National Defense Briefs
November 13, 2015
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
NATIONAL DEFENSE BRIEFS is a series produced by National Defense Consultants, LLC, aimed at informing readers with timely military and homeland security news updates, trends, definitions, and short commentaries. Defense issues are inextricably connected to business. In that, MidlandsBiz.com and National Defense Consultants presents the “National Defense Briefs” that matter.
• In remarks delivered at the 240th Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Columbia, S.C., U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston, recipient of the Medal of Honor, said, “Marines always win … Marines – though they may no longer be on active duty – never leave the Corps… The Marine Corps’ reason for existence is as [a corps of] professional killers.” Though the Ball was held, Nov. 7, the Marine Corps’ birthday is officially Nov. 10, 1775.
• U.S. Marine Raiders – leathernecks serving with the Marine Corps Special Operations Command – are planning a non-stop 770-mile march “to honor the lives of their fallen brothers on the one-year anniversary of a tragic Black Hawk helicopter crash that killed 11 troops off the coast of Florida,” according to Marine Corps Times. The Marines will “hump” (Marine-speak for “hike”) from Navarre, Florida to Camp Lejeune, N.C. beginning Mar. 11, 2016. The “hump” is expected to take 10 days start to finish.
• As of this writing [Friday, Nov. 13 at 2:30 p.m.] U.S. military officials are reporting “reasonable certainty” that an airstrike in Syria, Thursday, targeting the notorious Mohammad Emwarzi (aka Jihadi John) was successful. According to reports, Jihadi John has been “seen in videos depicting the beheading of hostages held by ISIS.” In a U.S. Defense Dept. briefing from Baghdad, Iraq, Friday; a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said, “similar strikes against mid-to high-value ISIS leaders have occurred every two days since May.”
• ISIS is claiming responsibility for two deadly suicide bombings in southern Beirut on Thursday, killing 43 people and wounding at least 239 others. Meanwhile, Kurdish and Yazidi fighters retook the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar, Friday, following two days of heavy fighting. Sinjar, according to the New York Times, “has been under the brutal domination of the Islamic State for more than 15 months.”
• As we have reported, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (also ISIS), the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and the Islamic State (IS). Many Arab-speaking people refer to ISIS as Daesh, an acronym for Al Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham (the Arabic translation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham).
• What does it take to be a leader? U.S. Navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin say, humility – “check that ego” – being able to accept responsibility for mistakes, being open-minded and able to adapt. [Learn more at http://aplus.com/a/navy-seals-leadership-advice].
– W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a former U.S. Marine rifleman – is a military analyst and partner with NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. Visit him at http://uswriter.com. ~
