PO3 Todd Angell, USN said; “One of the hardest casualties I worked on was Rumbaugh; he was one of the most unstable casualties I had. He was actually less stable than a kid I treated with a gunshot wound to the head.” “I did everything I could, but I didn’t know if it was enough. Having him pin me meant the world to me. Just to have Rumbaugh alive to pin me, that’s worth more than any Silver Star or any medal.”

Doc Angell risked his life on many occasions to save others because he said, “If that means being hurt on the way, so be it.”

Oct. 12, 2010, Angell took a Marine fire team and unknowingly ran more than 500 meters through an IED hotspot to provide immediate care for Marines injured by IEDs, rather than wait for vehicles to navigate the difficult terrain in the area. Doc Angell said; “I just grabbed my gear and just ran. It was a long run, probably the longest run of my life. I was broke off by the time I got up there.”

Nov. 8, 2010, involved the treatment of an Afghan National Army soldier who stepped on an IED.  Doc Angell was following a Marine handling a minesweeper to get to the wounded soldier when the Marine struck an IED. Doc Angell assessed the Marine’s injury before moving toward the soldier. Doc then applied tourniquets to both amputated legs, administered intravenous fluids and stabilized the Afghan Soldier. While treating the Afghan Soldier an explosive ordnance disposal Marine working on site also struck an IED; who receiving minor injuries.

If that were not enough; a firefight broke out and a local resident was shot in the head.  Doc Angell treated the civilian promptly and saved his life.

Dec. 20, 2010, During a firefight PO3 Todd Angell proved his Marine Combat skills; by killing two insurgents at distances up to 400 meters. As the firefight continued Doc Angell also acted as the assistant mortar gunner. By the end of the day, he had fired 17 mortar rounds at enemy positions.

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly has ordered the Navajo Nation flag to be flown at half staff beginning May 10th, through sundown May 14th, in honor Marine Code Talker Samuel Tso for his service in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and to the Navajo Nation.

Code Talker Marine Tso was born on June 22, 1922, at Black Mountain near Many Farms, Arizona, However, he frequently told stories about how he made up his birth date to get a job.

Samuel Tso served in the U.S. Marine Corps with the 5th Marine Division from February 13, 1943 to March 29, 1946. Samuel Tso was one of the Marines who captured Iwo Jima.  PFC Tso highly decorated Marine, was awarded the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the Victory Medal of World War II, the USMC Good Conduct Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

Code Talker Tso was Zuni Tachiinii and born for Nakai Dine'e.

Family members are quick to point out that Marine Tso was not one of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers.  Marine Tso worked hard to establish the yet to be completed Navajo Code Talkers Museum and Veterans' Project so that Navajo people and all Americans will remember forever the vast contributions the Code Talkers made during World War II.

Semper Fidelis Marine Tso, Code Talker

Funeral services are pending with Desert View Funeral Home in Shiprock, New Mexico.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, said that Marine Woman Officers volunteers are being sau out to attend the Infantry Officer Course at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Gen. Dunford said the Marine Corps is expected to release a Corps wide message soon about expanding careers and training opportunities for Marine Women. The message will include information about Marine Women Officers attending the Infantry Officers Course. Marine Infantry Officers typically attend the 10-week course after completing The Basic School.

The Marine Corps requested that Congress approve an exception to policy that would allow female company-grade officers and female staff noncommissioned officers who already hold certain military occupational specialties, such as communications, to be assigned to about 400 corresponding jobs with ground combat element units at the battalion level. The units include Artillery, Tanks, Amphibious Trac, Low Altitude Air Defense, Combat Assault and Combat Engineers, but not Infantry.

Marine Women will be considered for those positions starting in May. The Infantry Officer Course should include those Marine Women Officers who command Female Engagement Teams (FET).

Gen. Dunford included there is a plan to evaluate Male and Female Marines against new physical fitness standards that are currently being developed. The information from all the new initiatives will be in his fiscal report later this year.

16 APRIL 2012 during the Armforces Committee Hearing; the Chiefs of Marine and Naval Services gave a bleak outlook about continued global strife and the services ability to respond with smaller, older forces; however, they said they will do their best.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said “The maritime forces are the first responders and that’s the bottom line,” “When underway, we’re prepared to do whatever it will take to make things happen and make the outcome correct.”

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, said that in spite of the Marine Corps down sizing 20,000 troops over the next six years, a shrinking, aging Navy and Coast Guard fleets, and a world “that doesn’t seem to be getting any nicer or more peaceful.”

Gen. Amos predicted the coming two decades would bring resource wars, population growth and threats from terror groups with access to advanced weapons. The potential threat from an expanding Chinese military went unmentioned, but both Gen. Amos and Adm. Greenert; but reaffirmed the importance of the Obama administration’s strategic pivot to the Western Pacific.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp, with an even more pessimistic outlook said his service now must leave important missions untended for a lack of ships. With the increased oil exploration in the Arctic this summer means the Coast Guard must send a new National Security Cutter to patrol off Alaska’s north slope, and that means it won’t be able to intercept smugglers transporting drugs in the Eastern Pacific.

The Coast Guard and the other services “are behind the power curve” in getting ready to operate in a warmer, more crowded Arctic. Adm. Papp warned, Our services must catch up with developments that are happening whether the government is ready or not: Oil giant Shell plans to send 33 ships and about 600 people to drill for oil this summer in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

The grim outlook argued by the Cheifs of Marine and Naval Services reflected the large defense destabilization, which will surrender $487 billion in projected budget in the next decade, and another $500 billion in reductions this coming January.

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Christmas Message from Gen. James and Bonnie Amos

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I79UW6-NAAU

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina has a new Mascot.

BGen. Lori Reynolds, Commanding General of MCRD Parris Island, SC named the new Devil Dog mascot "LEGEND"

Brigadier General Lori Reynolds

BGen. Reynolds assumed her command of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island and Eastern Recruiting Region June 17th, 2011.   BGen. Reynolds was commissioned in the Marine Corps in May 1986 after graduating from the United States Naval Academy.  Upon graduation from The Basic School in 1987, she attended the Basic Communication Officer’s Course at Quantico, Va., and was assigned the 2502 MOS.  Her first duty assignment was with Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, CA.  Serving initially as communications watch officer at the Base Communication Center, she later returned to the Division Communications Company where she served from May 1988 until August 1990 as Communication Center Platoon Commander, Multichannel Platoon Commander, Operations Officer, and Radio Officer.

In August 1990, she was reassigned to Marine Wing Communications Squadron 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Okinawa, Japan, and was the Detachment Alpha Executive Officer and Commanding Officer.  From September 1991 until June 1994, she was a Project Officer at the Marine Corps Systems Command, working primarily on item management, procurement, and research and development for Marine Corps’ communications security (COMSEC) systems.

She attended the Command and Control Systems Course, Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia, from July 1994 to May 1995 and served as a Candidate Platoon Commander for Charlie Company, Officer Candidate School in Quantico following graduation.  In September 1995, she returned to Camp Pendleton to serve with the Ninth Communication Battalion, 1st Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Intelligence Group. While there, she served as Assistant Operations Officer and Commanding Officer, Bravo Company. 

From June 1997 to June 2000, she commanded Recruiting Station Harrisburg PA, 4th Marine Corps District.  She attended the Naval War College from August 2000 until June 2001, and from June 2001 to May 2003, was assigned as Action Officer and Deputy Division Head for Strategic Plans Division, Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4) Department, Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington DC.  She assumed command of Ninth Communication Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force on 8 June 2003 and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II to Fallujah, Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005.   She was selected to attend the Army War College in Carlisle Pennsylvania and graduated with the Class of 2006. 

From 2006 to 2008 she was assigned to the Joint Staff, J6 in Washington D.C. She served as a Desk Officer in Current Operations Division and as a Division Chief.   In March 2009, she assumed command of the I MEF Headquarters Group at Camp Pendleton, CA.  She deployed the Group to Camp Leatherneck Afghanistan from March 2010 to March 2011, where the Group supported the efforts of I MEF FWD/Regional Command Southwest in Helmand Province.

Her hometown is Baltimore MD.

From the personal account of the Marine Corps League Executive Director; lighting struck the build causing a section of the building to colapse.  Bricks fell from the second story onto cars parked below, and interior structure from the roof and ceiling colapse into the conference room inside Marine Corps League National Headquarters.

Currently the Marine Corps League National Headquarters is still operational from the Merrifield, Virginia location.