A Defense Department high school on Okinawa closed its doors this week after three “members of our Kubasaki High School family” tested positive for the coronavirus over the long holiday weekend, principal James Strait said in a Facebook post Monday.

While many people go for runs to clear their head or stay in shape, Marine vetera Eric Morehouse runs in honor of fallen Marines and to commemorate historic events in which Marines have participated. And he does it while holding an American flag.

More than 1,000 Marines and sailors have arrived in Setermoen, Norway for Arctic warfare training, Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa said Friday.

The Marines preparing for Inauguration Day ceremonies wore black face masks, white gloves — and an unusual combination of a Vietnam-era field jacket in woodland camouflage with their khaki-and-olive green service dress uniforms.

A 20-year-old Marine who was shot and killed while on leave in his Idaho hometown last week was a member of the service’s high profile silent drill platoon.

The U.S. military in Japan and South Korea reported 25 new viral patients as of 6 p.m. Thursday, the majority of them at Marine Corps bases.

The inaugural vaccination phase has begun for frontline healthcare workers at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, N.C., as they were the first to receive the facility's initial shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine this week.

Sgt. John James was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal during a ceremony at Camp Hansen for rushing to the aid of a woman who was bitten by a venemous snake.

A wildfire erupted late Wednesday night near the northern San Diego County community of Fallbrook and quickly charred at least 50 acres as it spread to Camp Pendleton, prompting mandatory evacuations from parts of the Marine Corps base, authorities said.

Gunnery Sgt. Kyle Wetter credited his infantry training with conditioning him to quickly respond when an 18-month-old was trapped in a burning car.

The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, which includes an array of support ships, joins the Navy’s USS Hershel “Woody” Williams off the coast of Somalia.

Compared to the Humvee, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle is significantly more capable of taking a hit from direct-fire weapons, indirect fire, and explosives, said a Marine Corps official.

The first Big Ideas Challenge was open to anyone affiliated with the U.S. military in Japan, including Marines, sailors, civilian employees and family members.

GALLERY

On Wednesday, Sgt. Stephanie Fahl, Sgt. Ikea Kaufman and Sgt. Stephanie Jordi, made Marine Corps history by becoming the first females to graduate from a gender-integrated drill instructor course at the 100-year-old Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

Eligible enlisted armor Marines, senior armor staff noncommissioned officers, tank officers and main battle tank repairer/technicians may be approved to separate up to 365 days before the end of their expiration of active service.

The Marines and Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force are practicing assaults on “key maritime terrain” during Forest Light, the type of operations the Pentagon foresees in a potential conflict with China.

In November, the Okinawa Times newspaper reported 10 incidents involving alcohol and U.S. service members. Half involved Marines, three involved airmen and two involved Army troops. Eight were cases of drunken driving.

The Marines also announced that on Wednesday, a new class of 57 drill instructors will graduate the depot's first integrated Drill Instructor Course.

Joe Gregory, a 30-year Marine, hung up his eagle, globe and anchor Dec. 8, retiring from active life as the sergeant major at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, though he’s still on the Corps’ roster until March.

Like their civilian counterparts, San Diego's two major military hospitals are experiencing a surge of coronavirus patients as the winter spike in cases affects military members, their families and retirees.

Jacques Yves Sebastien Duroseau was a Marine Corps sergeant and military firearms instructor stationed in North Carolina when he was arrested Nov. 12, 2019, at the Port-au-Prince airport in the capital of Haiti with several guns and ammunition in his luggage.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, service members who traveled for either mission-essential or personal reasons were sometimes required to isolate 14 days as a safety precaution.

First Lt. Christian Cullen knew almost immediately that five 20-foot-long shipping containers of new runway repair equipment would be too difficult to move efficiently. So, he developed a way to reconfigure the gear so that it now fits into a single C-130.

Marine Corps bases on Okinawa reported 27 new coronavirus cases over the weekend and on Monday.

Five hundred members of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., are working with 400 troops from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 30th Infantry Regiment, their commander, Lt. Col. Neil Berry, said in a telephone interview Sunday from Camp Fuji, outside Tokyo.

Charles Yecla, 40, a civilian who worked for Marine Corps Installations Pacific at the time of his arrest last year, was sentenced Dec. 1. He was also fined the equivalent of $9,600.

As of now, testing is suspended through the rest of 2020 and will resume in January, according to a memo from the Marine Corps.

A trial date for Lance Cpl. Jamison Michael Bissett, 20, may be set as early as mid-December, according to a spokesman for Naha District Court.

A series of drug-related incidents involving Marines and sailors was behind the decision to test for LSD in random screenings, the Marine Corps said.

All 72 cases, divided between two bases on Okinawa, were discovered among personnel recently arrived from the U.S. and still in the 14-day isolation period.

A Marine Corps spokesman told Stars and Stripes the base’s Child Development Centers implement distancing between children and staff members during mealtimes to mitigate risk, but the practice of using family-style dining to “role model” and “build healthy eating habits” is continuing.

An Algona, Iowa, High School student and teacher are doing their part to honor and remember one of their own, a 1936 graduate of the school who died from injuries suffered in the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Citing operational security, the military declined to specify where the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit — which includes the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island and the amphibious transport docks USS San Diego and USS Somerset — was now operating.

An investigative journalist in Japan has released over a dozen documents that cover the storage and leakage of chemical weapons, lead in the drinking water at schools on Kadena Air Base and “forever chemicals” like PFOS contamination at Kadena and Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

Things could have gone tragically wrong for a woman who was hit by a vehicle and pinned underneath it this month as she rode a scooter in downtown Washington, D.C., but for the fact that the accident happened near the Marine barracks.

Four white supremacists have been charged in a conspiracy to build, transport and sell illegal guns, the Justice Department announced Friday in a press release.

On Oct. 4, Staff Sgt. Billy Dixson’s ease in hazardous water and his dedication to physical fitness, he said, enabled him to rescue a local woman from a rip current at an infamous Okinawa diving spot, Mermaid Grotto in Onna.

A brief meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Gen. David Berger is another sign that the United States is rallying allies in the Western Pacific to counter an assertive China.

The potential closure of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island is one of several options the Corps is considering to adhere to a Congressional mandate that requires the bases to support co-ed training within five years.

The lawsuit states the Navy was not following its own regulations between April 30, 2002, and June 27, 2019, for assigning disability ratings for conditions that prevented a sailor or Marine from continuing to serve in the military.

Lance Cpl. Samuel London has been charged with murder, manslaughter and other offenses in connection with the death of Daniel Hollis in September 2019.

New infections at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni were discovered during widespread testing after three people tested positive earlier in the week.

Though Washington has no formal relations with Taiwan’s government, which is elected democratically, U.S. law requires the government to ensure Taiwan can defend itself.

The Corps is aiming to bar Cpl. Thae Ohu’s attorneys or any other witnesses from speaking with the press.

Health authorities at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni discovered two additional coronavirus infections after tracing the contacts of three people who tested positive Monday. Large-scale testing is currently underway.

Three of the coronavirus cases reported by the U.S. military in Japan on Monday were community-based infections discovered at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, three were people who had recently entered the country from the U.S.

Lance Cpl. Jamison Michael Bissett, 20, of Camp Hansen, was taken into custody at an Okinawa hospital Sunday morning.

Lt. Col. Samuel K. Lee, a logistics officer for Marine Forces Korea, stole various items — including a 4K ultra high definition security camera system and Bose noise-canceling headphones — between Nov. 1, 2019, and March 8, 2020.

Alvin Mack II retired in May, the same month his son died at the age of 19. Now, Mack plans to honor the late teen's memory with a donation to Fisher House, which offered his family members a place to stay when they were in need.

Uncertainty over the result of this week's presidential election has given way to legal action, demonstrations and even violence. In this tense time, the Military Matters podcast looks back at interviews from of last season's episodes on the use of the military to handle episodes of civil unrest.

Ceremonies will be viewed from computers, TVs or smartphones as the Marine Corps puts public health ahead of tradition for its 245th birthday on Tuesday.

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service will host Medal of Honor recipients from World War II, Vietnam and Afghanistan on its “Chief Chat” social media broadcasts this month to recognize valor for Veterans Day.

1st Lt. Justice Cash, who says he is the great grandnephew of country music legend Johnny Cash, recently led a force that stormed an island alongside troops from Japan’s new amphibious brigade.

Every day in the mess hall kitchen at San Diego's Marine Corps Recruit Depot, a culinary team of nearly 30 cooks turns out more than 9,000 meals. Kevin Tong is among them.

Maj. Gen. Michael E. Langley, one of only seven Black general officers in the Marine Corps, assumed command Tuesday of Marine missions in Europe and Africa, the service announced.

The Pentagon wants to open a new school in the coming years specifically to teach troops to spot and kill small enemy drones, as the military seeks a uniform approach to defeating the small, unmanned aircraft, which officials have labeled a growing battlefield threat.

All three Marines were still detained as of Monday morning.

Eleven individuals at Camp Schwab in northeastern Okinawa tested positive for the coronavirus while in quarantine, and one person at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni tested positive.

More than 150 Patriot Express passengers and 10 pets were forced to quarantine at an air station gym overnight after a bird strike.

Lance Cpl. Corey Staten, who was just 23 when he drowned in a Missouri river in 2018, was recently awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

A Navy spokeswoman described the flaws as "micro-cracks" in the composite structure of the blades that don't pose a safety hazard or "an immediate impediment" to operations.

This year’s Active Shield exercise at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni was expanded to include drills on pandemic response, missile strikes, aeromedical evacuations and daylong overhead patrols by two AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters.

Cpl. Thae Ohu, 27, has struggled with PTSD and other conditions following a sexual assault by a fellow Marine years ago — trauma that led to a psychological break this spring, her family contends.

About 350 Marines and sailors from the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment will begin Arctic warfare training after they complete a period of quarantine for the coronavirus, Marine Forces Europe and Africa said in a statement.

Most Marine tankers have chosen to stay in the Corps rather than join the Army to keep on tanking in the months since the top Marine general called for the shuttering of heavy armor battalions earlier this year.

The Marine Corps is ditching tanks, but its tankers are working to preserve their unique subculture, some with hopes that their special breed may one day be called on again.

Students at most overseas Department of Defense Education Activity schools will receive free meals for the rest of the school year, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service said Monday.

Precautions over COVID-19 meant a far smaller group of Marines attending this year than the 2,500 who arrived in 2019. The size and scope of activities were curtailed, with U.S. rotations into Australia delayed by two months due to the pandemic.

The Marine Corps on Oct. 16 redesignated an existing unit at MCAS Iwakuni as Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242, the second Marine squadron overseas to field the F-35B.

A ceremony held on Oct. 15 ended the service of Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 311, known as the Tomcats. But its service will begin anew in 2022 when the squadron merges with another to fly the Marine's new F-35B Lightning II out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The study comes as the Marine Corps faces a looming deadline set in the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that mandates the service end gender-segregated training within five years at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., and integrate training within eight years at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Calif.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Neary has been relieved of command of U.S. Marines in Europe and Africa while the service investigates allegations he used a racial slur that denigrates Black people, the Corps said Tuesday.

The roughly 250 Marines and sailors who spent the past month assisting wildfire firefighting operations in California returned to Camp Pendleton on Tuesday, the U.S. Army said in a news release.

Both individuals affiliated with the military in Japan who tested positive for the coronavirus are new arrivals in quarantine, one at Yokosuka Naval Base and the other at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

In this fast take episode of Military Matters, host Rod Rodriguez discusses feedback we've gotten after the QAnon episode, and explores possible characteristics about veterans and service members that make them so vulnerable to extremism. To uncover more, he talks again with journalist and military veteran Jack Murphy.

Cpl. Alex Martinez, 21, and three other Marines were killed April 5, 2012, in Afghanistan during a explosives cleaning mission in the Helmand Province.

Lt. Col. Michael J. Regner was relieved Tuesday from command of the Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, “due to a loss in trust and confidence in his ability to command,” according to a statement.

The fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act has a section mandating the Marine Corps to end gender-segregated training at Parris Island within five years and integrate the training at San Diego.

The Women in Military Service for America Memorial, at the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery, is regularly placed on lists of “hidden gems” within the nation’s capital — a perspective on the memorial that its leaders are trying to change.

Marines and sailors took part in a first-time joint training exercise on Okinawa and other Japanese islands designed to improve their working relationship.

A Marine Corps spokesman identified the Marine in the video as Pfc. Jarrett Morford, 20, and said Morford’s command is taking "appropriate action."

A Japanese force modeled after the U.S. Marines and charged with defending outer islands, some of which are claimed by China, will train with American forces.

Gen. Gary Thomas has been under self-quarantine since Tuesday “out of an abundance of caution following notification of close contact with a person who later tested positive for the virus,” according to the Marine Corps.

Receiving two squadrons tested Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni's capacity to provide quarantine areas for a large number of inbound personnel and reduce coronavirus risk, said a Marine Air Group 12 spokesman.

The Marine Corps is investigating how a bloody brawl occurred Saturday night between about two dozen off-duty U.S. military personnel at American Village, an Okinawa tourist hub in Mihama.

The Corps is also putting mitigating steps in place, such as screening Marines and taking their temperatures before the tests, disinfecting equipment and mandating face masks, a spokesman for III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa said Monday.

Marine Corps F-35s are operating alongside British fighters aboard the U.K.’s new Queen Elizabeth carrier.

Lance Cpl. Steven Frank Altamirano is accused of breaking a window and entering the home of a 78-year-old Japanese man.

Bestselling graphic novelist Maximilian Uriarte's latest work follows platoon trying to win hearts and minds in the mountains of Afghanistan while combating the Taliban and the conflict mineral trade.

Marine Corps recruit training at Parris Island, S.C., must be fully gender integrated in five years — one of the requirements highlighted in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act when it became law in December 2019.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Neary, who commands Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, is alleged to have used a derogatory term for Blacks in the presence of other Marines. The Marine Corps did not go into detail about the nature of the incident.

Col. Stephen F. Keane, the military judge assigned to preside over the trial for accused 9/11 attack mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, recused himself from the case, citing potential conflicts of interest.

In this episode of Military Matters, host Rod Rodriguez explores QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory that falsely claims President Donald Trump is fighting a shadowy cabal of Satanist pedophiles. To uncover more, he talks with QAnon Anonymous podcast co-host Travis View and with journalist and military veteran Jack Murphy.

Marine Corps Col. Riccardo Player told South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and other military leaders Thursday it’s “too early” to say whether it’ll shutter its boot camp on Parris Island — news that stunned state and local leaders after a report last month.

The Marine Corps has activated a new base on Guam for 5,000 members of III Marine Expeditionary Force set to move there over the next five years from Okinawa, Japan.