marines look for a fight. if they hear gun fire that's where they want to be. >> they would find plenty of it in iraq. april, 2004 second battalion fourth marines were deployed to ramadi iraq the capital of an albar providence. at the time it was the most dangerous city on earth. just another typical day for the marines and the army. >> when we join up with you in iraq you are a company commander. tell us what that means. >> probably the most great experience i have had. to take charge of 200 men and lead them in combat, nothing like it. >> in early july during a fierce gun fight in the center of the city our cameras were there when an ied exploded near our humvee. he was hit by an enemy rpg. >> the rpg that wounded you also wounded your radio operator and one of your lieutenants. how did that happen? >> as we approached this area things didn't look right. people cleared off the street as soon as they saw the vehicle coming. i turned right. we wendt well south of what i suspected was an enemy ambush. stepped a

>> the remaining marines?remaining marines will be continuing to partner with afghan forces, training afghan forces. there will be plenty of operational commitments, especially in northern hell man left, north has plenty of violence that they are working to curtail. >>> as the marines draw down in afghanistan there is going to be some movement to australia, when are folks going to be going there and what are they going to be doing? >> at the start it is going to be relatively small. we are expecting about 300 marines next year to deploy to darwin. robertson barracks in the northern territory, specifically is where they will be based. primarily going to be training. going to be on a rotational basis. you are going to see every six months a new group of marines come through. won't be unlike the unit deployment program currently in japan. that program has been ongoing for years. >>> what are these guys, what should they expect when they get to darwin? it is a little bit of a tough town in some respects. >> it is

and five years later he became a marine. for years he seemed to meet the standard of military success. there were promotions, assignments in asia, and nearly a dozen medals and letters of appreciation from the corps. he even found a bride on duty, a dancer from the philippines named amelia. >> he's very good-hearted man. very affectionate. all you're looking for a man was in him at that time. >> and you found it very easy to fall in love with him. >> i did. i fall in love with him and i marry him. >> together, they had three beautiful daughters. but three years before that trailer fire, a happy family portrait was beginning to disintegrate. the trouble began when the bennett family was transferred to a military base in okinawa, japan. former navy petty officer lynn brisco was arthur bennett's neighbor in okinawa and for a time his friend. >> we had similar interests, the possibility of a long-term friendship was there. >> but the friendship ended as quickly as it had begun, he says, when his 8-year-old daughter came to him w

marine in camp pendleton.k then he was a father of two. >> when i was captain i was a commander of an artillery battery. we had 140 marines that's what we deployed with when we went over to the gulf. >> at the time he was one of 93 thousand troops in kuwait ready for their orders to enter iraq. >> i will be home soon! >> we were right literally on the border of kuwait and iraq when the invasion kicked off. >> 2003, d-day for operation iraqi freedom. >> our job as an artillery battery was engage targets deep in iraq. we pulled up on the berm right at the border and were in iraq when the whole thing kicked off. the artillery pieces fired 96 pound shell about 20 miles. so the war gets pretty loud pretty fast when you are in the artillery. >> it kept the frye battalion was attacking more in nasiriya. >> we had a good fight in support of the infantry moving up. >> suddenly visibility dropped to zero. blinding grit powered over 20,000 feet traveling 60 miles an hour. >> driving down the highway we got ambushed in a

marine in camp pendleton. back then he was a father of two. >> when i was captain i was a commander of an artillery battery. we had 140 marines that's what we deployed with when we went over to the gulf. >> at the time he was one of 93 thousand troops in kuwait ready for their orders to enter iraq. >> i will be home soon! >> we were right literally on the border of kuwait and iraq when the invasion kicked off. >> 2003, d-day for operation iraqi freedom. >> our job as an artillery battery was engage targets deep in iraq. we pulled up on the berm right at the border and were in iraq when the whole thing kicked off. the artillery pieces fired 96 pound shell about 20 miles. so the war gets pretty loud pretty fast when you are in the artillery. >> it kept the frye battalion was attacking more in nasiriya. >> we had a good fight in support of the infantry moving up. >> suddenly visibility dropped to zero. blinding grit powered over 20,000 feet traveling 60 miles an hour. >> driving down the highway we got ambushed i

fuel, and since for marine vessels and construction -- engines for marine vessels and construction equipment. these are all the and mitigation measures that you may be adopting today, as feasible, so that gives us a lot of confidence this will go forward. in addition, there are some remaining in farm the concerns -- environmental concerns. they're mostly related to field protection, the parks, some of the neighborhoods, the marine mammal monitoring, and the implementation of the mitigation measures. week urged the commissioners and the staff to continue to work with the environmental community to work out those remaining issues which i think personally are definitely doable. i guess just one last comment of it like to make, if i may, i was also engaged in the cruise ship terminal environmental advisory committee, meeting with the group's windy pier was being considered, and even though that did not materialize, the environmental agreements that we made for the cruise ships during that time are still legacy protocol for the cruise ships to prevent them from discharging into the bag. >> thank

we've got the united states marine corps as well as d.c. fire officials sailors and other civilians and employees. they are simulating what would happen if there was chemical warfare gear at nationals park. they would be able to get here on scene after the marines were called in by the d.c. fire department and set up their tents and things they need to get their job done and they would start to go in and bring the victims out and get them through the showers and decontaminate them and get the medical attention. they say these doomsday exercises are important to take what they learn in sight in the classroom and put it in a real time situation. we talked to some marine officials today. >> you need to know what it means to be in this uniform and the under the weight and walk up three flights of stairs to get into the confined space and getting into a baseball stadium with the small states and moving a person out. >> the faster we can get in to save lives and mitigate the risk, we are doing our job. >> you can see that they are still out here

year's marine corps ball. said she'd love to go, but has to ask her husband. the toys for tots program founded by the marine corps has been making a lot of dreams come true for boys and girls in need for over six decades. tonight around the country, marines and hoards of volunteers are scrambling to fill a spike in requests for toys, and to make a difference. our report tonight from nbc's ron mott in boston. >> reporter: last christmas, marine sergeant matt laroche was surrounded by taliban threats in afghanistan. this christmas he's bomb boarded by stuffed animal, board games, footballs and dolls. >> it's awesome to be able to do this. >> reporter: as coordinator for boston's toys for tots drive. >> this year's christmas and last year's christmas were very different. i was deployed to southern afghanistan, didn't really know it was christmas, to be honest, except for the care packages that i got from the, you know, the loving kids. >> reporter: with nine days to go before kids rip into all this fun, the mad r

the bonhomme richard is an amphibious assault ship designed to carry a flexible mix of marine and navy units all around the world to accomplish a broad spectrum of missions, from humanitarian and disaster relief, all the way to combat missions. it can operate anywhere and can sustain forces either from the air or from the sea. i think it is appropriate to be this avenue. i cannot think of a better place to accomplish these missions. i was asked to get a little history of bonhomme richard. it is a french name. if you wonder why, it was a ship that was donated to the colonial navy when they were fighting in the revolution. the name is in honor of benjamin franklin. , bonhomme richard good man richard. in france, it was captain by john paul jones. it went on the campaign off but the british isles to take the word to the british. it ended in a battle against a top of the ship. the bonhomme richard is not. the bottom line is that they had no right to win. there were sinking. half the crew was dead. the crew did what they had no right to do, and they won that battle through climbing in the y

i travel around all the marine businesses in the bay area, commercial and recreational marine businesses and for the last four years plus it has been depressing to do what i am doing sometimes. these businesses have been hurt seriously in the recession, and there is a lot of excitement in the community, in the boating community and the business community, so i am very much in support of this and i hope you will support it, too. i was not raised in yacht clubs, but once he goes sailing you get hooked. i would venture 90% of its citizens do not realize what we have here. one of bowdothe goals is to proe sailing. this is an opportunity to see what sailboat's do excessively, and it is a great opportunity. i live in alameda, n.yand it isa great place. i would love to see the top here. but it is going to be a lot of fun, and thank you for being here and doing this. >> thank you. >> good evening. i am president of the dolphin club. dithank you for the opportunityo speak, and we are in support of america's cup. it is a global of xanthan

he used to be a marine. >> once a marine, always a marine. we're all brothers regardless whether i'm wearing a union for or stripes. it's odd seeing the marine family in here. >> reporter: they are distributing 300 toys this year to local kids and next year they plan to double the number, a goal made easier because of the influx of state prisoners being funneled into local county jails. >> we do a lot of vocational training here including until the wood shop, welding shop. we have an engraving shop, body shop. so we figured that the better we can prepare inmates for returning to the street and having some vocational training is better, plus we get to help the kids. >> reporter: which ends up helping the inmates too. >> i always enjoyed christmas as a kid. making toys is even better. >> more than happy to assist. >> reporter: in milpitas, nasdaq, cbs 5. >>> parking just became a little easier for people in one part of san francisco. this morning, in the castro district, san francisco mta launched its new pay by phone parking payment service. d

the commute in the north bay, there are still more problems for southbound highway 101 through marin county. >>justine: we're moving on to our other developing stories as police moved in on the largest occupy encampment left to the bay area. this happened overnight in berkeley at the civic center park. protesters were told to leave by 10:00 a.m.. when they did not all officers started removing the tense. jackie sissel is live at the civic center park where some protesters are still out there. >>jackie: many protesters are still here. the protesters say they are not going anywhere right now. the police had given them a warning yesterday that they have insults and the and to move out of civic center park. then, they moved a few tents and then left the scene. this is the largest of the occupy movement. one protester said he thought the occupy movement would continue in different ways. obviously it is still a developing story. the irony is, we are directly across the street from the police station. we have seen some patrol officers in and around the park but no one has moved in to tear d

the marines deny it. and yesterday the white house said it thoroughly vetted marine corps documents before giving meyer the military's highest honor. sergeant meyer himself has told fox news quote it's not about me. it's about america. i don't care about skin color or religion or political parties. i believe in this country, end quote. meantime sergeant meyer dropped a lawsuit today that claimed a former boss called him, quote, mentally unstable. that hurt his opportunities to find work, he said. sergeant meyer issued a statement saying that he and the employer settled their differences. the terms of that settlement not disclosed. a wealthy couple, their daughter and grandchildren found the bodies. tonight, heart breaking new information on just what they saw. plus, a woman may have hoped that this guy would steal her heart. but cops say that is not all he was after. details from one bad first date and you can bet it's a last date. that's next. get the technology they love, on the network they deserve. an

>>> two local marine units are about to fill their carts with $22,000 with toys for tots and we will tell you where they still need help. ktvu channel 2 news still continues. >>> well, good morning, welcome to a brand-new day, december 15th, i am dave clark. >> and i am pam cook, steel paulsen is here with the -- steve paulsen is here with the forecast, is there any more rain coming? >>> a little bit of rain and we have a little bit of snow up in the sierra no advisories for snow and after the advisory, we may start to see some sun here highs in the mid-50s, here is sal. >>> no major problems heading out to the mcarthur maze and it is getting busier, and 6:01 let's go back to the desk. >>> well a san francisco community is on edge nothing two sexual assaults. -- on edge following two sexual assaults. tara moriarty has more and they are making this a top priority? >> reporter: yes, because of the brutality of the attacks. the fire department had to clean blood off the sidewalk here at the corner where that second attack happened. police are beefing up patrols and neighbors are hanging

the move comes after a newspaper that the marine says that a marine embellished his actions on the battlefieldpresident awarded marine corps sergeant dakota meyer the top military honor. mcclatchy newspapers awarded many details of meyer's accomplishments were inaccurate. the initial report from meyer's commander said he killed one taliban fighter and saved nine afghans. other accounts from the white house and the marines said meyer killed multiple enemies and saved as many as 36 lives. the marine corps attributes the differing accounts to the "fog of war." the pentagon and the white house stand by the award and have no plans to investigate the discrepancies. >>> just in time for christmas, santa's reindeer have been returned. comet and dancer got loose on an interstate highway in webster, texas. >> there's two loose reindeer on the highway. >> yes, sir. >> there's a guy approaching them right now. >> older man with a beard? >> no. >> i'm really not being funny. i swear i'm not. >> a man named santa joe, look at him, owns a petting zoo. he says he was taking the reindeer to school for a show a

>>reporter: he was also a marine in there was a shout out in his honor. the nearly two-hour funeral ended with a flagging given to the family as well as a fly over. >>pam: about 3500 members of law enforcement were in attendance. those were people that did not personally know officer capoot, they said that it was vital for them to come and show their support for the family in the community. >> i just want to represent one of our brothers that fell in line of duty to early. >> this shows the bond that we have in this profession and the support for the family and the agency in troubled times like this is good to stick together. >> it is such an emotional time, it is not the easier doing the job for 25 years, i have been to count as funerals and they cannot get easier. >> all of us are never prepared for the inevitable that something like this could happen. we rely on our training will we know that sadly this does happen our hearts and prayers got--go out to all of vallejo, the capoot family and this is our way to try and show our support for them. >>pam: fo

the marine's heroics were widely exaggerated. >>> plus san francisco's new metro. >>> and looking good towards the south metro area, we will tell you more straight ahead. [ male announcer ] for andy, tracking his spending with citibank is as easy as... making breakfast. omelet? sure. scrambled eggs. [ male announcer ] actually, it's easier. citi financial tools. easier banking. standard at citibank. [ beep ] hi. dave here. [ male announcer ] for dave, using citibank's online bill pay is as easy as setting up voicemail. hi, it's dave. [ male announcer ] actually, it's easier. hi, it's dave. i'm out of the office. [ male announcer ] online bill pay. easier banking. standard at citibank. . >>> welcome back now, time now 5:12 the heroics were greatly exaggerated by the marine corp. president barack obama presented the medal of honor and according to the marines he ignored orders rushing into the fire saving many afghan troops. however they conducted their own investigation and saying although he is deserving of the medal, most of the stories behind his actions are just not true. >>> it for

as you head out of marin county.ypically, we have some on the northbound side of 101 but no delays right now. good news as you work your way into san francisco. >> frank? >> all right, thanks. 6:48 now. and a group of computer hackers known as anonymous is now claiming responsibility for a rash of high-tech robin hood thefts over the holidays. now the group says it stole thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information, from clients, of the security think tank stratford. and one says $700 has been taken from his account and given to various charities including the red cross. and they warn there could be more attacks this week. >>> some internet searches and posts, the modern day way to gauge pop culture. >> it sure is. with that in mind we have karen cappa, taking a look at some of the most hyped people and things of this year. >> what got social media users clicking, sharing, tweeting and buzzing in 2011? apparently, a teen with a ridiculously catchy song. ♪ gotta make my mind up. >> aspiring songstre

a pretty clear drive with no delays out of marin county. the time right now is 6:47 a.m., james is here with a look at the forecast. >>james: here is a look at the james lick freeway. here is what we are expecting for weather today. strong winds is scheduled to persist throughout the morning. temperatures in the '40's and '50's. it will remain cool and windy as we had to the afternoon. continued preconditions as we head into the overnight hours. 23 mi. per hour sustained winds in fairfield. 13 mi. per hour winds in nevada. 33 near half moon bay. in san jose, 22 of our wins. at the moment it is still blustery and relatively dusty--dusty as well. stronger when gusts as you head higher in elevation. the north bay valleys, as you can see, these protected valleys were under a high winds advisories, that has been cancelled. the high wind warning is still there. in the east bay hills, the warning has expired but the advisory still exists. no matter where you are you will still have a windy morning in a windy day with downed trees and branches a po

but marines started getting calls from the families of the decease. he started to make calls to apologize. and official apology letters are being sent out, as well. >> you wonder how mistakes like that happen. >>> a tennessee man is in the hospital, now facing a string of charges, after a terrifying domestic dispute. eric whitaker is accused of trying to kill his girlfriend following an argument. and the dramatic scene captured on video. he allegedly followed her on a highway. crashed into the side of her car. and then, he rammed his truck through the front door of the convenient store. the store owner was hit in all this. did manage to walk away. the girlfriend was unharmed. >>> and take a electric at this miami police cruiser that ended upright after the driver lost control and struck a poll. the police officer admits he was distracted at the time. he reached down to pick up a pen. he was lucky to walk away. but needless to say, was a little embarrassed. >>> a different kind of rescue in southern colorado, where a pregnant mare fell into a seven-foo

gooto protect marine animals, we iterates our request.we also strongly recommend that the notice to voters representing the water and air traffic plan be presented to mariners before their entry into the san francisco bay and that it contains images. we understand some of these concerns may have been addressed recently, and we will take a close look at that and look forward to working with staff during implementation. we appreciate the dedication to the many important details of the project. with continued efforts to address concerns, we suppor pro. thank you very much. >> if i have called your name, would you start coming to the microphone in any order? >> i am with latitude 38 sailing magazine, and i am thrilled to have them come to san francisco bay. i do want to lend my support, because i believe it is going to bring great positive attention to the bay area. it is going to give us an opportunity to introduce local residents. too many people see the bay as an obstacle rather than a great place to go play. the winning america's cup team

marine corp had my back and afghanistan staff sergeant torres.nd navy lieutenant, sorry lieutenant wagner. start with you. rank has its privilege. tell me an angel in your life. his name is ray perez. i am a native of new york and i was pretty much having a rough childhood growing up he actually mentored me and put me on a better path and inspired me to be a marine and the way i pay it now. i am a mentor in my community in the bronx for high school students and when i can, i participate in the toys for tots for marines. >> excellent, excellent story and i believe that it is one of the great ways to get social mobility to get out of the rough neighborhoods and get the capacity to go back and help others. i am sure ray perez is very proud of you. how is the navy. >> great, and getting better every day. >> who is the angel in your life? >> i had the awesome privilege for those graduating from the naval academ yethree the of i guys. two marines and navy seal brendon loaney all died in service to the country and these were guys who impacted me. and an

some extra volume out of marin county into san francisco. that's traffic.or weather, here's elizabeth. >> thank you, gianna. we're off to a cooler start this morning than we saw yesterday. some chillier temperatures. we also have some areas of low clouds and fog as you can see from our camera there over the bay. so right now, we're a little on the cold side but later on this afternoon check out these forecasted temperatures. mostly in the upper 50s to looks like mid-60s in some spots. santa rosa our warm spot this afternoon the 61 in oakland expected. 59 degrees in pacifica. always a little bit chillier there. so over the next seven days, we are holding steady. that high pressure is intact bringing mild temperatures and dry weather through christmas weekend. >>> and welcome back to "the early show." i'm chris wrag xw e along with erica hill. good morning, my friends. >> good morning. >> ready to kick off this had a hour? >> let's do it. >> storms can wreck your property and mess up your life, but there is something else for homeowners to worry about, scam a

years early and was pulling a 3.9gpa in her college classes before spiraling into homelessness in marin. >> jan's adept at that. reporter: she was referred to ambassadors for hope and opportunity which for seven years has been stepping in to help the estimated 2600 homeless kids in marin who are 16 to 25 years old. they're part of the 250,000 homeless young people statewide. >> and the government sends a million dollars to address that issue. that's $4 a youth. there are 1,000 beds in the state of california for this age group of 250,000 youth. so that gives you an indication of what kind of political will, investment and priority is being given to this age group. >> you know that i'm working at the restaurant, right? >>> yes. reporter: today lee ann is getting lessons in the kitchen from chefcy money who volunteers to feed hh's population. >> this is the safe haven. reporter: downstairs there's an emergency crash pad in the group's small cottage, somewhere they can go before being placed with host families and given what may be the one break in life that will turn things around. >> sch

there's two other sea lions that the marine mammal had.nd [ inaudible ]. >> they seem to be making a faster break for it because they know their buddy is already in the ocean. >> i think they watched him go in. we can totally do this. the people at the marine mammal center do a pretty amazing things. in the course of their life as a center, they've rescued 10,000 sea lions. and have rescued 530 marine life in need just this year. they actually found these three sea lions in monterey and they were suffering from a bacterial infection. they rescued them in the fall and then nursed them back to health and on december 6th they were released back into the wild after they were healthy and ready to go. >> i'm glad they -- sometimes you see these rescues, they nurse them back to health but they're not healthy enough to go back to the wild so they have to spend the rest of their life in a zoo. this is reall ♪ [ female announcer ] this time of year you have a lot of festive meals. and safeway helps make every holiday meal a special occasion. so you

bell, united states marine corps. he was 28 years old, the son of pamela alexander bell, and james bell the husband of karen navaret and brother of lyndon bell and andrea roe. staff sergeant bell enlisted in the marine corps on july 7, 2001, and became an artilleryman. during his career he served his country with distinction and deployed in support of operation iraqi freedom with battalion landing team 21, second battalion, 11th marine regiment, battalion landing team 24 and fifth batalian 11th marine regiment. on october 31, 2011, staff sergeant bell deployed with the second battalion, 11th marine regiment where he served as a howitzer section chief for a 10-man team in support of operation enduring freedom. on november 30, staff sergeant bell was in helmund province, afghanistan, when he stepped on an improvised explosive device while on a dismounted patrol. he succumbed to his wounds, making the ultimate sacrifice for his country. staff sergeant bell loved being a marine. he said that the ability to serve is the gr

we are talking sonoma county and not even marin county. maybe sliding into marin county and it looks cloudier and sunnier south and east. and it is dry for new year's eve and new year's day. you notice we will dip into the mid30s in napa and santa rosa. there is your chilly air of the liver livermore is 38 and fremont 40 and 42 in san jose with morgan hill at 40. so the set up hasn't changed that much, but we are looking at a big storm where the jet stream has a lot of energy to the north of us. right now it is raining in portland and seattle. our computer animation shows some of the rain wants to sink south into the extreme northern california. by tomorrow evening and the overnight hours it gets even closer. but it is not going to make it. we are talking a couple hundredths if it pushes through marin county it will wash out. the best chance of rain comes in then and it looks like friday we are dry again for new year's eve. in terms of the high temperatures tomorrow, a lot of sunshine here in the south bay. 63 in can loops and 62 in santa