Table Of Content

DIGITAL FIGHT INSIDE THE CORPS’ IDEA TO WIN THE INFO WAR OSPREY CRASH KILLS 5 MARINES SIKH OFFICER FIGHTS BACK FOR BEARD, TURBAN JULY 2022 VOL. NO. 24 ISSUE NO. 7 NOT A USMC PUBLICATION CELEBRATING usaa.com/100 100 YEARS OF SERVICE #USAA100 Membership eligibility and product restrictions apply and are subject to change. USAA means Unites Services Automobile Association and its affiliates. No Department of Defense or government agency endorsement. ©2022 USAA. 285645-0422 o One hundred years ago, a group of soldiers couldn’t get auto insurance, so they insured each other, creating USAA. Thousands of patents, inventions and solutions later, that spirit of innovation still drives us to find new ways to support the military community. As long as there are those who serve, USAA will be there to serve them. CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF SERVICE usaa.com/100 | #usaal00 Membership eligibility and product restrictions apply and are subject to change. USAA means Unites Services Automobile Association and its affiliates. No Department of Defense or government agency endorsement. ©2022 USAA. 285892-0422 COVER STORY | OWNING THE SKY HOW ADVANCES IN MARINE AVIATION WILL HELP THE 2030 FIGHT. GET TOP STORIES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX EVERY DAY SCAN THE QR CODE TO SIGN UP MILITARYTIMES.COM/NEWSLETTERS Marine Corps Times (ISSN 1522-0869) | Vol. 24, Issue 07 | Marine Corps Times is published 12 times a year by Sightline Media Group, 901 N Glebe Rd. Sth Floor Arlington, VA 22203. Schedule is subject to change. Annual subscription rate is $55 U.S. domestic mail. To subscribe or change an address, email Marine Corps Times, MarineCorpsTimes@o: da.com. Periodical postage paid at Vienna, Va., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send all address corrections to Marine Corps Times PO Box 950 Lincolnshire, IL 60069. 22 Sightline Media Group Photocopies: To request photocopies, order online from the Copyright Clearance Center at www.copyright.com, specifying ISSN 1522-0869. The fee is $3.50 per photocopy per article, limited to 500 copies. Reprints & Permissions: To reprint or license content including text, images, graphics and logos please contact PARS International by phone: 212-221-9595. Advertising standards: Advertising is accepted on the premise that the merchandise and services are accurately described. Ads that contain fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading statements or illustrations, or in the opinion of Marine Corps Times may be offensive, are not knowingly accepted. If you encounter noncompliance, please tell us. Advertising sales office: 901 N Glebe Rd. 5th Floor Arlington, VA 22203. For Advertising Inquiries, Email: [email protected]. Customer Service: (800) 408-0030 (Domestic) or (847) 559-7351 (International), Email [email protected], or write to Marine Corps Times, Subscriber Service, PO Box 950 Lincolnshire, IL 60069. For change of address, attach address label from a recent issue. OSPREY CRASH 5 MARINES KILLED IN CALIFORNIA ACCIDENT. WINNING CYBER THE CORPS WANTS ALL MARINES TO THINK ABOUT THE INFORMATION BATTLE. a BOOT CAMP RIGHTS? A FEDERAL JUDGE WILL DECIDE IF SIKHS CAN KEEP BEARDS, TURBANS IN MARINE BOOT CAMP. ABORTION ACCESS SO FAR, THERE’S LITTLE GUIDANCE FOR TROOPS FOLLOWING THE DOBBS V. JACKSON DECISION. EFFECTIVE FIRES IT ISN’T TOO LATE TO SAVE TRADITIONAL MARINE ARTILLERY, RETIRED GENERAL SAYS. Top left: Staff Sgt. William Holdaway/ Marine Corps Cover photo: Lance Cpl. Becky Cleveland/ Marine Corps Cover design: Jared Morgan/Staff Expeditionary sea base Sohn Lj Cahley, — named after Medal of Honor recipient Marine Sgt. Maj. John Canley — was christened June 25 in San Diego. assault ship lwo Jima, took his massive crew of 700 TOP GU N; aaa Krier, center, sigpee of the amphibious TOP sailors — minus the duty section, of course — to see fe] SkI PPE R? “Top Gun: Maverick” at a local (heater in late June. CORPS KUWAIT STOCKPILE CLOSING The Marine Corps is shuttering its combat gear storage program in the Middle East as it shifts attention to Europe and the Pacific. The fiscal 2023 defense budget request called for divestment of Marine Expeditionary Unit Augmentation Program— Kuwait (MAP-K) for a savings of nearly $31 million. This notice, hidden inside budget documents, announces the end of a gear stockpile that was heavily used over the past 12 years, and further emphasizes the Marine Corps’ aggressive pursuit of the Force Design 2030 strategy, which focuses on fighting in the Pacific and littoral regions. 4 MARINECORPSTIMES.COM July 2022 All Marine Aircraft Wing units were to conduct a one-day safety standdown sometime between June 21 and July 1, according to a Marine Corps administrative message. “The Marine Corps has had six Class-A mishaps since January 2022, resulting in nine fatalities and the destruction of four aircraft,” read the message. “Now is an appropriate time to take a day to conduct a Safety Stand-Down, review best practices, and focus on areas where we can improve in order to ensure our units remain capable, safe, and ready.” The standdown was to focus on reinforcing proper procedures, providing information and gathering feedback. Standdowns during the listed window were to be held to minimally impact previous operational commitments. On June 8, five Marines died in an MV-22B Osprey crash ina remote training approximately 115 miles east of San Diego. SGT. BRITTNEY VELLA/MARINE CORPS; GREG EANS/THE MESSENGER-INQUIRER VIA AP, FILE; SGT. EMMANUEL RAMOS/MARINE CORPS; FACEBOOK; NAVY [4 Serve my country ( Rice through the ranks a |] Save 30% and starfa x \ grad program > ae L] Thrive in a new career 2A Nie Succeed Again. Eligible new military students can save 30% per credit toward a UMGC.EDU graduate degree or certificate program in business, cybersecurity, data analytics, healthcare and more » 100% online and hybrid courses available * Personalized advising and lifetime career services : ZZ UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND ; Scan the QR code to learn more. A, GLOBAL CAMPUS “x Grad classes start soon. ey AT YOUR SERVICE SINCE 1947 *For active-duty military students, reserves, and their spouses and dependents. _ ; Other terms and conditions apply. Visit umge.edu/milsavings for details. © 2022 University of Maryland Global Campus. CAPT. NICHOLAS P. LOSAPIO CPL. NATHAN E. CARLSON & CAPT. JOHN J. SAX LANCE CPL. EVAN A. STRICKLAND CPL. SETH D. RASMUSON 9 MARINES KILLED IN CALIFORNIA OSPREY GRASH Five Marines were killed in an MV-22B Osprey mishap June 8 ata remote training area in Southern California. The tilt-rotor aircraft, which lands vertically like a helicopter but flies more similarly to an airplane, went down near Glamis, California, about 115 miles east of San Diego and 50 miles from Yuma, Arizona. Twenty-four hours after next-of-kin notification, the Marine Corps identified the service members — all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor (VMM) Squadron 364, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. They were based in Camp Pendleton, California, the Marine Corps said in a statement. Cpl. Nathan E. Carlson, 21, of Winnebago, Illinois, was a tilt-rotor crew chief. His personal awards included the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expe- ditionary Medal, Global War on 6 MARINECORPSTIMES.COM July 2022 Terrorism Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, according to the Marine Corps. He served as a United States Marine for three years. Capt. Nicholas P. Losapio, 31, of Rockingham, New Hampshire, was an MV-22B pilot. His personal awards included the Air Medal with Strike/Flight numeral 2, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. He served as a United States Marine for eight years and nine months. Cpl. Seth D. Rasmuson, 21, of Johnson, Wyoming, was a tilt-rotor crew chief. His personal awards included the Marine Corps Good Conduct The las Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. He served as a United States Marine for three years and two months. Capt. John J. Sax, 33, of Placer, California, was an MV-22B pilot. His personal awards included the ational Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service edal and a Letter of Appreciation. He served as a United States arine for five years and eight months, according to the Corps. Lance Cpl. Evan A. Strickland, 19, of Valencia, New Mexico, a tilt-rotor crew chief. His personal awards included the National Defense Service Med- al and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. He served as a United States Marine for one year and seven months. “It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of five Marines from the Purple Fox family,” Lt. Col. John C. Miller, commanding officer of VMM-364 said in a statement. “This is an extremely difficult time for VMM-364 and it is hard to express the impact that this loss has had on our squadron and its families. “We appreciate all the prayers and support from the strong extended Purple Fox family and want them to know that more information will be forthcoming on how to help.” At the time of the mishap, the MV-22B Osprey and crew were conducting routine flight training, the Marine Corps said. The mishap is currently under investigation. In March, four Marines were killed in Norway when an Osprey crashed in the Arctic Circle while participating in NATO exercise Cold Response. WOODY WILLIAMS DIES AT 98 surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War Il has passed on from this life at 98 years old. Marine veteran Hershel “Woody” Williams died June 29 at 3:15 a.m. at the Huntington, West Virginia, Veterans Affairs hospital named after him, according to a statement from his foundation. “Woody peacefully joined his beloved wife Ruby while surrounded by his family at the VA Medical Center which bears his name,” according to the statement on the foundation’s Facebook page. “Woody’s family would like to express their sincere gratitude for all the love and support.” Initially disqualified for being too short, Williams enlisted in the Corps in 1943, according to his biography. The demoli- tion sergeant landed on Iwo Jima, Japan, on Feb. 21, 1945, with 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. Two days later, on Feb. 23, 1945, he famously destroyed enemy emplacements with a flamethrower, going forward alone into ma- chinegun fire, covered only by four riflemen. MARINE CORPS; J.D. SIMKINS/STAFF COMMISSARY | OR DELIVERY AT SHOP.COMMISSARIES. COM cee UKRAINE LESSO CENTER STAGE | OUR NS TAKE N MARINES NEW INFORMATION The power of information Marine units risk becoming less resilient, officials said, hen they “treat-information as an afterthought.” CORPS By Hope Hodge Seck The Marine Corps wants all troops to treat information as a core function of waging war. And the Russia-Ukraine conflict is providing a heavy underline to its efforts. In late June, the service released its eighth Marine Corps doctrinal publication, this one focused on information. And while the Corps has been developing the document for years and realigning units and job specialties to support the information fight since 2017, MCDP-8, as it’s called, can at times seem ripped from the headlines. Those who had a hand in the document believe the current information-dominant fight in Europe will serve to focus warfighters’ attention on the topic and provide concrete examples of how to use information effectively in battle. Three vignettes in the 126-page document address the Russia-Ukraine fight. The first, describing Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, spotlights the concept of “reflexive control” of information, seen in Russia's deployment of unidentified “little green men,” whose existence it denied, rather than a conventional invading force. “Marines should understand reflexive control as an information-centric theory rooted in manipulating percep- tions and the actions taken to create confusion and paralysis or to influence competitor or adversary behaviors,” the publication states. Lt. Gen. Matthew Glavy, deputy commandant for information, told reporters ahead of the document's rollout that vignettes like this one were the result of direct input from Commandant Gen. David Berger, who instructed planners to include current examples even late in MCDP-8’s development process. “We engaged with [Berger] often as we wrote this document and as everything unfolded in Ukraine, and really how the information fight played out,” Glavy said. The second Ukraine-focused vignette describes the way the U.S. and allied nations waged “a deliberate information campaign” ahead of Russia’s late Febru- ary invasion to inform the world about the country’s intentions and how it had amassed military strength. This effort included senior U.S. officials taking the rare step of going public with information about Russia's irregular warfare “playbook” and what they believed President Vladimir Putin's military would do next. “For example, U.S. officials disclosed intelligence about an expected ‘false flag’ operation and a graphic film that Russia would use to fabricate a justi- fication for invasion,” the document states. “As a result, the information campaign laid the foundation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to act quickly and with a unified voice against Russia.” For Marines, the core takeaway is it is crucial to own the “prevailing narrative,” and the way to do that is to communicate credibly, consistently and intentionally. “Commanders must train their Marines to conduct themselves in ways that promote a credible narrative about their command and mission, mak- ing it as difficult as possible for their adversaries to distort the picture and gain the initiative,” MCDP-8 states. “Commanders must also prioritize the use of official command information through various media to support oper- ations and the larger Marine Corps and higher command narratives.” The final Ukraine-focused vignette in the document is the one closest to the heart of what Marine Corps leaders want rank-and-file troops to understand about the information space. It’s the concept of resiliency, a word that appears 38 times in the document. An resilient force, planners say, is one that doesn’t present vulnerabilities for enemies to exploit with disinformation or technical disruptions — and that is savvy enough to project messages that thwart or confuse the enemy, but reassure friends and allies. Marine units risk becoming less resilient, officials said, when they “treat information as an afterthought” in mission planning and execution. “When we are complacent with un- derstanding the power of information, we will lose, we will lose,” Glavy said. SGT. ARMANDO ELIZALDE/MARINE CORPS. SAVE A VETERAN’S LIFE - BECOME A DEVAUGHN PHILLIP Navy Veteran 66 Since being on dialysis | hadn't had the energy to be active. Now that | have a new kidney, | am looking to being active and engaged with my family. | can’t wait to teach my 6 year old football. Thank you to my donor Peter and to DOVE. 9 PETER DRINKOVICH DOVE Altruistic Kidney Donor &6 When | learned there were nearly 2,000 Veterans waiting for a kidney transplant on a national news segment on DOVE - | thought “I can help!”. The next day | got in touch with DOVE. Now that | donated | feel great. To be able to help someone get their life back feels like when | welcomed my daughter into the world -FANTASTIC.99 Thank you to NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION Nearly 2,000 Veterans are for partnering with DOVE awaiting kidney transplant in its mission to help in the United States. save Veterans’ lives. NAVY © FEDERAL Credit Union Many will not survive the wait. ARMY MARINE CORPS NAVY AIR FORCE SPACE FORCE COAST GUARD VETERANS Please contact DOVE to help. WWW. DOVETRANSPLANT.ORG DOVE LIVING KIDNEY DONATION FOR VETERANS By Todd South [email protected] A lawsuit against the Marine Corps that would allow Sikh recruits to keep beards and wear turbans in boot camp could take “years” to resolve, according to a federal judge. US. District Judge Richard Leon said this in federal court in Washington June 28 as the Sikh plaintiffs, three Delayed Entry Program poolees and a currently serving Sikh Marine captain, sought immediate action by the courts to that would require the Corps allow them to wear articles of faith, core to the Sikh religion. “These parties here, joined in an effort that will not be resolved for years,” Leon said. “That’s the practical reality.” The judge’s comments referred to the lengthy court process, injunction attempts and likely future appeals by both sides. Marine Capt. Sukhbir Singh Toor along with Jaskirat Singh, Aekash Singh and Milaap Singh Chahal filed the lawsuit in April, with assistance from the Sikh Coalition. The word “Singh,” means lion, in the Sikh faith is taken by men like a Christian baptismal name. The lawsuit alleges that the Marine Corps discrim- inates against Sikh and other faiths by not allowing their constitutionally protected religious freedoms during recruit training and in other instances. The three poolees are seeking a preliminary injunction. That is a legal means by which the courts can order the Corps to allow recruits to wear their articles of faith, Sikh or otherwise, immediately in recruit training. It would hold as official practice until the courts resolve the legal claims. 10 MARINECORPSTIMES.COM July 2022 A comparable situation happened when service members sought in the early 2000s to halt the Pentagon's mandatory anthrax vaccination policy. Though the legal questions were far from resolved at the time, the courts stepped in and temporarily stopped the vaccinations. Attorneys for the Marine Corps and Department of the Navy and Defense Department argued that recruit training requires a strict uniformity and religious articles run counter to that uniformity standard. For example, Jewish recruits are not allowed to wear the yarmulke during recruit training nor are Muslim recruits allowed to wear a hijab. “These kinds of measures are necessary to ensure that people transform from civilians into Marines,” said Jim Powers, government attorney for the Marine Corps. The Sikh faith has a strong tradition of warrior heritage, which encourages its members to fight for the oppressed. The articles of faith include such items as the beard, turban and “kanga,” a small wooden comb; “kirpan” or small knife or ceremonial sword; “kachera’ a cotton soldier short or longer underwear; a “kara,” a small steel bracelet. However, the plaintiffs argued that each of the other three services — Army, Navy and Air Force — all allow articles of faith to be worn during initial military training. And the Marines recently relaxed tattoo standards for new recruits to increase the number in the eligible pool. Female recruits are not required to shave their heads, and troops with certain medical conditions are not required to shave. Toor and his fellow plaintiffs argue that these )Wwithlassistance tom the Sikh ote "Goalition. exemptions run contrary to the Corps “strict uniformity” argument. “Denial of a religious exemption suggests religious targeting,” Eric Baxter, the plaintiffs attorney, told the judge. Leon probed attorneys for each side with questions, challenging their arguments. He asked Baxter, an attorney for the plaintiffs, if the court should defer to the military on its own expertise in training. He asked why the plaintiffs couldn't simply join one of the other military branches that allow articles of faith to be worn in initial training. He asked government attorneys whether other faiths such as Muslims, Jews or Christians were allowed to wear religious items during training. He asked what consequences Toor or others who had opted not to wear their articles of faith in training faced with their religious order. Toor put aside his articles of faith, shaving his beard and removing his turban when he joined the Marine Corps in 2017 to participate in officer training. But the artillery officer later sought allowances to resume his practice in uniform. In 2021, Marines relaxed some of the regulations, allowing Toor and others to wear these items, but not in recruit training or in certain deployed conditions or ceremonial functions. Prior to filing the lawsuit, Sikh Coalition repre- sentatives sought those additional changes. Marine Lt. Gen. David Ottignon, head of Manpower and Reserve Affairs, issued a letter granting Toor’s original request in part but stopped short of allowing the added requests. Leon’s ruling on the injunction request will take, “probably months,” the judge said. PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE SIKH COALITION