Lance Cpl. Martin Williams, an automatic rifleman with 1st Platoon, Company B, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fires an M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon during high-angle marksmanship training as part of a three-week training package in Djibouti, Sep. 15. The training was focused on the application of infantry skills in rugged mountain terrain. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a theater reserve and crisis response force throughout U.S. Central Command and the Navy's 5th Fleet area of responsibility. - Lance Cpl. Martin Williams, an automatic rifleman with 1st Platoon, Company B, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fires an M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon during high-angle marksmanship training as part of a three-week training package in Djibouti, Sep. 15. The training was focused on the application of infantry skills in rugged mountain terrain. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a theater reserve and crisis response force throughout U.S. Central Command and the Navy's 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Steven Haley (center), a motor transport operator with Transportation Service Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 3, and a 21 year old from Kennewick, Wash., listens to his supervisor, Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Flack, explain their team?s role as an opposing insurgent force while employing Marine Corps Base Hawaii?s new Mobile Counter-IED Interactive Trainer, Sept. 18, 2012. The interactive trainer, a series of four trailers decked out with a plethora of high-definition TVs and intricately crafted visual displays, provides Marines a practical, step-by-step education on one of the most significant threats currently facing troops on the ground ? the deadly improvised explosive device. The MCIT helps Marines recognize IEDs and production materials, understand the insurgent mindset and tactical use of IEDs, and how to mitigate their effectiveness and respond to IED events. - U.S. Marine Cpl. Steven Haley (center), a motor transport operator with Transportation Service Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 3, and a 21 year old from Kennewick, Wash., listens to his supervisor, Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Flack, explain their team?s role as an opposing insurgent force while employing Marine Corps Base Hawaii?s new Mobile Counter-IED Interactive Trainer, Sept. 18, 2012. The interactive trainer, a series of four trailers decked out with a plethora of high-definition TVs and intricately crafted visual displays, provides Marines a practical, step-by-step education on one of the most significant threats currently facing troops on the ground ? the deadly improvised explosive device. The MCIT helps Marines recognize IEDs and production materials, understand the insurgent mindset and tactical use of IEDs, and how to mitigate their effectiveness and respond to IED events.

Aviation Radioman 2nd Class Harrison D. Miller (back-center) aboard the flight deck of the USS New Mexico (BB-40) with fellow flight crews for OS2N-1 ?Kingfisher? observation/scout float planes. Miller later received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic actions on 31 January 1944 when U.S. forces invaded Kwajalein Atoll. At 1522 local time, his plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire from Ebeye Island, an enemy float plane base at the time. The Kingfisher suffered serious damage and was forced to make an emergency water landing in the lagoon due to high octane aviation fuel leaking into the bilges in the cockpit, filling it with fuel fumes presenting a critical fire hazard. The pilot, Navy Lieutenant Forney O. Fuqua was mortally wounded by the enemy fire and instructed the Miller, in the rear cockpit of the Kingfisher, to bail out. Miller elected to stay with the plane and to attempt a water landing himself from the rear cockpit. With no prior flying experience, no flight instruments and only an emergency control stick in the rear cockpit, he successfully made a water landing from the back seat of the Kingfisher. After landing, Miller got out of the rear cockpit onto the wing and made his way to the front cockpit and turned off the Kingfisher?s engine and started to unbuckle the pilot?s parachute and harness; but before he could get him unbuckled, the plane capsized due to the loss of the outboard pontoons during the landing. Miller made numerous attempts to rescue the pilot and remove him from the cockpit, diving under the gasoline covered waters but was unsuccessful. - Aviation Radioman 2nd Class Harrison D. Miller (back-center) aboard the flight deck of the USS New Mexico (BB-40) with fellow flight crews for OS2N-1 ?Kingfisher? observation/scout float planes. Miller later received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic actions on 31 January 1944 when U.S. forces invaded Kwajalein Atoll. At 1522 local time, his plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire from Ebeye Island, an enemy float plane base at the time. The Kingfisher suffered serious damage and was forced to make an emergency water landing in the lagoon due to high octane aviation fuel leaking into the bilges in the cockpit, filling it with fuel fumes presenting a critical fire hazard. The pilot, Navy Lieutenant Forney O. Fuqua was mortally wounded by the enemy fire and instructed the Miller, in the rear cockpit of the Kingfisher, to bail out. Miller elected to stay with the plane and to attempt a water landing himself from the rear cockpit. With no prior flying experience, no flight instruments and only an emergency control stick in the rear cockpit, he successfully made a water landing from the back seat of the Kingfisher. After landing, Miller got out of the rear cockpit onto the wing and made his way to the front cockpit and turned off the Kingfisher?s engine and started to unbuckle the pilot?s parachute and harness; but before he could get him unbuckled, the plane capsized due to the loss of the outboard pontoons during the landing. Miller made numerous attempts to rescue the pilot and remove him from the cockpit, diving under the gasoline covered waters but was unsuccessful.

Lucious Bryant, an 87-year-old native of Carlsbad, Calif., sits in his chair before being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by Maj. Gen. Ronald Bailey, the commanding general of 1st Marine Division, here, Sept. 14, 2012. Bryant served with the Marine Corps during the 1940s, a time period when African American recruits were trained separately from their Caucasian brothers in green. - Lucious Bryant, an 87-year-old native of Carlsbad, Calif., sits in his chair before being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by Maj. Gen. Ronald Bailey, the commanding general of 1st Marine Division, here, Sept. 14, 2012. Bryant served with the Marine Corps during the 1940s, a time period when African American recruits were trained separately from their Caucasian brothers in green.

Service members with Landing Support Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, flip a tire during the endurance course at Battle Skills Training School aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sept. 14. The participants were forced to use teamwork to get the tire from one location to another before moving on to the next obstacle. - Service members with Landing Support Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, flip a tire during the endurance course at Battle Skills Training School aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sept. 14. The participants were forced to use teamwork to get the tire from one location to another before moving on to the next obstacle.

Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Hardin, an independent duty corpsman serving with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, reunites with his family after returning home Sept. 17, 2012, from a deployment to Afghanistan. Hardin, an Escondido, Calif., native, treated Marines at the battalion aid station, a medical component within 2nd Bn., 5th Marines? Headquarters and Service Company. More than 1,100 Marines and sailors serving with the battalion returned from a seven-month deployment to northern Helmand province, Afghanistan. - Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Hardin, an independent duty corpsman serving with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, reunites with his family after returning home Sept. 17, 2012, from a deployment to Afghanistan. Hardin, an Escondido, Calif., native, treated Marines at the battalion aid station, a medical component within 2nd Bn., 5th Marines? Headquarters and Service Company. More than 1,100 Marines and sailors serving with the battalion returned from a seven-month deployment to northern Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Lance Cpl. Hunter Eden, heavy equipment operator from Palm Bay, Fla., with Combat Logistics Battalion (CLB) 26 practices minesweeping, part of a training plan to teach Marines the basics of other occupational specialties at Fort Pickett, Va., Sept 15, 2012. This training is part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit?s pre-deployment training program. CLB-26 is one of the three reinforcements of 26th MEU, which is slated to deploy in 2013. - Lance Cpl. Hunter Eden, heavy equipment operator from Palm Bay, Fla., with Combat Logistics Battalion (CLB) 26 practices minesweeping, part of a training plan to teach Marines the basics of other occupational specialties at Fort Pickett, Va., Sept 15, 2012. This training is part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit?s pre-deployment training program. CLB-26 is one of the three reinforcements of 26th MEU, which is slated to deploy in 2013.