Military prosecutors levied a slew of charges including murder against four U.S. special operators accused of strangling Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar to death during a June 2017 deployment in West Africa.

Austin Tice, a freelance journalist and Marine veteran, was taken prisoner in 2012 while reporting on the civil war in Syria. The U.S. government says he is still alive.

A couple, both Marines, attended a ball celebrating the Marine Corps' 243rd birthday. The next morning, the wife was found dead.

As most Americans go about the long Veterans Day weekend with football, barbecues and shopping, Matt Koetting late last week discussed with about 250 mostly younger Marines at Kaneohe Bay some of the significant challenges facing the warrior ranks.

video, gallery

For more than 20 years, the Japanese government has been paying to move U.S. military personnel and equipment from Okinawa to mainland Japan for artillery training.

U.S. Marine Forces Europe and Africa’s parade ground is now known as “Devil Dog Field” in honor of the troops who fought 100 years ago in the Battle of Belleau Wood and on battlefields across Europe.

Marine recruiters are confident they can pick up their pace and meet demand for the highest number of new recruits in more than a decade, officials said Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell's relationship with about 15 Marines who help secure the diplomatic compound has become a focal point for the 52-year-old ambassador, who attracted attention early in his tenure as President Donald Trump’s lightning rod in Germany.

Two military aviators have been banned from flying during an investigation into a phallic-shaped flight pattern they made last month in Southern California, the Marine Corps said Tuesday.

The U.S. and Japan are in the final stretch of a large, complex field training exercise that has 10,000 American servicemembers drilling alongside 47,000 Japanese troops on land, in the air and at sea.

Essay

Foster B. Stevens, 83 Co. U.S. Marines, died in France on Nov. 2, just nine days before the Nov. 11, 1918, armistice that ended World War I. But exactly where and how he served - and where and how he died - was a mystery.

A section of road will be named for acclaimed actor and Marine Corps veteran R. Lee Ermey during a ceremony on Nov. 10, the Marine Corps’ birthday, according to a fundraising page.

As part of NATO’s Trident Juncture war games, U.S. Marine armored vehicles and infantry battled their way through to liberate the the sleepy Norwegian town of Oppdal and seize its small airfield.

The attorney for the parents of a deceased Marine recruit abused at boot camp is optimistic a federal court will allow a $100-million lawsuit against the military to continue after a hearing Monday in which the government again argued to have the case thrown out.

A deployment to Norway to fight a mock enemy, followed by scarfing down Scandinavian hot dogs? Awesome, said some Marines. But did it have to happen right when Red Dead Redemption II came out?

Some junior Marines in Japan have shredded their meal cards and moved to a simpler system that requires only a common access card, or CAC, to dine at mess halls.

The project is a collaboration between the Catalina Conservancy and U.S. military. It will restore the 77-year-old runway that has become cracked and decayed. Presently, there are about 7,000 flights onto Catalina Island each year.

The influx of thirsty American servicemembers over the weekend caused a beer shortage in many of the popular drinking establishments in the small country. Almost 7,000 sailors and Marines were in Iceland for the exercise.

More than 200 Marines took part in the friendly competition.

On Thursday, Marine Corps Maj. David Cheek adamantly denied charges of making blatant sexual overtures to two women he supervised after one accuser just as forcefully rejected the assertion she had made up her story.

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit unveiled the insignia Friday to replace its longtime symbol of an eagle and anchor.

“I believe we will have to make continued efforts to fully explain to the people of Okinawa the government’s efforts to reduce the base-hosting burden, including the transfer” of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a less populated area of the island, minister Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi said.

A Marine and three Department of Defense employees are alleged to have conspired to defraud the government via weekly thefts of high-end razors from the Parris Island Recruit Store.

The United States and Japan have renewed an agreement to discuss the possibility of allowing Japanese officials onto Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to verify the safety of U.S. military aircraft.

The Honolulu Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Marines all responded to a downed private helicopter on a sandbar in Kaneohe Bay on Monday evening. The three people aboard all suffered serious injuries.

The name of the base in northern Guam will honor Marine Brig. Gen. Vicente “Ben” Tomas Garrido Blaz, the highest ranking Chamorro to have served in the Marines.

When artist Abbe Godwin took on the task of designing the 6-foot statue of a Marine that now stands watch at the Beirut Memorial, she was given a very specific concept to follow. But bringing to life the Marine in The Peacekeeper was more than molding a sculpture into a figure for Godwin.

While 35 years have passed since the Oct. 23, 1983 Beirut bombing, the date remains etched in the minds of Jacksonville, N.C. community members — as well as the memorial that stands in tribute to the nearly 300 lives lost in the blast.

The day before Charlie Guarino graduated boot camp, he'd have the rare opportunity to honor his father at a special ceremony, one that brought together three generations of Marines.

Marines and Japanese citizens observed a moment of silence Friday for 13 Marines killed in a blaze nearly four decades ago at Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji.

The latest battle between Tokyo and Okinawa over a new U.S. military runway intended to facilitate the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma involves an official examination of a landfill permit revocation made by local officials on Aug. 30.

U.S. Marines have kicked off a training operation in Iceland, conducting an air assault drill and battling the elements in the island nation’s picturesque environment.

The new “Fresh Line” items — which include options like packaged salads, wraps and flatbread and panini sandwiches — replace popular but fattening options like chili macaroni and cheese that are high in sodium and calories.

Nearly 51 years after the battle that would launch John L. Canley into the annals of Marine lore, the retired sergeant major stood stoic in the White House on Wednesday as he received the nation’s highest military honor.

The U.S. Navy and Marines are training with their Italian and French counterparts in the Mediterranean Sea, during an exercise that coincides with a recent Russian navy buildup in the region.

Three generations of Marines from the same family gathered recently at Parris Island to celebrate a rare occasion: A son's graduation from boot camp, and a father's promotion.

Timely delivery of Lockheed Martin's $29 billion CH-53K King Stallion helicopter for the U.S. Marine Corps may be jeopardized by a potential shortage of specialized metal components two years after the bankruptcy of a key supplier.

gallery

The Correctional Custody Unit, a new rehabilitation program aimed at setting Marines on the straight and narrow and reintegrating them into their units, is "like boot camp all over again." Based at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, the program could soon expand to stateside bases.

A helicopter crash in Kuwait provides the green Mortuary Affairs unit members with a chance to learn about recovery scenes from experts of the National Transportation Safety Board. "When sections of the helo burn and melt," Marine Gunnery Sgt. Christian Bussler writes in his memoir. "They can resemble bone or burned flesh."

Ewart Odane Bent, 30, was taken into custody Aug. 24 in connection the death of Ramgahan Sanjay Ryan, a 43-year-old Canadian man who was killed and then dismembered with machetes on the evening of Aug. 21 in Taiwan.

Less than a week before being shipped off to Hawaii to serve as a pilot in World War II, 2nd Lt. Elwood Bailey married his high school sweetheart. Two months later, in August 1942, while battling in aerial combat in Guadalcanal in the Pacific, he went missing in action.

The U.S. Marine Corps is facing multiple obstacles as it works to improve readiness of its struggling aviation force to the level that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has demanded, according to the commandant.

Michael Ukaj, a former combat engineer in the Marine Corps, is being remembered as an honest and caring individual always ready to give advice to his friends and family. He was one of 20 people killed when a limo sped through a stop sign and slammed into a parked SUV in Schoharie, N.Y., on Saturday.

U.S. Marines and sailors aboard the dock landing ship USS Ashland trained for the first time with Japan’s new Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade during recent Kamandag drills in the Philippine Sea.

Families living on one of the Marine Corps' largest bases are ramping up criticism of the private company that manages their homes, saying it is ignoring long-standing problems with mold and structural defects that were exacerbated after Hurricane Florence slammed North Carolina last month.

The recruits of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island’s Platoon 3072 are almost indistinguishable from each other as they limp across the depot’s Page Field caked with dirt and wet sand. They are yet another batch of trainees united in fatigue, nearing — hopefully — graduation.

Massamba Diatta, 29, was an active duty infantryman who was assigned in August to recruiter school at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. He died in an apparent murder-suicide in Houston early Wednesday, just two days after he’d received a promotion.

On Sunday, aviators with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 completed a three-day flight from Darwin, Australia, to Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The move to Hawaii brings the Osprey squadron about 2,500 miles closer to the Western Pacific.

The USS Wasp arrived in Singapore on Tuesday, a week after its strike group of 2,200 sailors and Marines were denied a port visit to Hong Kong by Beijing.

Expectant mothers haven’t been able to deliver their babies at Iwakuni’s new health clinic since E. coli was found in a water sample over the summer.

Videos

At Modern Day Marine, the expo's goal is to celebrate history and look to the future. From Sept. 25-27, there were drones, compact laser weapon systems and shelters on display.

There were no casualties on the ground and the Marine pilot ejected from the F-35B Lightning II safely. The incident — which occurred on Little Barnwell Island, about five miles from the air station — marks the first crash and ejection by an F-35.

When Justin Miller left the Minneapolis VA hospital, he was marked at “moderate risk” for suicide. He left without a follow-up appointment for his newly prescribed antidepressants. Staff wasn’t sure whether he had access to firearms, and there was no documentation that they reached out to his family to try to engage them in his treatment.

When Medal of Honor recipient Harvey C. "Barney" Barnum Jr. heard that he was one of two recipients of the Navy Memorial's Lone Sailor Award for 2018, he was floored by the news. It was similar, he said, to what he felt two years ago, when he learned that the Navy decided to name a destroyer after him.

The aircraft was a total loss, according to a Marine official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. An investigation into the incident could take months to determine the cause, the official said.

Ed Brown, 57, aims to complete the trek by Oct. 22, arriving in time for the next day’s ceremony commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Beirut bombing. To make it, he plans to walk an average of 24.1 mile per day, symbolic of the 241 servicemen who died in that attack.

The Marine Corps’ F-35B variant of the aircraft carried out the strike on a static target in support of ground clearance operations after flying from the USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship now positioned in the U.S. Central Command area of operations.

The stealth aircraft were traveling from the Gulf of Aden to the Persian Gulf aboard the USS Essex amphibious assault ship on Wednesday morning, CNN reported.

John L. Canley, who was a gunnery sergeant when he led Marines into Vietnam’s Hue City on Jan. 31, 1968 and fought for six more days, will be awarded the nation’s highest military honor on Oct. 17. The Medal of Honor will upgrade the Navy Cross that Canley received in 1970.

It hasn’t been determined how the remaining $96 million in funding for the upgrade project will be spent, but Manny Pacheco, a spokesman for Marine Corps Systems Command, said one option would be to spend the money on developing the vehicle’s successor.

Marine veteran Al Matthews, 75, who gained fame as Gunnery Sgt. Apone in the movie “Aliens,” died Sunday, in Alicante, Spain.

A fire broke out at an apartment complex for seniors in southeast Washington on Wednesday afternoon, prompting firefighters, bystanders and Marines to rescue residents, officials said.

Private 1st Class Timothy Irvin, 23, assigned to Marine Aviation Training Support Group 23 out of Pensacola, Fla., has been charged in the death of Glynis Shermaine “Necii” Irvin, 19, according to a copy of the charge sheet obtained by Stars and Stripes.

President Donald Trump flew to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina on Wednesday to tour storm damage and meet with state officials. "Our state took a gut punch, Mr. President, and our people are still reeling," Gov. Roy Cooper told Trump, who responded that the federal government "will be there 100 percent."

A new tropical uniform, which has been described as “like pajamas,” is being field tested. It's based on the same design as the current Marine Corps combat utilities, but made of a lighter material designed to dry faster and keep Marines cooler.

American and Japanese bikers recently delivered $2,500 to the mayor of Iwakuni to support the victims of deadly flooding and landslides over the summer.

A CH-53E Super Stallion from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing landed at about 4:40 p.m. after the pilot received a “cockpit warning indication." The incident occurred during routine training on a pre-determined route.

Video

More than 12 years after Ben Lunak lost part of his leg in combat in Iraq, he became a Colorado Springs police officer – only the fourth amputee to complete a police academy in the United States, officials say.

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said this week he thinks of Noah Furbush as a future NFL player. "I certainly have a passion for football," Noah Furbush said Wednesday, "but my dream and my goal has always been to be a pilot in the military."

Three of six young Marine recruits who became critically ill last fall after eating undercooked hamburgers at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego have filed lawsuits against the foodservice company Sodexo Inc.

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and Navy Seabees have been busy using “raw American muscle” to clear roads and pick up debris, said Task Force 76 commander Rear Adm. Brad Cooper.

The commanding general of the Marine Corps' largest base on the East Coast has decided not to issue mandatory evacuation orders as Hurricane Florence bears down, fraying nerves as local officials in the surrounding area warn citizens to leave or face potentially deadly consequences.

The Marines recruit training facility at Parris Island in South Carolina will begin mandatory evacuations Tuesday to elude Hurricane Florence as the storm moves to strike the East Coast of the United States by the end of the week, officials at the base announced.

David “Dee Dee” Osborne had little interest in pursuing the medals he had earned during his service in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam. “I was 19 years old, a sergeant back then, and I turned 70 on Sept. 4,” he said. “It took 50 years.”

The circumstance surrounding the death of Pvt. 1st Class Ronald Valentin, who was assigned to Headquarters and Support Battalion Consolidated Postal System, were unknown on Friday.

No injuries were reported after a U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing Wednesday on an island off Okinawa’s coast, officials said.

A former Marine arrested last month in connection with a grisly drug-related homicide on Taiwan has ties to the nearby island of Okinawa and may have been disciplined prior to leaving the service nearly a decade ago.

Jonathan McKinley, 20, of Camp Hansen, is accused of taking a donation box containing about $50 for flood and landslide victims in western Japan from a convenience store while on leave in Kyoto.

The parents blame former III MEF commander Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson for not holding Marine Col. Daniel Wilson to account for earlier transgressions, which later allowed the colonel to prey on their family.

One of the innovations that has allowed the Marine Corps to move toward its vision of readiness is the use of 3D printers. The technology, which has become increasingly popular in the private sector, has advanced so significantly that it now offers opportunities perhaps only dreamed of in the past.

“We were in combat immediately with no experience,” Sam Folsom, 98, told Stars and Stripes recently. “Green as can be – very few of us had any real flight experience." He would ultimately leave Guadalcanal with three air-to-air kills.

In the spring of 1967, Johnnie Ashe, a Marine counting down the days left of his time at war in Vietnam, realized that if he went home, his older brother, who had 15 months left in the Army, could be shipped off to Vietnam.

This is the third time officials have either revoked permitting or sued to stop a coastal runway project essential to the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. It is largely seen as a last-ditch effort after two previous attempts were struck down in Japanese courts.

Pvt. Jordan Rhodes, 22, of Bolingbrook, Ill., had been charged with the Jan. 13 rape of a female Marine who was under the influence of alcohol and unable to consent, according to a copy of the charge sheet provided to Stars and Stripes.

Ewart Odane Bent, a former U.S. Marine, has been arrested in connection with a grisly drug-related homicide in Taiwan in which a 43-year-old Canadian was hacked to death and dismembered with machetes on the evening of Aug. 21.

Brittney Shanae Dyson admitted dunking a puppy in a bucket of water, bleach and Pine-Sol cleaner on June 16, 2016 in a house on Camp Pendleton in Oceanside.

After a homeless Marine vet spent his last 20 dollars on gas for a stranded motorist last October, a subsequent crowdfunding campaign raised over $400,000 for him. Now he's back on the Philadelphia streets and says the campaign's organizers spent lavishly on themselves.

The Marine general who branded stories about sexual harassment at his command as "fake news" and joked at a town hall about his sex life defended his remarks as appropriate, according to a Marine Corps internal investigation

A new squadron of MV-22B Ospreys has been activated at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, marking the end of a modernization transition for Marine aviation and the return of a historic unit to active flight status.

One week after the Marine Corps celebrated a century of women in its ranks, some of its newest female recruits will be issued blues dress coats designed to look more like those of their male counterparts.

Michael Baker Jr. suffered kidney failure after exposure to E. coli at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and required dialysis as a result of the illness. Baker and a number of other recruits fell ill after eating food provided by Sodexo.

Marine Cpl. Jonathan Currier was serving aboard the USS Essex when he was believed to have gone overboard earlier this month. His disappearance set off a five-day search over 13,000 square miles.

Sgt. Isaiah Bernstein, 21, of Charlottesville, Va., was killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 12 outside Parker, Ariz., where he was attending free fall school with his unit.

The Pentagon says President Donald Trump has nominated Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. for promotion to four-star rank and appointment as the next commander of Central Command.

Cpl. Jonathan Currier wanted to pursue a career in aviation and was known for his resilience, service and humor.