable to toxic chemicals.

(SALEM, Ore.) - It is hard to find a sadder story or a more determined Marine than Jerome M. Ensminger of Richlands, North Carolina. He lost his daughter Janey to cancer after a long struggle in the 1980's. At the time they could not figure out what caused it.