both the navy and marine corps with

i'm a former marine officer. i was a first generation college student, graduated first in my high school class. a highly recruited soccer athlete. i chose to attend the naval academy because i wanted to dedicate my life to service. as a marine officer i deployed to iraq in 2008 and 2009. in the unit where i felt respected and for a commander that chose to value human dignity even when harmful to himself. many of the marines followed his example. as a reward for my performance, i was recommended to go to the show case for the marine corps. the hope of the top generals and oldest posts in the corps, founded in the 19th century. that's where the alttitudes on woman have remained. leadership was successful at enforcing ceremonial standards. yet, failed to miss egregious moral failures. after six months of routinely being called a slut and whore, i sought to deploy to afghanistan. denied this opportunity, because i was considered quote too critical to the command, i repeatedly reported the humiliating environment and

the united states marine corps is our nation's risk mitigator. a certain force during uncertain times. one that will be the most ready when the nation is the least ready. there is a cost to maintaining this ability, but it is nominal in the context of the defense budget and provides true value to the american taxpayer. this fiscal year, i'm asking congress for 30.8 billion dollar $30.8 billion. your support will provide operations around the world and provide resources for sailors and marines and families. it will replace equipment that is worn out. it will posture our forces for the future. when the nation pays the sticker price, it buys the ability to respond to crises anywhere in the world through deployed and forces. this same force can be reinforced quickly to inject power and joint access anywhere in the world in the event of a major contingency. no other force possesses the flexibility and the organic sustainment to provide such ability. our nation begins to direct its intention to the challenges of the post afghanistan world, a world wher

so i was attached to second battalion, 4th marines, a grunt unit sent to iraq. so i immediately felt like i didn't deserve to get help because i wasn't infantry by trade. so therefore the things that i saw were things that are natural and therefore, you know, just kind of need to suck it up. when i got out of the marine corps, you know, i started seeking treatment at the va and i just felt like i didn't get help because if i admitted there was something wrong with me, there was something wrong with me. and the va though they were there and supportive, they never really said, this is what's going to happen if you continue and you don't get help. you need to get help or if you don't get help you're not going to get this disability check that, you know, you go and spend on booze and the strip club to be very frank. and that's what i did. and so i think the biggest reason i didn't get help was because i felt ashamed. i felt like i didn't -- there was another bed for someone more deserving than myself. so that was the main reason, mr. chairman. >> you raised two impo

that's 420 for the marine corps including 360 bs and 80 cs for the marines, the remainder "c" variant for the navy. it's a capability that we need. it's a capability that the marine corps does not have a backup plan for. you correctly pointed out that we have bought the carriers from the british then we they retired their carrier. we did that to extend the life of the harrier to make sure we p landing capabilities in place until the arrival in sufficient numbers of the f-35-b. >> thank you. mr. secretary, gerald r. ford cost overruns are $1 billion and i'm not sure how much it is complete. will the navy be asking for legislative relief from the cost cap of $600 billion? >> senator, not this year, but i'm certain we will be asking next year. >> is it accurate that there is at least $1 billion cost overrun on the gerald r. ford? >> i think it's accurate that it's at least $1 billion over the original estimate. and i think it's important to note what we have done to contain these costs. when i took office, we -- since i have taken office, we have recovered back the fee almost completely

it's a marine. he's done this. but keep that open line of communication between the military member and then their family as well. if that person is not apt to go, their family is going to be the biggest reason that forces them into it. oftentimes, i believe it's the family that gets them in and not the individual service member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for your service to this nation and for your courage to be here this morning. i just have one question. you mentioned that the biggest obstacle that you had was getting passed yourself and understanding and realizing that there was a need there for help. >> yes, ma'am. >> now, something in team challenge versus the v.a. system, there was a difference in those two programs. what was it with the team challenge that let you get passed yourself that was missing in the v.a.'s approach to mental health. >> well, ma'am, i believe it was really just -- it was a couple things. one, the environment was where -- which i mentioned earlier,

but the marine corps understands. they've gotten the message loud and clear that, number one, it's a leadership issue, number two, it's their responsibility, number three it's absolutely without exception unacceptable behavior. and if found out, that it's my full intention to prosecute it in every case. >> thank you very much for your efforts. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, admiral, mr. secretary, and general, for being here today. i appreciate it and your service our country. admiral greenert, admiral lockhart has described the ohio submarine as the base for our force. based on the questions you had with senator read, you said the slipping of the virginia class production will exacerbate the shortfall that we're going to see going forward. i have a couple of questions for you. first of all, let me say that i'm very proud of the maintenance done at the portsmouth naval shipyard and the importance of that work when we think about the role of the virginia class submarine as the backbone

we're unveiling it now to the rest of the marine corps over the spring and beginning of the summer. and in a nutshell for all the members, the old program that i went through with captain amos years ago which hasn't changed any to the completely new, let's get our veterans hired. how do we get that one that joined the service and make him a marine for life that when he or she finishes his tour in four or eight years, they come out the other side and they have the greatest opportunity in chance to get a job, go to school, learn a trade, start a business, and those are the pathways we have set for our marines. it is a significant effort, and it will take us -- we probably won't see the real benefits of this for another couple of years, but i'm willing to wait. we're on it right now, senator, i'm very optimistic. >> that's very exciting and very promising, and i thank the marine corps for that work. secretary mavis, i wonder in light of the navy's need for strategic dispersal of undersea warfare assets and the commitment to keep 40% of the attack submarines on the east coast, if you co

united states marine corps retired. an individual who held a ground-breaking position during world war ii. he was the first combat cameraman sent in by the marine corps. if you have seen a picture of combat on tarawa, you've seen a picture of combat in iwo jima and moving pictures throughout. norm had a piece in that. that's what we're going to be talking about this morning. i've asked both of these gentlemen to start off today's panel by talking a little bit of how it all started for them, where they were at the beginning of world war ii and how they got enlisted into their various services and also caught up in the units they are with. so ed, i'm going to begin with you if you could tell wrus it all began. >> all right, sir. thank you. incidentally, i'm a member of the band of brothers. if you read it, you know that we won the war almost single handed. and i'm a big hero. if you don't believe it, read the book. and i thank you and in fact, i'm delighted to be here this morning with you people. at my age, i'm delighted

there's no fury unleashed like a marine that's seen his brother marine killed or wounded. i had to guide them. i jump-started them, then i guided them and we worked together as a team. as a team we were successful at overcoming 10-1 odds that day. i think the most amazing thing that i remember is here we were in a very bad situation, but we came together as a team. we relied on each other, relied on each other's training, and we became successful. >> thank you. bob, as your action unfolded, you were a young officer out there and leading your company, what went through your mind that you still remember to this day? >> well, i refer back to the video and i had made a statement of what is it that motivates young soldiers to do these things every single day? knowing that they're going to go into difficult situations and no matter what you do in training, to replicate the conditions of combat is totally different when you start getting shot at. and when you see a soldier that's getting killed or wounded. intuitively we know that it is leadership and teamwork and discipline and

flag fleet and the increased demand for mariners in the hawaiian trades. we have trained over 4,000 crewmember and have trained outside groups including the hawaiian national guard. all are required to comply with the sol las requirements, the standards of certification and watch keeping currently promoted by the imo and all coast guard regulations. the specifics of our course curricula are available in my written testimony. at the end of the day, when it comes to training, all of our crewmembers, mariner and nonmariner alike must know what to do in event of an emergency. not simply because they must do so under the law, but because so many lives depend upon their training and professionalism. and while we're confident that we can provide the best training in the world, and that the coast guard is there to ensure that our mariners have met all their legal requirements, we're less confident of this when it comes to vessels that are sailing under flags convenience. we believe that the proliferation of the use of focs, especially in cruise industry, creates a

we are suing the marine commandants in the navy and it's focused on navy and marines specifically. the legal theory that -- is the same. it's a constitutional theory that women and men should not have to tolerate harassment, sexual assault and rape in order to serve and we expect to prevail in the district of columbia. >> i was just wondering if you can talk about why you decided to bring this lawsuit against the department of the navy specifically? is it believe that their harassment is more egregious than the air force and the army and do you plan to bring lawsuits against them as well? >> taking the latter question first, yes, we have more lawsuits in the works. sadly, the attitude, the sexual harassment and the toleration for rape and assault spans all the services. >> is there a reason you decided to start with the marine and the navy? >> the way we proceed is as people come to us. so ariana and elle and the other survivors came to us. we have brought their claims forward and we as ellie mentioned, we are all committed to staying with this, to bringing forward as many lawsuits

also their fellow sailors and marines. this is an attack on one of their shipmates and any amount of sexual assault is unacceptable. we have done a lot and we're continuing to do a lot. i established the sexual assault prevention, and in my office, reports directly to me. i see the person in the office on a routine basis. as a result of that, we have undertaken programs in the most at-risk elements. the young sailors and marines who -- ages 18 to about 25. we have one program now that we require every service member as they -- when they come out of boot camp and they go into the "a" school in the navy and every single one does, they have three 90-minute sessions on this. and we have found at great lakes where boot camp and the "a" schools are that sexuals is asss have declined pretty dra ma dramatically when we started this program. we're undertaking an initiative called 21st century navy and marine to make sure that the sailors and the marine comprise it have the tools to be resilient. we have found not just in sexual ass

the marine corps, 8%. it will make a dent if the women say, i am not going into that unless you can tell me that there is a culture that says if anything happens, there will be hell to pay for it. criminal acts committed on women and men. it is time we put an end to this culture, calling for this institution to change. to change from the top leadership that says zero tolerance -- that is a lie. they tolerate everything. in contrast to 40% in civilian life. of the 8% that go to trial, less than 2% and up having sentences given against them. found guilty, and the sentences are really slaps on the hand. but it is kind of the culture of you can do it -- even if they catch you, which they probably won't. even if you go to the court martial, and not much is going to happen to you. it is an entire structure that needs to change. we need to be holding accountable all those people in the chain of command. if you put the lieutenants, the captains, the generals, and say, it is going on your athens to report any of th

marines against marines. and they are a fairly large group of korean workers there. and we were so new to the oriental world, we couldn't tell the difference between a korean and a japanese. and so we thought they were all fighters. but in any event, when we made the landing on that first day, we had about ten people who were shooting motion pictures and we had probably another ten shooting still photography. but as luck would have it, as the general explained a little earlier, things never happen exactly as you think or plan they're going to do. our first landings at tarawa were amphibious tractors because they could walk across the reef which we had been informed about which would hold up our boats quite a bit. and the men in the boats would have to wade in the water probably up to their chest until they got in. so the amphibs got in just fine. and we got one photographer ashore with the amphibious and he was a still man. and i was with the regimental commander of the 2nd battalion, 8th marines who was sitting there watching his beachhead being eroded because amphi

and then 34 marines, we lost throughout the deployment, had about 400 -- 450 marines injured. came back and went on leave and that was that. started drinking pretty heavy, dealing with nightmares, dealing with things that i wasn't really prepared to deal with i would say. and i think one of the biggest reasons that i dealt with it myself was just because, i mean, i was in a battalion of a thousand marines and i don't think people wanted to hear, you know, my whining and complaining. so then shortly after we went on another deployment, noncombat, which just kept on drinking, kept on masking my issues with whatever -- whatever would take away any of the pain. came back and then about six months later my unit was deployed again to iraq. this time i was in the remain behind element so i was kind of able to see the other side of things when we would get the casualty reports. we would get the kia's in and have to notify and take, you know, be on that end of things as well. i decided i was going to get out of the marine corps but i was persuaded by a good friend, sergeant major ellis

territorial waters that protect the marine environment. this is most notably important because it all began in 1975 with the designation of the "uss monitor" national marine sanctuary off the coast of cape hatteras. and that -- the designation of that one site to protect the remains of the "uss monitor" have now grown into the premier marine protected network in the world. it was done -- "the monitor" was -- in fact we have some people who can tell more about this than i can. the "monitor" was discovered in 1973 by john newton. phil sheridan, doc edgerton, and gordon watts as part of a research expedition off the coast of north carolina testing out new technologies and sonar with the "monitor" as their target. and lo and behold they found the shipwreck at the time sitting on the high seas 18 miles off the coast of -- or 17, demanding you how measure it, about 18 miles off the coast of north carolina but outside of state waters and outside of u.s. territorial waters at the time. so in '74, a year after she was found, the governor of north c

we have marines and air assets. i think you'll see in the future our newest ships being deployed to singapore. you'll see other assets being deployed for lift for our marines which are going to be rotational. in australia they'll be a mix of rotational and permanent in guam and any place else that we end up in the western pacific. so i don't think you'll see a big -- big change in where our assets are, but there will be some -- some movement. but the important thing is that we will continue to be a very persistent presence in the western pacific. one of the reasons i think that is important is that when we routinely send carrier strike groups or amphibious ready groups or other kinds of ships through whatever bodies of water there are in the world, if there is an incident, if there is a misunderstanding, we don't escalate it by sending in a carrier strike group or an amphibious ready group. it's already there. it's a part of our normal presence. it's a part of what we do on a day-to-day basis. and i think that it is

as the marines tell me all the time, we don't want to carry a lot of junk. we want to carry what we need to do our job. when you can knock off a lot of pounds off the weight and transfer it off the backs of the marines and then they can do their job because they have better energy sources, like solar panels and utilization of the battery systems, that's powerful. that gives us a taxable advantage, at least from my perspective. i want you to know that from a person in a state that produces a lot of oil and gas, we like what you're doing around renewable energy and alternative energy and research to help this country become more economically secure and from a national security perspective. you know, i hear this debate kind of out there because people wonder why you're in the business, well, because you're in the business of saving lives. and part of the work you do in the military is try to look at risk analysis, and you have high risk when you move those boards of diesel. if you can reduce the risk, you save lives, and that's how i look at it. it's not necess

marine behind. >> we've got to find him. here was an individual who had served our country, helped our country, defend our country, and now in his time of need, we ought to be here to help recover or to find him. >> the marines plan to continue their search near the sharp park golf course in pacifica tomorrow. >> some people who live in a san francisco neighborhood are on edge tonight, after learning the deaths of five people may not have been a murder/suicide, after all. a family member discovered the bodies yesterday in a home in the city's engelside district, and police appear to be rethinking their initial theory in the case. nbc bay area's monte francis is in front of the home. >> police have been out here since the bodies were discovered early yesterday and they're still trying to sort through what they're calling a very complicated crime scene. they also continue to gather evidence. we saw forensic experts loading up what we assume were boxes of evidence collected from the home earlier today. police are not being very

but these marines are nowhere near afghanistan. they're patrolling a multimillion dollar recreation. lance corporal derek hicks is one of the marines on patrol. >> this is basically typical of a lot of villages in afghanistan. we were deployed there last year. there were a few towns that were similar to this that we were patrolling through. it's very realistic. >> reporter: the mock afghan villages at the marine corps base outside of san diego. even from my vantage point above the action the scene below seems real. the training facility is less than two years old. it's one of three mock villages on marine corps bases across the country. hundreds of marines pass through here every week before deploying to afghanistan much one of them is sergeant christopher roberts. >> the first time you go on a patrol you'll be overwhelmed with all the culture, the scenery, trying to figure out what's going on, how to deal with these people. if you're doing it for the first time in afghanistan that's not a good day. >> reporter: marines here learn

there's been discussion about w marine module. we've not done anything with it yet, but i think the possibilities are there, absolutely. >> admiral, do you have any comments on that ship line? >> well, combined with the mission module, it will -- it will be a quantum leap, and we kind of mow the grass, finding mines, locating them, neutralizing. what we'll be able to do with this at the same time find them, localize them, and neutralize them with unmanned vehicles, and the volume will be three times the volume that we have today. so, as we look at the that we consider today, the strait of hormuz and otherwise, imagine the capability enhan enhancement. >> i know we're facing a lot of challenges with regard to the navy plans and the defense department plans, less air force planes, less prepositioning squadrons for the marines and also less joint ic vessels. i'll submit you a written question. my time is up about the joint high speed vessel, but it's been a very popular ship, has it not, admiral greenert, by the commanders who benefi

madam speaker, the marine corps shortly after the accident assigned three marines, the day after the accident, on april 8, to fly to arizona and to do the only investigation for the united states marine corps. at the time colonel mike morgan was the lead investigator assisted by colonel ryan radish and also major phil stackhouse. in the report that was the official report for the marine corps of the accident, on page 77, they stated, and i quote, during this investigation we found nothing that we would characterize as negligence delivered pilot era or maintenance/material failure. madam speaker, in this 10-year journey to clear the names of two of these two marine pilots, i reached out to the attorneys. john brow and brooks gruber, their families employed jim furman, an attorney in texas, who himself was a helicopter pilot in vietnam. he's an outstanding attorney and he defended the two pilots when they went and filed suit against bill boeing. in a letter on april 28, 2010, from jim furman to me in this effort to clear the names of john brow and brooks gruber, he wrote, and i quote,

and i am calling on the united states marine corps today, the commandant of the marine corps, to please do what is right. you have the evidence. the attorneys that sued bill boeing over this accident know more than anyone, including the commandant, about what happened and who was at fault and again jim thurman and brian alexander have joined in this effort. i hope that the marine corps will give the wives what they're asking for. and, mr. speaker, if we could ever bring this journey to an end, i suspend to go to the cemetery -- intend to go to the cemetery in jacksonville, north carolina, with connie gruber and her daughter brooks and i want to walk to the grave of the husband and the father and say, major brooks gruber, rest in peace. the blame game is over. you're not to blame for the accident. and then, mr. speaker, i would like to go with trish brow and her sons, matthew and michael, to arlington and say the same thing to colonel brow. colonel, you have earned the rest, you did nothing wrong to cause that accident. mr. speaker, it makes no sense that these wives and the children hav

rescued help, the first marine division. that was beautiful. lieutenant patricia jochnson, i your work with female soldier, how is the woel in the war effort per eached and were there any who worked in combat zones? >> not to my knowledge. and i don't think that when i was in washington, d.c. too much thought was given to the people over in korea at that time. we didn't have much mention of it in the offices. which was sad. >> did you feel the training was adequate for some of the sold qu iers that you worked with? >> yes, i think so. it was viktly administrative and we were also trained in the uniform code of military justice. didn't have to use it fortunately. but i don't recall take any of the people either if washington, d.c. or los angeles where i was later had had any tours in korea. >> we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. >> i would like to say one thing about the navy. when we were in pyongyang korea, we didn't have a neurosurgeon, so we got captain blood off of the repost. that was a hospital ship. s

i did serve as a public servant next to a colonel who had marine turtles who had been in vietnam and navy captains, navy chaplains. so my formative years came back to me. now i was with individuals who had been there as opposed to who had been in the mall in washington protesting the war. it also came back to me, the most significant circle for me was my dad is a world war ii veteran. he was a medic. and he was silent of a laconic generation. never spoke and when i came -- showed that i had real professional credentials, my dad took an interest and began talking about is worse and as a daughter of a silent world war ii veteran that was the most wonderful thing that could happen. he opened a life for me. >> host: your most recent book is called "the untold war," "the untold war: inside the hearts, minds, and souls of our soldiers" and i want to read a passage and have you expand on it. this is from the prologue. you rights holders are genuinely torn by the feelings of war. they desire wild revenge at times for they wish they wanted a nobler justice. the field pride and patriotism ting

it was pretty close to 4,000 japanese marines. here we were going to have probably the first tyime in the world a marine battle. they are a fairly large group of korean workers there. in any event, when we made the landing, we had ten people who were shooting motion pictures and probably another ten shooting still photography. as luck would have it, things never happen as you think or plan they are going to do. our first landings were amphibious tractors because they could walk across the reef which would hold up our boats. and so, so the amphibs got in fine. we got one photographer ashore and he was a still man. and i was with the commander of the 8th marines who was sitting there watching the beach head be eroded. because the tractors were being buried with the machine gun and the others were not set up like fi fire to actually, to bring in supplies. anyway, everything was fouled up, so jim crow said put this boat in right away. jim crow was a hero in the corp. he was the type of guy that led his unit out of the grass and waitin

. >>> tonight, the body of a local marine pilot killed during a training accident in arizona is back captain michael quinn was one of seven marines killed when two helicopters collided mid- air near huma, arizona. we were there when his body came back to virginia. >> reporter: the evening was warm, almost like summer. >> we're gathering for a local hometown hero. >> reporter: michael quinn lost his life in a helicopter crash on february 22nd. >> even though he's elsewhere, we're showing support of his family and friends, being here for him what we're here for. >> reporter: today he came home. >> that's overwhelming. it's beautiful. >> reporter: on these streets tonight, a town honored a hero and helped find some peace for itself. >> does it give you hope? >> it does. as sad as it is, it is hopeful that a community can come together. >> reporter: in piercehe lost his life in service to his country and the story of a soldier apparently engaged in slaughter present a dichotomy that is certainly unsettling to all of us. and gary has been thinking about that as we all have today. >> if th

my father always said, "once a marine, always a marine."e said if you needed help and could not get anyone else, call on a marine. a lot of those things come back now, things i just thought when in one ear and out the other, but in light of these things, when you hear the audio, when you look at the video, all of these things come back. in 45 years of meeting on this earth, that was the very first time that ever heard my father where he was pleading and begging for his life. to hear him back for his life, to say this was his sworn testimony on the audio, which the police did not know was being recorded, he said "my name is kenneth chamberlain and this is my sworn testimony. white plains police are going to come in and kill me." >> the amazing thing about this, they were supposed to come there to assist him. there's no indication of any kind of crime. he would have depended on them for help, and instead this happens. >> we are lawyers and this is what we do, but i think it is important to always remember to look at this case not as a case bu

and if you show that you have concern and care for your marines, they will do anything for you. but they can figure out a phony real quick. so don't try to be somebody you're not. don't try to be somebody you're not. be yourselves. because the troops will figure it out. but if you're in their presence, and show concern, there isn't anything they won't do when you ask them. >> i would just add to that that, as i've mentioned before, i think one of the most important things that any leader can do is to ensure that those values are instilled in every single soldier, marine, every member of your organization on a continual basis. how you choose to do that, whether it is through instruction or it is through counseling, however you want to do that, but you've got to carve out time to do that, because i know you have all sorts of other priorities over there, but you've got to carve out time to ensure those values are instilled now. because it is too late when you get on the battlefield. i'm reminded of colonel joshua lawrence chamberlain when he arrived at gettysburg. his commander sai

know that the corps, the marine corps, is going to endure. well, conway, see, you made it. yeah, i guess that little voice was wrong. i feel better. i feel a lot better, too. as a matter of fact, never felt so good in my life. how about a cigarette? (gunshot) john wayne had great influence on me. john wayne is almost a cliche, indeed a cliche, for american representation of american macho. i think it's also ironic that john wayne never was in war. john wayne, of course, is a great hero. in the marine corps you see his picture in squad bays and in offices about as often as you see the pictures of some of the heroes of the corps. (tony lukeman) we even had a part of the c ration that we called the "john wayne cookie." (narrator) world war ii saw the advent of professional combat camera. for the first time audiences regularly viewed combat footage in the weekly movie newsreels. my first combat was tarowa in the pacific. (norm hatch) it was probably the first time there was a photo effort to provide the marine corps with training information on w

marine corps futenma air snags okinawa. japan and the u.s. are discussing a plan to move troops out of futenma. but okinawa's government has yet to approve the relocation. deputy under secretary of defense dorothy robin told a u.s. senate committee meeting on tuesday that japan and the u.s. must ensure the facility is safe and combat ready. she noted that the u.s. remains committed to moving the air station to nago city also in okinawa prefect purp she called this the only viable option. both governments have said any repairs will be limited to basic maintenance. more serious work could stoke local concern. but the facility's becoming permanent. >>> the japanese government wants to keep the pressure on north korea. government leaders will ask parliament to extend sanctions against pyongyang for one more year. the current measures expire in two weeks. japan first imposed sanctions in 2006. they were meant to punish the north for carrying out missile launches and a nuclear test. the decision to extend sanctions follows the north's recent plan t

. >>> a happy homecoming for the marine corps group. they're being welcomed following a seven month deployment in afghanistan. ken is live with the marines and their happy family members and kenny, have they been reunited yet? >> reporter: yes, they have. just a little bit ago, these marines walked through this door behind me. they were reunited. people who have been anxious to see them all day today after a seven month deployment. these are 35 marine reservists that we are talking about. they are from the affairs group and deployed for seven months in afghanistan. they have been out there building schools. they have been building clinics and roads and helping folks in that area. take a listen to how some of the loved ones, some of the family members describe this homecoming. >> i'm glad he's back. i really am. >> it feels -- it's hard to describe. it's like coming back from the moon. nothing compared to it. >> there's a couple marines with their families that are still around here. of course a lot of hugs. a lot of kissing going on out

understanding the gravity of the risk, the afghans had assumed for these marines the marine continued, our afghan brothers were trying to protect us. this one statement, spoken by a young marine, conveys the power of the brotherhood in arms forged in battle now over the years. it speaks to the trust that we have built with the afghans and to the shock absorbency of the relationship. and yet we know there is much hard and deadly work that remains to be done, that the progress is real and importantly that progress is sustainable. we have severely degraded the insurgency. one afghan commander told me in the south, in the latter part of 2011, quote, this time around the afghan taliban were the away team, unquote.ccess, as a result of our recent winter operations, we have seriously degradesed the taliban's ability to mount a major spring offensive of their own. this spring they will come back to findny former strongholdsand good many absent or unwilling to join the fight. indeed in ka dan harndahar, 50 to reintegrate on short notice back into the afghan society, when we asked them why they

and it said join the marines, serve your country. well, i certainly wanted to do that. so here i was. my dad was this world war i. my four brothers were in the military, and my five brother-in-laws were in the military, so i chose to join them in the military. ten years ago, my husband and i attended a 50th celebration honoring the korean war veterans sponsored by the korean government in austin, texas. while we were waiting for the

territorial water that is protect the marine environment. this is most notably important because it all began in 1975 with the designation of the "uss monitor" national marine sanctuary off the coast of cape hatteras. the designation of that one site have now grown into the premier marine protected network in the world. it was done -- "the monitor" was discovered, of course, in 1973 by john newton. phil sheridan and gordon watts off the coast of north carolina, testing out new technologies and sonar with the monitor as their target. they found it on the high seas 18 miles off the coast of north carolina but outside of state waters and outside of u.s. territorial waters at the time. in '74, a year after she was found, the governor of north carolina requested that congress establish the monitor national marine sanctuary to protect the site and the rest is history. it was established on january 30th, 1975. which was the date -- the anniversary date of the launching of the monitor. and what i want to talk about specifically and we'll be covering

it mocks marines who file complaints, listing such reasons as, i am a cry baby. >> this is disgusting. and that's what's wrong here. >> marine officials told us the officer who posted that report was disciplined for poor judgment. the issue isn't going away. the subject of military assaults, including clay and helmer's allegations will get more attention in an upcoming documentary that has the pentagon on edge. it's called the invisible war. congresswoman spears office told me they're going to call for congressional hearings. she's calling for congressional hearings into the events of the barracks and the facebook posting. >> this is not the first time the issue has come up. what do you think of the prospects for a lawsuit in this case. >> it's very unclear. a similar lawsuit was filed last year by another group of women, the federal judge dismissed in a case after defense department lawyers argued that if claims like this were incident to military service and immune from litigation. but the lawyer who's filed that lawsuit and this lawsuit is challenging. says it's important to keep t