OOH RAH WOOF! Sergeant Major Jiggs, virtually a symbol of the Marine Corps, is ready for a 1924 training flight at Quantico, Virginia. Of decidedly blue-blood background, Jiggs née King Bulwark, was whelped in Philadelphia on 22 May 1922. Upon his enlistment in the Corps on 14 October 1922, he outranked the Commandant. Brigadier General Smedley Butler, who signed the enlistment papers “for life,” sensibly demoted the King to private and preserved the chain of command. Jiggs moved rapidly up the ranks. He was a corporal two and a half weeks after induction and a sergeant by New Year’s Day 1924. That June he was promoted to sergeant major. Jiggs died before his time on 9 January 1927. He lay in state in a Quantico hangar, flanked by two Marine guards and banks of flowers. His passing was mourned throughout the Corps.

From the 2009 November Issue of Proceedings

Read HG’s Worlds most excellent take on the above image and Valour IT: The Navy’s Essential Role in Our History

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News comes from Fairplay that the long saga of the ARCTIC ROSE is nearing endgame:

Arctic Sea docked in Malta

ARCTIC Sea is docked today in Valletta Grand Harbour, where repairs are expected to be carried out at Malta Shipyards.

Maltese tug Mari towed the Maltese-registered cargo ship into port yesterday because its steering mechanism needs fixing. The ship was involved in an international crisis when it was apparently hijacked in European waters this summer.

It is alongside at Boiler Wharf, after Malta’s Civil Protection Department found the ship to be free of any radioactive residues or dangerous chemicals.

Earlier yesterday the vessel was handed over by Russian authorities to its owners just outside Maltese territorial waters, the Malta Maritime Authority told reporters.

When asked whether they believed a hijacking of Arctic Sea had ever taken place, the MMA officials said they had no evidence to show otherwise and confirmed that hijacking suspects would be prosecuted in Russia under international law.

The vessel was seized by the Russian navy off Cape Verde on 16 August – by which time international rumours about illicit cargo were commonplace. The Malta officials yesterday denied any contact with Israeli authorities. – Fairplay

OK, so not too interesting. However, strategists normally concern themselves with how to take things. The problem in this case turned out to be how to get rid of the ship once the Russians decided that they no longer wanted it.

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You CAN make a difference! Go Team Navy!

From our friends at Soldiers Angels:

Soldiers’ Angels put Valour-IT to work this week at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in Texas!  Thanks to a grant that must be used in Texas, SA was also able to give printers along with the laptops.

The military caseworkers who work closely with us at BAMC to identify patients in need of the laptops or other technology.

Angels, a caseworker (Opal Riera, on the right), and SA Board of Trustees member Jim Riley (2^nd-from-the-right).  Notice the printers that came from a grant specifically for Texas, and the laptop bags.

You can see that he already has a Valour-IT laptop; notice the attached headset hanging on the laptop screen and the just-delivered Blanket of Hope still rolled up on his right.

“I have become more mobile in my rehabilitation, and the laptop is absolutely one of the tools that I have in my recovery toolbox.” – Valour-IT Recipient

Delivering over 4100 laptops so far, Valour-IT assists the wounded in reclaiming a bit of wholeness and independence in the face of life-altering injuries, repeated surgery, painful physical therapy, and the isolation of the hospital room. A high-quality laptop can help reestablish personal dignity and reconnect them with the world.

Every bit helps, and all funds will go directly to Project Valour-IT to purchase the laptop that helps provide independence and freedom to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines as they recover.

And if this isn’t enough already to inspire you…check out the great videos over at SteelJaw’s Place.

And Help US Win…we’re getting pounded by the other service branches!

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In May of 1956 then LTCOL Robert Debs Heinl, Jr. USMC, penned a scathing article in PROCEEDINGS magazine about the decline of the officer corps and the loss of “special trust and confidence.” He cited the Roots of the problem, offered 8 points as fixes and challenged all officers and those in DOD authority to reverse the trend.

Heinl was no ordinary complaining officer. He was, in fact, one of the finest writers of military literature ever to emerge from the profession of arms in the United States. A 27 year veteran of the Corps, he saw combat action at Pearl Harbor, the South Pacific, Iwo Jima, and Korea. A contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, The National Geographic, other professional journals, and author of a history of the Marine Corps, Soldiers of the Sea (U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland) and Victory at High Tide.

He wrote the 1956 essay well before the dawn of the all-volunteer force. Yet today young officers still refer to the Heinl piece as a classic (Captain Brian Donlon, USMC, Proceedings, November 2009).

Our question is what might COL Heinl write today about “special trust and confidence” -the words which still appear in every officer’s commissioning paper? Do you agree with Captain Donlon? Are things better; what has changed and, most importantly, what is the same or worse than when he citing the declining role of officers in the military services of 1956?

Vol.  No.  82,  No.5    May 1956  Whole No. 639

Special Trust and Confidence

By Lieutenant Colonel R.D. Heinl, Jr., U.S. Marine Corps

In a lower-deck poker game aboard ship, runs an old Navy story, which probably antedates the Tuscarora with her five decks and a glass bottom, a sailor had his hand called, announced that he had a winning hand, and threw in his cards, faces down. One of his mates remonstrated, “Let me see those cards.”

Replied the first sailor, “In the wardroom the officers don’t look at each other’s hands.”

“Sure,” came the answer, “but them sonsabitches is gentlemen!”

* * *

The opening words in your commission as an officer in the Armed Forces avow that the President of the United States, no less, reposes “special trust and confidence” in you.

Today, however, that special trust and confidence in you as a commissioned officer is seemingly confined to the President alone.

In the 18th Century, pontificated Samuel Johnson, “An officer is much more respected than any other man who makes as little money.” Today, if we are to believe a public opinion survey conducted by the Gallup organization for the Department of Defense, an officer may well be less respected than other men who make as little money.

While the Gallup poll certainly documents the point, the fact of diminishing prestige and waning trust and confidence has not gone unnoticed among the general body of commissioned officers. Furthermore, as seen through the eyes of the individual officer, a great deal of the tangible evidence of this derogation comes from within the Department of Defense—from policies and attitudes at least partially of our own making.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Help Team Navy sink the online competition

Helping The Lives of Those That Defend Our Freedom

Why give to Valour It? For the obvious reason that they can support some of our our troops presently in ways that we could not have in the past through some very important endeavours:

Voice-controlled Laptops – Operated by speaking into a microphone or using other adaptive technologies, they allow the wounded to maintain connections with the rest of the world during recovery.  

Wii Video Game Systems – Whole-body game systems increase motivation and speed recovery when used under the guidance of physical therapists in therapy sessions (donated only to medical facilities).Personal GPS – Handheld GPS devices build self-confidence and independence by compensating for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to severe TBI and severe PTSD. 

AND: Our past will become our future!

Help support Team Navy…see and click the thermometer on the right

And to honor our heroes:

WWI: Frank Buckles USA, 106 years old

Another story: Marine hero Ben Carson…seriously, listen to his story…listen to where he fought…it’s incredible…we are lucky:

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