There is pain when it comes to riding a motorcycle. On a bike, exposed to the elements, the little things are painful. At 75 miles per hour, raindrops batter exposed skin. A piece of road gravel kicked up by a passing car feels ...
Feb 20, 2022
Jan 03, 2022
The Forgotten History of How US Marines and Sailors Took Hawaii in an Illegal Coup
US Marines are known for their amphibious warfare capabilities — projecting power from naval vessels onto beaches or littoral zones anywhere in the world. And while leathernecks are forged on the proud naval traditions and legendary exploits of their ...
Nov 10, 2021
Is July 11 the Real Marine Corps Birthday? Who Cares. Let’s Celebrate It Too
For many Marines, Marine Corps birthday season — the roughly four-week period beginning in October and covering much of November — is the highlight of the year. It’s the time where Marines forget how much they hate life in the military and suddenly ...
Oct 09, 2021
6 Underrated Sci-Fi Novels Military Members and Vets Should Love
On his professional reading list, the commandant of the Marine Corps recommends some classic science-fiction novels, such as Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Card’s novel is an excellent book about the ...
Jun 07, 2021
Saint Patrick’s Battalion and the Dark History Behind the Marines’ Blood Stripe
As many Marines are aware, the lyric “From the Halls of Montezuma” in the opening line of the Marines’ Hymn is a reference to the battle for Chapultepec Castle during the Mexican War. The castle, which served as a military academy, was built on a ...
Apr 14, 2021
Stephen Crane Conveyed War’s Horror, Existential Angst Like No Other
“I heard somebody dying near me. He was dying hard. Hard. It took him a long time to die … The darkness was impenetrable. The man was lying in some depression within seven feet of me. Every wave, vibration, of his anguish beat upon my senses.” — ...
Apr 01, 2021
‘Cocaine Bear’ Movie To Highlight Legend of Corrupt Cop, Bear Who Ate Enough Coke To Kill a T. Rex
In December 1985, a hunter in the Chattahoochee National Forest in northern Georgia found a 175-pound black bear lying next to an empty duffel bag and dozens of ravaged cocaine bundles. The peculiar scene seemed too strange to be real. Did this bear ...
Mar 17, 2021
Cheating Death in Ramadi on the Luckiest St. Paddy’s Day Ever
Two days before we were blown up by an insurgent IED in Ramadi, my teammate got a letter from his dad — with a Purple Heart postage stamp on it. We looked at that stamp, sitting on Camp Hurricane Point in 2004, with incredulity. It was bad ...
Nov 10, 2020
Why Are Marines So Fanatical About the Marine Corps Birthday?
Marines don’t really need an excuse to get together and party, maybe fight a little, and be generally glorious bastards for a night. But every November, Marines everywhere come together for a particularly special night of camaraderie and debauchery ...
