Showing posts with label Camp Pendleton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camp Pendleton. Show all posts

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Marine Platoon Escorting "Brother" to Final Assignment

Fallen Iowa Marine’s family raising money to fly his platoon in for the funeral

WQAD News 8
Christina Lorey
August 9, 2017

ELDORA, Iowa-- Lance Corporal Cody Haley was just 20-years-old when he died Friday. Now, his family in Iowa is doing everything they can to bring his Marine family back to his home state for the service.

Haley's family hit their goal Wednesday, raising $35,000 to bring his Marine family to Haley's funeral.

Haley died in a freak accident, when a tree landed on him during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton. In response, his fellow Marines set a cross on a large hilltop in California and held their own wake, where they sang and played guitar.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Accident Claimed Life of 20 Year Old Camp Pendleton Marine

Camp Pendleton Marine Killed in Accident On Base

Military.com
August 6, 2017

Camp Pendleton, Calif. - Lance Cpl. Cody J. Haley, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, was gravely injured in an accident Aug. 4 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
Haley, from Hardin, Iowa, was 20 years old.
Emergency medical personnel pronounced the Marine deceased at the site of the accident. Officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident at this time.

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Camp Pendleton Marine Saved Wife Before Fatal Motorcycle Crash

Camp Pendleton Marine Saved Wife Before Dying in Motorcycle Crash
Times of San Diego
POSTED BY CASSIA POLLOCK
JULY 15, 2017

A man who saved his wife by pushing her off their motorcycle before a fatal collision was identified Saturday as a Camp Pendleton Marine.

“He is so selfless that he pushed me off the motorcycle before we hit the bottom of the embankment. I miss my best friend, my soulmate, my everything,” said his wife, in a post on social media.

Promlikhit Khamkhong, 27, was riding a motorcycle with his wife seated beside him late Thursday near Lower Otay Lake, when they careened off a curve on westbound Otay Lakes Road and plunged down a steep embankment, according to the medical examiner’s office.
read more here

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Lt. Col. Stephen "Slade" Mount Stands As Example of Healing PTSD

Spirit of service guides Marines dealing with physical, mental wounds
The San Diego Union Tribune
Carl Prine
December 23, 2016
All devout Christians, these three Marines see Christmas as more than the day to honor the birth of Christ, the man they believe to be the son of God. It also reminds them that their savior’s life and suffering should guide their lives year-round.
Lt. Col. Stephen "Slade" Mount, holding the flight helmet he wore when he was wounded in 2004, is now commander of Wounded Warrior Battalion West at Camp Pendleton. (Nelvin C. Cepeda * Union-Tribune)
Blinded, slumped next to his crumpled chopper at the foot of Iraq’s Najaf cemetery, Stephen “Slade” Mount cupped his gunshot face to keep it from oozing into the street.

He knew he’d never pilot a Huey again. But he never could’ve predicted on that brutal day in 2004 that he’d recover sight in one eye, carve out a long career in the Marine Corps and come to think — in a strange but comforting way — of his terrible wound as a kind of gift.

“I actually became a better Marine officer,” the Southern California native said.
For senior military leaders, he has another message: “Be ready for what you ask for, but be that leader who can show other Marines that it’s OK to ask for help.”
read more here

Saturday, October 15, 2016

John Hair has been missing since October 7

UPDATE

Camp Pendleton Marine Missing for Week Safely Returns to Base October 16, 2016 


Camp Pendleton Marine Missing, Family Desperate for Answers
NBC News San Diego



By Dave Summers and Jaspreet Kaur
October 14, 2016
A Camp Pendleton Marine, who went missing days before he was scheduled to report for duty, is now the subject of a missing person investigation in San Diego County.

Lance Corporal John Hair was last seen at the Oceanside Transit Station on Oct. 7 after returning from a two-week leave to visit his mother in Fresno, California. Security cameras at the station captured him at train stations in Los Angeles and Oceanside but his whereabouts after are unknown.

Hair's family told NBC 7 they are worried something may have happened to him.

“Every time I have talked to him, every time I have texted him or called him, even if he didn't answer right away, he answered eventually,” his sister Melissa Hair said.
read more here

Monday, October 10, 2016

Camp Pendleton Marine Killed After Lying on Highway

Active Duty Marine Killed by Car While Lying on Freeway Identified
Grant Weidman, a 28-year-old Marine based in Camp Pendleton, was seen lying across the number one lane of westbound Interstate 8 in the College Area of San Diego at about 3:21 a.m. before he was killed, according to the Medical Examiner's office.
Marine fatally struck by car while lying on I-8
San Diego Union Tribune
Lyndsay Winkley
October 9, 2016

A Camp Pendleton Marine was hit by a car and died while lying the fast lane of Interstate 8 in San Diego early Sunday morning.

The 28-year-old was near College Avenue in the community of College Area when he was struck about 3:20 a.m.

The driver saw him but wasn’t able to stop in time, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office. She pulled over and called 911 after the crash.

The Marine died before he could be taken to a hospital. He was not identified.
read more here

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Camp Pendleton Suicide Awareness Walk With Over 1,000 Side by Side

Marines, sailors march for suicide awareness
OC Register
Erika I Ritchie
Staff Writer
Sept. 23, 2016

‘Suicide didn’t take away my husband’s pain, it just transferred the pain to those that loved him.’
More than a 1,000 Marines and sailors take part in Camp Pendleton's second annual Suicide Awareness Walk. The event was held at the base on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Camp Pendleton.)
CAMP PENDLETON – Chad Robichaux, a Force Recon Marine and former MMA fighter, spoke to Marines and sailors Friday about the military lives lost to war and the far greater number of military lives lost to suicide.

“I was thinking about how as a young Recon Marine I’d respond to a suicide pep talk,” said Robichaux. “I’d probably be a little arrogant and not want to listen. But I’ve been on the other side of it. After eight deployments to Afghanistan in the special operations community, I know that’s one extreme. The other is just military service and the stress it brings. Military life will change you 100 percent. The change will be either for the worse or the better, that’s up to you.”

Robichaux now runs the Mighty Oaks Warrior Program, dedicated to curtailing the high veteran suicide rate and helping American military and their families suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He spoke at the seaside base as part of the second annual Suicide Prevention and Awareness Walk.

“We lost 6,882 in combat since 9/11,” he said “But the more significant number is the 22 lives a day from suicide. Since 9/11 we’ve lost 120,000 to suicide. We learn to push through in our mission but sometimes, we can’t push through in our personal lives.”

Robichaux relayed the story of a Marine wife he recently counseled. Her husband had shot himself standing in the street surrounded by police. The last thing he said to police was, “Tell my wife, I’m doing this for her,” Robichaux said.

“She later told me, ‘Suicide didn’t take away my husband’s pain, it just transferred the pain to those that loved him.’”
read more here

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Marine Shot in LA, Left For Dead, Passed Away

Camp Pendleton Marine dies three days after he was mysteriously shot and left for dead in South L.A.
LA Times
Veronica Rocha and Matt Hamilton
September 20, 2016

A U.S. Marine Corps training command said in a statement that his death weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts.

“The overwhelming support and prayers we witnessed in support of this young man are a testament to the mighty son, friend and warrior that he was,” the training command said.
A 19-year-old Marine from Camp Pendleton who was shot this weekend while visiting friends and family in South Los Angeles died Monday night, coroner’s officials said.

Carlos Segovia died at 8 p.m. at California Hospital Medical Center, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner. Segovia had been hospitalized in grave condition since the weekend.

He was found at 11:35 p.m. Friday slumped over and unconscious in a Dodge Charger in the 2100 block of 31st Street, according to Capt. Peter Whittingham of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Marine left the military base near San Diego on Friday. He had just visited his girlfriend that night and was preparing to drive to the home of Claudia Perez, a family friend, when he was struck by gunfire.
read more here

Monday, September 19, 2016

Marine on Leave Shot in Back of His Head in Los Angeles

UPDATE 2 convicted of murdering Marine on home visit to Los Angeles


The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says 28-year-old Oscar Aguilar and 31-year-old Esau Rios were convicted Thursday of murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle. Aguilar was also convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon.
FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2016, file photo, Marine pallbearers prepare the flag-draped coffin with the remains of Lance Cpl. Carlos A. Segovia-Lopez, during his funeral service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. A jury has convicted two gang members in the killing of the 19-year-old Marine on a home visit to Los Angeles in 2016. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says Oscar Aguilar and Esau Rios were convicted Thursday, May 30, 2019, of murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle. Aguilar was also convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool, File)
UPDATE
Camp Pendleton Marine dies three days after he was mysteriously shot and left for dead in South L.A.

U.S. MARINE SHOT IN HEAD IN SOUTH LA WHILE ON MILITARY LEAVE

ABC News
September 18, 2016

Undated photos of 19-year-old Carlos Segovia, who was shot in the head in South Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. (Facebook: Laurie Mitchell/Claudia Perez )
SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A young U.S. Marine has been declared brain dead Sunday after getting shot in the back of the head in South Los Angeles, L.A. police officials said.

According to LAPD Media Relations officials, Carlos Segovia was shot once in the head near 31st Street and Western Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. Friday. Police said a vehicle pulled up beside his, and a suspect or suspects opened fire.

Segovia was not in uniform when he was shot, according to authorities. The family of Segovia contacted ABC7 using the hashtag #abc7eyewitness and said the 19-year-old was home on military leave.

For several years, Segovia volunteered for a group that feeds the homeless, and six months ago, he became a U.S. Marine to serve his country, his family said.
read more here

Monday, July 25, 2016

Marine Veteran-Firefighter Lost Home While Fighting Fire at Camp Pendleton

FIREFIGHTER LOSES HOME IN SAND FIRE WHILE BATTLING CAMP PENDLETON FIRE
ABC 7 News
By ABC7.com staff
Sunday, July 24, 2016

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (KABC) -- A firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service learned his home was burned to the ground by the Sand Fire while he was battling a blaze at Camp Pendleton.

Sergio Toscano was sent to Camp Pendleton in San Diego County to battle the Roblar Fire, which broke out Thursday evening.

While Toscano was battling the Roblar Fire, he received word that the Sand Fire was nearing his home on Little Tujunga Canyon Road in Santa Clarita.

"We were assigned to a fire at Camp Pendleton, the Roblar Fire, I was getting text and phone calls from back home updating me on the fire that was going on back home," Toscano told ABC7.

After learning his home had been destroyed, Toscano was pulled from the Roblar Fire and assigned the Sand Fire.
read more here

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Camp Pendlelton Marines Subjected to Sewer and Pool Water

More than 1 million gallons of sewer, pool water found to have leaked at Camp Pendleton
OC Register
Erika I Ritchie
June 17, 2016

Officials estimate the water began leaking in the summer of 2013 when repairs were made on the training pool and that more than 1.6 million gallons of sewer and pool water have leaked since then.
CAMP PENDLETON – Officials at the seaside base said Friday that since 2013, more than 1.6 million gallons of sewer and pool water have discharged into the ground near a training area at the north end of the base, two miles south of San Clemente.

The water came from restroom facilities and a training pool near Area 62, said Carl Redding, a base spokesman.

Crews discovered an irregularity in the piping system while doing a routine leak inspection on May 31 and the valves to the restroom were immediately shut off. On June 1, crews determined the pipe with the irregularity fed into larger pipe that also carried backflow water from the pool. They also determined that a portion of the larger pipe was damaged underground and was leaking.

Officials say the water – about half sewage and half from the pool – drained into the soil near the training area and evaporated, according to Redding.
read more here

Friday, June 17, 2016

Two Disgusting Camp Pendleton Marines Post Threat After Orlando Massacre

Facebook photo of Marine threatens gays?
Camp Pendleton investigating 2 Marines for social media post following Orlando massacre
San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
June 16, 2016 



A social media post that seemingly references Sunday’s mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub has led to an investigation of two Camp Pendleton Marines.
The Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force announced Thursday that it is looking into a photo posted Wednesday in a Facebook group called Camp MENdleton Resale, which advertises itself as a private forum for male troops and veterans.

The photo, which has since been removed, shows a uniformed Marine corporal pointing a rifle toward the camera. A caption at the bottom says, “Coming to a gay bar near you!”


Based on other features shown on the post, it appears the photo also was sent through the instant messaging program Snapchat. The post has since been shared on several other Facebook pages.

This incident continues a week of questionable or disturbing responses to the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where 49 people — most of them gay or lesbian — were killed and more than 50 others were wounded. The death count makes it the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
read more here

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Camp Pendleton's Rancho Santa Margarita Chapel St. John Stained Glass Window Restored

Stained glass window restored at 200-year-old chapel
San Diego Union Tribune
By Linda McIntosh
May 6, 2016


The chapel is part of the Santa Margarita Ranch House National Historic Site, also a California State Historical Landmark. The building is believed to have been used as a winery in the early 1800s, serving Mission San Luis Rey A 75-year-old stained glass window was restored at Camp Pendleton’s 2-century-old Ranch House Chapel, one of the oldest buildings on base and a national landmark.

St. John stained glass window at Camp Pendleton's Rancho Santa Margarita Chapel
The restoration effort was spearheaded by the Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores Docent group as the base approaches its 75th anniversary next year.

The 3-by-4-foot stained glass depicting St Joan of Arc, was originally installed in the chapel’s sacristy in the 1940s during the term of the base’s first commanding general, Maj. Gen. Joseph Fegan, said Faye Jonason, the base’s museum branch officer who coordinated the project with the docent group.

The historic piece was created in the style of Old World glass found in European cathedrals and was originally donated by the Flood family. It is one of eight such stained glass windows in the chapel, donated in memory of pioneer families, including the Forsters, O’Neills and Baumgartners,who lived in the nearby ranch house until it was acquired by the Marine Corps base in 1942.
read more here

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Twelve Year Old Makes Wish, Camp Pendleton Marines Fill It

Marines ‘Make-A-Wish’ come true: 7th ESB grants a terminally ill 12-year old boy’s wish
DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Laura Gauna
April 11, 2016

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Marines are the nation’s 911 responders. They handle some of the harshest and worst situations you can think of, but they are not just tough. The Marines of 7th Engineer Support Battalion proved that they also have a soft side when they made a special boy’s wish of becoming a Marine come true.

Nathan Aldaco, a 12 year-old boy with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, learns about explosive ordnance during a Make-A-Wish event supported by 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., March 24, 2016. Marines with 7th ESB and Explosive Ordnance Disposal helped to make Nathan’s wish of becoming a Marine come true by demonstrating the capabilities of their EOD robots and detonating TNT, C4, dynamite and blasting caps, while the heavy equipment operators gave him the opportunity to ride the D7 dozer and the excavator, in which he dug a pit, built a berm, and broke several large tree trunks. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Laura Gauna/released)
Nathan Aldaco was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome at a young age. Since the discovery of this rare congenital heart defect in which the left heart is severely underdeveloped, he has received various surgeries, and has not only learned to survive with this disease but also thrive with the support of his family.

Earlier in the year, Nathan and his family were contacted by the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and given the opportunity for the young boy to give the foundation a list of things he would like to do. Due to the content on that list, the request was forwarded to the Marines of 1st Marine Logistics Group.

Among the items on the list from the young boy’s imagination were simply to watch Marines train, ride in large military vehicles, train with Marines, be a part of a medal ceremony, and have a full camouflage uniform; wishes the leaders of 7th ESB knew they wanted to fulfill.
read more here

Saturday, April 9, 2016

LA High Speed Chase Driver Was Trained By Marines

SUSPECT IN WILD LA CHASE WAS TRAINED MILITARY DRIVER, PENTAGON SAYS
Eyewitness ABC 7 News
By Miriam Hernandez and ABC7.com staff
Friday, April 08, 2016

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The driver who led police on a wild chase through Los Angeles on Thursday was a trained vehicle operator for the U.S Marine Corps, the Pentagon confirmed.

According to military personnel information from the Marine Corps, 20-year-old Herschel Reynolds served in the Marines from April 22, 2014 to Jan. 13, 2016. He was ranked as a private, and although he was never deployed, he was decorated with the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, records show.

Reynolds was trained at Camp Pendleton as a Marine Corps motor vehicle operator.
read more here

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Camp Pendleton and Hospital Corpsman Saved Neighbor and Daughter

'She's Family': Sailor Saves Mom, Daughter From Stabbing 
Jennifer Barela and her daughter were attacked viciously by Barela's husband in November
San Diego Miiltary Times
By Brie Stimson and Candice Nguyen 

March 28, 2016

Jaclyn Place, 30, was doing homework in her Oceanside home late one night last November when she heard screams coming from her neighbor’s house.

“The volume was escalating,” Place said. “That’s when I decided to go outside and noticed [my neighbor] was calling for me. As soon as I opened the door I saw her -- then a flash-- it was him running. She was screaming ‘he stabbed me,’ and as she turned I saw blood all the way down her back. I had a fight or flight second, and then went to work.”

Her neighbor, Jennifer Barela, was referring to her husband who had just viciously attacked her with a knife. Place, a lead chief petty officer at Camp Pendleton and hospital corpsman, began assessing Barela’s condition. She also called another neighbor, Staff Sgt. Thomas McDonald with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, instructing him to bring his first aid medical bag.
read more here

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Semper Fi Fund Helps Amputee Surf Again

Wounded Marines Will Hit The Waves For Surf Lessons at Camp Pendleton
Oceanside-Camp Pendleton, CA
By MIRNA ALFONSO (Patch Staff)
March 16, 2016


When Voltin was injured, he was immediately flown to San Antonio for recovery; and a Semper Fi Fund case manager was already there by his bedside when his 7-months-pregnant wife Pam and two daughters arrived to meet him.
CAMP PENDLETON, CA - In 2007, Ryan Voltin, a Marine Cobra helicopter pilot, was badly injured while deployed to Iraq, suffering severe burns and losing his left leg below the knee.

This weekend, he will be surfing, as part of a Semper Fi Fund event at San Onofre State Beach.

Voltin will be part of a group of 25 injured veterans of Team Semper Fi (TSF) that will hit the beach for the Surf Camp - Semper Fi Fund , where he will hone his water skills and learn from the pros at Waves of Impact.

The event will cover three days and the surfers will learn more than just carving the waves and walking the board.
read more here

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Ex-Marine Sought in Shooting of Idaho Pastor

What We Know About Kyle Odom, Ex-Marine Sought in Shooting of Idaho Pastor
NBC News
by Alex Johnson
March 7, 2016

Kyle Andrew Odom, the 30-year-old ex-Marine suspected of having shot a prominent Idaho minister several times outside his church Sunday, has a history of mental issues and acted alone, police said Monday.
Coeur d’Alene police detectives have identified Kyle Andrew Odom, of Coeur d’Alene, as the suspect in Sunday's shooting at The Altar Church. Coeur d’Alene Police

Odom remained at large Monday night and is considered armed and dangerous, Coeur d'Alene police said a day after Tim Remington, senior pastor of The Altar Church, was shot and critically wounded in the church parking lot.

Remington, 55, was upgraded to fair condition Monday at Kootenai Health and Medical Center. He was shot six times after services Sunday afternoon, a day after he delivered the invocation at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
read more here

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Camp Pendleton Marines Pass Leash of Sirius

FAMILY OF MARINE KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN GETS HIS WAR DOG
ACK.org
By: Liz Donovan
March 2, 2016
On February 26, the Marines Corps held a “passing of the leash” ceremony at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and in a formal procession on February 27, the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department escorted the Ashley family and Sirius from the airport to their home.
On July 19, 2012, at only 23 years old, Marine Joshua Ashley was killed by an IED blast while serving in Afghanistan. His beloved war dog, a German Shepherd named Sirius, was with him. Sirius survived the explosion.

This year, Sirius was retired, and Ashley’s family was given the chance to offer him a permanent home in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Ashley’s mother, Tammie Ashley, recalls the last conversation she had with her son, during which he asked her to keep Sirius until he was finished serving.
read more here

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Camp Pendleton Marine Shot Outside of 7-11

Camp Pendleton-Based Marine Shot Outside SoCal 7-Eleven 
NBC 7 San Diego 
By Jessica Perez 

A U.S. Marine was hospitalized after being shot outside a 7-Eleven in Monterey Park early Monday morning, and now police are looking for the shooter, officials said. 

Police responding to reports of a shooting in the 200 block of West Pomona Boulevard about 2:45 a.m. found a man suffering from a gunshot wound, according to the Monterey Park Police Department. 
read more here