GySgt (Ret) Spencer

All Personnel, Part 2 of the concluding mission of Operation Deep Cleanse.

All Personnel, Part 1 of "The Hunt" for the base camp. My voice did not record for some odd reason which I haven't figured out yet. But it's not hard to figure out whats happening anyway.

All chaplains with the US Marines are from the Navy. The US Navy only sends chaplains who volunteer to serve with the US Marines. This chaplain was serving with the US Marines in Korea following the liberation of Seoul, South Korea, after the Inchon Landing.

All, VILLAGE SECURITY, Part 2.

All Personnel, We held up in a village overnight to wait to hear from S2 about the results of the interrogation of the prisoners we sent in. Captain Childs set up a routine security plan. We didn't know if GFI was going to come looking for us or not, or if they would find us. We left a trail of dead bodies of their comrades in the jungles. They were likely to know someone was hunting them. This is Part 1.

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All Personnel, Part 2 of the "Long Patrol" deep into the back country of N'ziwasogo as we continued to search for intel, their base or the leadership. In this video, we again tried to take them alive. Watch in High Definition.

All Personnel, Long Range Patrol, Part 1. As always, I am requesting you "Like" all our videos on YOUTUBE so we can increase our viewership potential. Youtube displays Youtube channel searches based on several criteria, one being number of viewers, and another, the number of "LIKES". This will help people who are looking for a unit like ours, find us faster. Right now we seem to have a solid viewer base, but it's not big enough and we want to attract more new players, so your cooperation benefits the unit. Thanks very much.

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All Personnel, Part Two of our first mission in Operation Deep Cleanse. I hate this video. I got shot in the back, and then a short time later in the front. Dang.

Photo taken by my son in law, Don, in Ohio, at a Recruiting Office. Off camera to the right are the recruiting offices for the other branches of US military. (I have three son in laws. Two are Marines, one currently active duty.)

All Personnel, The first video for Operation Deep Cleanse. This Operation took place on Sunday night of Labor Day weekend, and we were short handed. This is part 1 of this op. The second part will be forthcoming shortly. PS The boat trip to the mainland and up the inlet took a long time and I edited out a significant amount of that video. I loved the ocean waves. Watch in High definition!

All Personnel, Our first patrol.

Does anyone read this History Thread? I love Marine Corps history and could share much more, but if no one is reading this stuff, it's a big waste of my time. It appears "reading" is going out of style. Remember, "Readers are Leaders"

All, Operation Blue Rhino, Conclusion, Part 2.

All Personnel, Part one of mission to destroy armor by air strike. Mission primarily covers movement to Way Point Michael. Part two to follow. Note: I called it the conclusion to Operation Blue Rhino as were in Molatia, and attacking the same guys.

Belleau Wood, France, June 1918 Much has been written about this historic battle, but as it often the case, people forget about events as they get further detached by the passing of time. Only the French people and US Marines keep the history of Belleau Wood alive. The battle is still celebrated with formal ceremonies every year. All Marines know it is our duty to uphold the honor, purchased at such high a cost, by these valiant men, US Marines. The following is part of a report written by the then Secretary of the Navy, about the battle of Belleau Wood in WWI. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels on the Battle of Belleau Wood It was June 6th that the attack of the American troops began against Belleau Wood and its adjacent surroundings, with the wood itself and the towns of Torcy and Bouresches forming the objectives. At 5 o'clock the attack came, and there began the tremendous sacrifices which the Marine Corps gladly suffered that the German fighters might be thrown back. The Marines fought strictly according to American methods - a rush, a halt, a rush again, in four-wave formation, the rear waves taking over the work of those who had fallen before them, passing over the bodies of their dead comrades and plunging ahead, until they, too, should be torn to bits. But behind those waves were more waves, and the attack went on. "Men fell like flies," the expression is that of an officer writing from the field. Companies that had entered the battle 250 strong dwindled to 50 and 60, with a Sergeant in command; but the attack did not falter. At 9.45 o'clock that night Bouresches was taken by Lieutenant James F. Robertson and twenty-odd men of his platoon; these soon were joined by two reinforcing platoons. Then came the enemy counter-attacks, but the Marines held. In Belleau Wood the fighting had been literally from tree to tree, stronghold to stronghold; and it was a fight which must last for weeks before its accomplishment in victory. Belleau Wood was a jungle, its every rocky formation containing a German machine-gun nest, almost impossible to reach by artillery or grenade fire. There was only one way to wipe out these nests - by the bayonet. And by this method were they wiped out, for United States Marines, bare-chested, shouting their battle cry of "E-e-e-e-e y-a-a-hh-h yip!" charged straight into the murderous fire from those guns, and won! Out of the number that charged, in more than one instance, only one would reach the stronghold. There, with his bayonet as his only weapon, he would either kill or capture the defenders of the nest, and then swinging the gun about in its position, turn it against the remaining German positions in the forest. Such was the character of the fighting in Belleau Wood; fighting which continued until July 6th, when after a short relief the invincible Americans finally were taken back to the rest billet for recuperation. In all the history of the Marine Corps there is no such battle as that one in Belleau Wood. Fighting day and night without relief, without sleep, often without water, and for days without hot rations, the Marines met and defeated the best divisions that Germany could throw into the line. The heroism and doggedness of that battle are unparalleled. Time after time officers seeing their lines cut to pieces, seeing their men so dog tired that they even fell asleep under shellfire, hearing their wounded calling for the water they were unable to supply, seeing men fight on after they had been wounded and until they dropped unconscious; time after time officers seeing these things, believing that the very limit of human endurance had been reached, would send back messages to their post command that their men were exhausted. But in answer to this would come the word that the line must hold, and, if possible, those lines must attack. And the lines obeyed. Without water, without food, without rest, they went forward - and forward every time to victory. Companies had been so torn and lacerated by losses that they were hardly platoons, but they held their lines and advanced them. In more than one case companies lost every officer, leaving a Sergeant and sometimes a Corporal to command, and the advance continued. After thirteen days in this inferno of fire a captured German officer told with his dying breath of a fresh division of Germans that was about to be thrown into the battle to attempt to wrest from the Marines that part of the wood they had gained. The Marines, who for days had been fighting only on their sheer nerve, who had been worn out from nights of sleeplessness, from lack of rations, from terrific shell and machine-gun fire, straightened their lines and prepared for the attack. It came - as the dying German officer had predicted. At 2 o'clock on the morning of June 13th it was launched by the Germans along the whole front. Without regard for men, the enemy hurled his forces against Bouresches and the Bois de Belleau, and sought to win back what had been taken from Germany by the Americans. The orders were that these positions must be taken at all costs; that the utmost losses in men must be endured that the Bois de Belleau and Bouresches might fall again into German hands. But the depleted lines of the Marines held; the men who had fought on their nerve alone for days once more showed the mettle of which they were made. With their backs to the trees and boulders of the Bois de Belleau, with their sole shelter the scattered ruins of Bouresches, the thinning lines of the Marines repelled the attack and crashed hack the new division which had sought to wrest the position from them. And so it went. Day after day, night after night, while time after time messages like the following travelled to the post command: Losses heavy. Difficult to get runners through. Some have never returned. Morale excellent, but troops about all in. Men exhausted. Exhausted, but holding on. And they continued to hold on in spite of every difficulty. Advancing their lines slowly day by day, the Marines finally prepared their positions to such an extent that the last rush for the possession of the wood could be made. Then, on June 24th, following a tremendous barrage, the struggle began. The barrage literally tore the woods to pieces, but even its immensity could not wipe out all the nests that remained, the emplacements that were behind almost every clump of bushes, every jagged, rough group of boulders. But those that remained were wiped out by the American method of the rush and the bayonet, and in the days that followed every foot of Belleau Wood was cleared of the enemy and held by the frayed lines of the Americans. It was, therefore, with the feeling of work well done that the depleted lines of the Marines were relieved in July, that they might be filled with replacements and made ready for a grand offensive in the vicinity of Soissons, July 18th. And in recognition of their sacrifice and bravery this praise was forthcoming from the French: Army Headquarters, June 30, 1918 In view of the brilliant conduct of the Fourth Brigade of the Second United States Division, which in a spirited fight took Bouresches and the important strong point of Bois de Belleau, stubbornly defended by a large enemy force, the General commanding the Sixth Army orders that henceforth, in all official papers, the Bois de Belleau shall be named "Bois de la Brigade de Marine." DIVISION GENERAL DEGOUTTE, Commanding Sixth Army Source: Source Records of the Great War, Vol. VI, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923

Article About CSO GySgt Jacklin and other MARSOC Marines; Navy Cross (PS: I met Jacklin when I was at the 1st MRB compound in 2018) Valor is 'what these Marines are all about,' officer says of those who earned Navy Cross, Bronze Star April 9, 2015 Updated April 10, 2015 9:08 a.m. CAMP PENDLETON – Gunnery Sgt. Brian Jacklin still remembers being vastly outnumbered and surrounded by the enemy in a small village in the volatile Helmand Province of western Afghanistan. He and his team of nine special operations Marines had taken heavy fire for hours from outside a compound. His captain and a sergeant had been hit and were bleeding out. Jacklin saw blowing out the wall as the only way to evacuate his wounded comrades and get his team to a landing zone and an arriving copter. “I asked the guys, ‘Does anyone have a problem with blowing out the wall to get out of here?’” Jacklin recalled. “They all said ‘I’m in, just do it.’ There was no hesitation when I gave the order. I told them, ‘If you get hit on your way out just keep going and we’ll figure it out afterward.’” After the wounded and his team were evacuated, Jacklin stayed behind providing intelligence and personal fire to the assisting SEAL Team 3 and local Afghan forces. Jacklin, 32, a critical skills operator with 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, on Thursday was awarded the Navy Cross – the nation’s second-highest award for valor. “With his decisive actions, bold initiative and complete dedication to duty, Jacklin reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service,” his citation reads. He was decorated by Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commander of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, during a ceremony at Camp Pendleton. Jacklin received his medal for heroic actions during a 48-hour standoff with the enemy while he was part of a team conducting village stability operations in Afghanistan’s volatile Upper Gereshk Valley in June 2012. During the ceremony, five of Jacklin’s team members – all critical skill operators – also were honored with the Bronze Star with combat “V” device for their role in the battle. They included Gunnery Sgt. William Simpson IV, Staff Sgt. Christopher Buckminster, Staff Sgt. Hafeez Hussein, Sgt. William Hall and Sgt. David Harris. “These six extraordinary Marines are being recognized for their gallantry and valor,” Osterman said. “It always takes a team to make it work. This epitomizes the team concept and what these Marines are all about.” While Jacklin emphasized that much of what happened that day is standard operating procedure for many Marines, Osterman characterized the event as unique. The team was vastly outnumbered and the firepower against them was great. Through their work together, the team became a lethal force. “There has not been a prouder experience in my military career than June 14 and 15 of 2012; not because of anything I did but because of what I saw done by others,” Jacklin said. “There is no way to express the magnitude of heroism and destruction that is possible when men of extraordinary skill and tenacity lay everything on the line for each other.” Jacklin’s mother, Susan, watched her only child receive the honor. The Hacienda Heights woman wasn’t surprised by her son’s dedication and the bond he has with fellow Marines. “These men have always been his focus,” she said through tears of pride. “This is an extremely proud moment and it includes all the sacrifice I’ve seen him have. It was a concentrated effort by everyone. I’m just so proud he could have such an impact on so many people.” Susan Jacklin said her son had always been interested in the military while growing up. He eventually decided the Marines were his calling because he admired their code of ethics. It all came together when he lived with his grandmother in Corona and went to Centennial High School. He was on the wrestling team there and coach Randy Campbell always made his wrestlers “earn their place on the mat.” “To me that’s when he finally found his niche,” Susan Jacklin said. “Earning his place on the mat, must have struck a chord with him.” It was also there where he formed an early band of brothers that still remains strong. On Thursday, four of his wrestling buddies from Corona were there to watch. When they heard the story about what he did, they weren’t surprised. “When we wrestled, we were taught to fight and win,” said Robert Winn, 31. “That was always instilled into each of us by Coach Campbell.” “Being a Marine was always his dream,” said Steve Smith, “He’s just a good, solid guy.” Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or Twitter:@lagunaini

All, Rappelling Drills video, Pt 2. Same as above.

All Personnel, Video showing Rappelling Training. Again, an example of reasons the 4th MRB is so different from so many other realism units out there. We simply do so much more than most others. This instructional video was intended for training Raider personnel and not necessarily for entertainment purposes. I would like to continue to produce and publish training videos. PS I realized after I produced and uploaded the movie, that I misspelled "Rappelling" in the video on the title. Fixing, or editing the titles in the video would only take a few minutes, but it takes hours to produce and upload these videos, so I'll fix it later and just replace the video. You'll never notice the difference except for the spelling correction. PSS Great Mod Captain. Thanks.

Our 4th MRB video dedicated to our SARCs.

All Personnel, This short video is dedicated to all our SARCs. As with all our videos, they are available on our YouTube Channel. Please go to our YouTube Channel and click "LIKE" on our videos. People will find us easier on YouTube when they search for an Arma 3 Realism Unit when there are more "LIKES", viewers, and minutes watched on videos. So it helps promote the 4th MRB when you watch a video and click "LIKE". Thanks very much.

Part 3 of 06-16. This is a relatively short video showing the end of the op.

Belleau Wood story. The following is a story about a parade the Marines were in during WWI. In case you did not know, the 4th Marine Brigade was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 2nd Division, which would become the most decorated U.S. division during that war, because of the Marines, of course. In 1918, following the fighting at Chateau Thierry & Belleau Wood, the French Parliament by unanimous vote determined to celebrate July 4th, the anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence, as a French national holiday. The event was to include a massive parade through Paris with one provisional battalion from each American division participating. The 2nd Division was represented by a battalion composed of one provisional company from each regiment, to be made up of twenty men from each actual company. Lt. Clifton Cates ~ who only the previous day had been dug in in Belleau Wood under shellfire with his company ~ was among those chosen, along with thirty‑two of his Marines, to travel post‑haste to Paris to march in the parade. In a letter to his mother he described the experience: The morning of the 4th, we got up early and cleaned up and tried to look half way decent, but we still looked like a bunch of bums. At eight we left our camp and marched to where the parade formed. Mother, you cannot imagine the cheer that would go up as the French people would recognize the Marine flag ~ it was one continual shout ~ Vive la Marines ! ~ la Marines ! ~ etc. They literally covered us with roses ~ I would carry each bouquet a piece and then drop it ~ then another girl would load me down with more flowers. It was truly wonderful and it made us Marines feel very good, as they give us all the credit (for stopping the German drive on Paris). Even every little kid, to and from Paris, would yell, "Vive la Marines!" We have certainly made a name in France .... Most of all Paris witnessed the parade, and it was one grand sight and adventure for us ~ one that I will never forget. ~~ Quoted from the unpublished letters of Gen. Clifton B. Cates USMC [Ret], printed in Robert Asprey's At Belleau Wood.

Frankly, I'm not sure how many of you will get this, but Marines will immediately understand!