It seems that all the tough rhetoric on sexual assault in the military from President Barack Obama and Commandant of the Marine Corps James Amos may be doing more harm than good.

There's little doubt that their intentions are in the right place, and that both men take sexual assault in the military seriously, but recent reports detail how their words may amount to unlawful command influence.

At the White House in May, Obama said that perpetrators of sexual assault in the military should be “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged — period.”

The commandant's words on sexual assault are lock-step with Obama's. Last year, Amos went on a "Heritage Brief" tour to different Marine installations where he lectured officers and staff noncommissioned officers on leadership and values, including sexual assault.

In at least one of these meetings, Amos reportedly expressed that he was “very, very disappointed” when courts-martial did not result in discharge for the accused. 

The problem is that both of these cases potentially amount to unlawful command influence, which occurs when senior military leaders, wittingly or not, influence court proceedings. If military jurors at sexual assault cases heard the president's or the commandant's remarks, it could hinder the prosecution of alleged sexual assault perpetrators. 

And that's exactly what's happening. A report by Jennifer Steinhauer in the New York Times last month detailed how defense attorneys across the military are using the president's remarks to help their clients get off the hook for the charges they face. 

“When the commander in chief says they will be dishonorably discharged, that’s a pretty specific message," retired Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Romig, the former judge advocate general of the Army, told the Times. "Every military defense counsel will make a motion about this.”

Among the most egregious incidents profiled in the Times, in May, a judge at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina dismissed sexual assault charges against an Army officer accused of sexual assault, citing Obama's remarks.

A Marine Corps Times piece by Dan Lamothe and Gina Hawkins describes similar circumstances for the commandant.

Harkins and Lamothe detail how judges have determined that Amos unlawfully influenced sexual assault trials in no fewer than four cases over the past year, and at least 80 motions have been filed alleging unlawful influence since last year's "Heritage Brief" tour. 

Amos is already under scrutiny for potential unlawful command influence in the Taliban urination scandal, where he pressured and subsequently removed Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the convening authority on the case, who wanted nonjudicial punishment for the accused. 

There's a saying in the Marine Corps — "Good initiative, bad judgement"— It's used when you're trying to help a situation, but you haven't fully thought out the ramifications of your actions. Seems appropriate here. 

SEE ALSO: The Marine Commandant Scandal Is A Rare Look Into The Power And Influence Of 4-Star Generals

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Steven Rhodes can play ball.

The former Marine who participated at Miramar Air Station for an intramural Marine Corps league made headlines this week when the NCAA denied his eligibility for college football.

From the New York Times:

But the N.C.A.A. momentarily halted the process, pointing to bylaw 14.2.3.2.1., its regulations regarding delayed eligibility. Rhodes’s participation in an organized football league — with publicized schedules, official scoring and predetermined rosters — would be an infraction, and last week, Rhodes was declared ineligible to play for the Blue Raiders.

Public reaction was swift and vitriolic, with opponents lining up to condemn the N.C.A.A. for taking away the playing rights from a Marine.

The Times reports that NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs, Kevin Lennon, announced a reversal  late Monday, allowing Rhodes to play for a full four years.

The reversal follows a massive media outcry on behalf of Rhodes.

Even Senator John McCain, who was a boxer at the Naval Academy, got into the mix:

NCAA should allow Steven Rhodes to play - don’t penalize him for serving his country http://t.co/IliA7OmJFX

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) August 19, 2013

The 6'3", 240-pound Rhodes, who served five years in the Marine Corps as an air traffic controller, was just part of a loosely organized Marine recreational sports program that includes everything from boxing to ultimate frisbee.

Though it does get competitive — especially for the Miramar football Falcons —  it's hardly at the level of NCAA sports.

Most of the participants are active duty Marines, ranging in age from 18 to 40. The leagues are all generally coached, administrated, and played by active duty Marines during their personal, off-duty hours — although some exceptions are made for successful teams, in terms of time off and travel.

Rhodes is expected to play for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders where he will "now be the most recognizable player on the field," writes Zach Schonbrun of the Times.

“To be getting support from millions of people that don’t even know me,” Rhodes told the Times, “it’s just a blessing.”

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This brings new meaning to the Internet phrase "pics or it didn't happen."

Reddit user Keggerss posted an image of a Marine Osprey lodged in a precarious angle on  a wall in Afghanistan. There he is in front, smoke dangling, drinking Rip It, the energy drink ubiquitous to the combat-zone.

Sometimes things get so bad, you have no choice but to smile and laugh.

Here's the story Keggerss posted with the image, which we (having been deployed and flown on Ospreys) judge to be totally legit [edited for clarity and spelling]:

Just so everyone knows I was a passenger not the pilot.

Story Time.

Now everyone forgive me I'm typing this out on my mobile. This was roughly halfway through my deployment.

My unit had been doing helicopter raids and inserts for months before this happened. So everyone was somewhat used to getting rained on by hydraulic fluid which shoots from everywhere when these things fly.

Somehow you convince yourself that cant be a bad thing.

So we departed our FOB late night and the plane was operating as normal. We had a 45 minute flight. The crew chief looked back and gaveOK.

Now when these land their props rotate and make a loud pop.

This time though it was deafening you knew something was wrong, it felt like the Osprey was having a seizure. It's pitch black you can't tell how far you are from the ground then it hits.

My body was instantly in pain.

As you can see in the picture we landed on a ledge and it pinned the rear hatch of the bird closed. We had to exit out of the right door gunner's exit.

Everybody on the plane was instantly ordered to get into a defensive position. Mortars started coming in about 10 minutes afterwards. This is just a gold mine for the Taliban and a nightmare for us Marines.

There were still other Ospreys around when this happened so what did the pilots of this bird do? They jumped on another Osprey and rode back to the FOB.

Meanwhile we had to protect there plane. I always figured this was one of those things like a captain goes down with his ship. A convoy from a FOB came out and dismantled this plane and loaded it up on trucks and hauled it back roughly a week later.

P. S. RIP IT SHOULD OBVIOUSLY ENDORSE ME

Keggerss said in later comments that tank and harrier units came out to help the grunts protect the downed Osprey.

In the end, it's one of those war stories that could have gone much, much worse.

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As the Pentagon seeks to integrate women into combat capacities in the coming years, the Marine Corps has been experimenting with running women through its existing combat training regimens.

For more than a year, the Marines have experimented with passing women through the Corps infantry officers course. Of the 10 lieutenants who have tried, just one passed the initial combat endurance test. She dropped out shortly thereafter due to injury.

And as the Corps continues to grapple with women in its Infantry Officer's Course, it announced this summer that it would begin allowing women to try the enlisted equivalent — the School of Infantry. The Marines, however, stated that even if women were able to successfully complete the 60-day course, they would not be granted access to the field.

There was also some debate about where the women would come from. Could any female enlisted Marine of any rank in any occupational field raise her hand and seek to enroll in SOI? The answer is no, Dan Lamothe at the Marine Corps Times has learned.

The women who will attempt to pass through the School of Infantry will entirely be made up of recent graduates from Boot Camp, Lamothe writes, citing an unnamed source. The course, which takes place on a satellite base near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, has no grueling entry test like it's counterpart for officers. There are, however, several days in the field, and hikes ranging from 5 to 20 kilometers in distance.

Limiting the participants to newly-minted Marines is smart for a couple of reasons. First, they're generally in better physical condition than Marines who have been in the fleet for a couple of years, having just completed a pretty grueling 13-week training program. Secondly, it will be less disruptive to their careers, not pulling a higher ranking Marine away from her unit for a two month experiment. 

The first Marines, who will all be privates and privates first class, will begin training next week. They all volunteered, Lamothe writes.

SEE ALSO: Girl's Epic Headlock On US Marine Should Put To Bed Debate About Women In Combat

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After the terror and tremendous loss of life during a terror attack at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, have ended, the first heroic tales from the ordeal have begun to emerge.

Distinguished among them is the story of a British Royal Marine veteran who was having coffee outside the mall when the attack began.

Far outnumbered and outarmed, equipped with only a handgun, the man reportedly went into the mall at least 12 times and led more than 100 to safety, according to the British newspaper, the Independent. 

The man, whose identity is being withheld in media reports in regard for his safety, was identified after a photo surfaced of him escorting two women from the mall, a small black pistol tucked in his waistband. 

The Independent reports that it is not uncommon for British Royal Marine Commandos to spend time in Kenya as part of their regular duties. Many retire there.

The man in question reportedly lives there full time. 

Kenyan security forces claimed Tuesday they have finally brought a close to the terror attack on the Westgate Mall by Somali militants that took more than 70 lives.

SEE ALSO: Kenya President: Mall Siege Over, 72 Dead

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Being in the military during the past decade of war has been tough for many servicemembers, but the life of peacetime service soon to hit combat-tested troops will present its own challenges.

The military will be cut substantially in the next few years, with a reduction of 80,000 from the Army and roughly 20,000 from the Marines.

But the brass can't just hand out pink slips. Instead, top leaders are making changes that will make garrison life pretty annoying — at least for junior enlisted troops — so they leave the service at the end of their contracts without even the thought of reenlistment.

Nowhere is this more apparent, at least on the Marine Corps side, than from an internal email sent out Tuesday detailing new guidelines for "leadership focused actions" from Brig. Gen. James Hartsell, who was relaying the latest from the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

There are a number of things mentioned in the email: The general wants junior Marines to read some publications on leadership, have better criteria for promotions, and wants "our NCOs [noncommissioned officers] and leaders out from behind their computers and in front of their Marines!"

The most notable part of the email comes at the bottom, which is labeled barracks-related actions. The new guidance offers changes that are sure to make life a whole lot less fun, especially in the barracks (military-speak for what are basically dormitories).

"Marines who do not want to live up to our standards will be held accountable," he writes. That last word, accountable, may not mean "you're fired!" right away, but it certainly makes it easier to choose who it's going to be.

Single sergeants and corporals, who previously were able to get out of the barracks and be paid a housing allowance, will once again be forced back into the barracks. A place where, the general writes, officers and other leaders are to "regularly conduct visits in the Barracks between the hours of 2000-0400."

It gets worse. From the email:

4. There will be two NCO's on every deck in a Barracks and there will be a Firewatch posted on every deck.

5. There will be no TV's or video games allowed in the Watch standers place of duty.

6. Units will establish an Interior Guard with a SNCO in charge of the Interior Guards training.

In a nutshell, many more Marines are going to be sleeping less and walking aimlessly around the barracks starting soon.

"The Intent of this refocused effort of reinforcing NCO leadership in our Corps is to instill improved Good Order and Discipline," writes Hartsell, "and to help address the problems of Hazing, Sexual Harassment/Assault, and Suicide."

And from Stripes, there's a new policy hitting the Army in the next 30 to 60 days concerning tattoos and grooming standards. In short, ink on new recruits is going to be heavily scrutinized, and existing soldiers will have to submit paperwork to get theirs "grandfathered in."

Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler says its a matter of "maintaining a uniform look and sacrificing for the sake of the force."

But let's focus on that last part, sacrifice, for a moment.

From Daily Beast:

Some observers have noted the Army’s habit of changing its policies depending on its recruiting needs. The previous change was in 2006, when the Army loosened requirements on tattoos during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan war efforts. Under those regulations only tattoos that covered the face or head were banned.

This time around, the policy shift comes amid U.S. government preparations to downsize the military as troops withdraw from Afghanistan and the looming prospect of severe funding cuts to the armed services.

It's not just tattoos. There are a ton of changes coming to the Army's uniform policy, to include the necessity to be clean shaven at all times (even off duty and when on leave), a more restrictive haircut policy, and the specification of civilian clothing standards off duty.

If you are depending on the Army for great fashion sense, you're going to have trouble. Not surprisingly, soldiers are offering a mostly negative reaction to the changes. 

The combat veterans of the past few years are about to get hit with the garrison life reality they missed because everyone was busy fighting the bad guys.

From Tom Ricks, who posted an observation from one of his readers in 2010 that still applies:

"Garrison life is the pits. The difference is now we (combat vets) have seen the "other side/combat." Nothing pushes up urges to kill yourself like spending 10 hours of work/admin paperwork for every one you're out at the range or training, or doing risk assessments to drive your car to a town that doesn't suck for the weekend, having your car inspected, having your room inspected, asking your boss if its okay to go outside of the 60 mile radius for the weekend, sitting through your pre/post deployment health assessment, sitting through power point suicide prevention classes, "reunion" classes, etc. Nothing beats mass punishment too. You have to love being called in after a 90 hour work week on your weekend b/c someone else got a DUI."

So with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, military leaders are bringing back the "garrison life" of years past that will certainly help the mission of downsizing — whether troops like it or not. 

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Shane Krutchen is an undefeated MMA fighter.

He's also a former Marine whose unit, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, spearheaded the invasion into Iraq.

The unit saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war. Krutchen came back damaged and, due to then-limited infrastructure to deal with PTSD, fell through the cracks and into the world of drugs.

Until he started to fight.

"It's almost like my rebirth," says Krutchen.

"I haven't fought in a year, but I feel better than I ever have."

"I just keep coming back, and they never understood why."

The court case concerning the video of six Marines urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan has taken a bizarre turn toward the truly weird.

First, the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos recently came under fire for allegedly exerting undue influence over the case and, for such, is reportedly under investigation.

But then Hope Hodge of Marine Corps Times reported a true humdinger late Thursday when one Maj. James Weirick was relieved of his post "following allegations of harassment via email."

Weirick, staff judge advocate at Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va., sent emails to Amos' former defense attorney accusing Amos of misdeeds and advising his lawyer to "come clean" about them.

That's not the weird part though. Throughout the entire communication, Weirick refers to himself in the third person. From Marine Times:

“You are being offered the opportunity to unburden yourself. Weirick sleeps well every night knowing that honesty allows such freedom. You too can know this freedom. Just be honest,” Weirick wrote.

In the email, Weirick repeatedly refers to himself in the third person.

“Come to the side of the honest and truthful. Delay, obfuscation, and intimidation are not working. Those tactics will never work against Weirick,” he writes at one point. “Do whatever you want. Hunker down with the dishonest and hope for the best. Best of luck. You will need it.”

Hodge reports that Weirick ended with a threat: “He can’t offer you protection from Weirick. That protection can’t be offered by anyone. Ever," Weirick writes.

Aside from being relieved of command, Weirick has turned in his weapons and been asked to enter a voluntary psychiatric evaluation.

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The Marine Corps has announced it will fire the pair of 2-star generals who were in charge in Helmand province, Afghanistan last year when the Taliban executed a complex ambush on the Marines regional headquarters at Camp Leatherneck. 

In what he described as the hardest decision of his tenure, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Jim Amos has recommended to the Secretary of the Navy that Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus and Maj. Gen. Gregg Sturdevant be relieved of duties and forced to retire.

Gurganus was the commanding general of the southwestern corner of the war in Afghanistan on Sept. 14 of last year when a team of Taliban fighters wearing U.S. Army uniforms slipped the perimeter and assaulted Camp Bastion/ Camp Leatherneck complex that serves as the coalition headquarters for Helmand province. The Taliban fighters killed the commanding officer of a Harrier squadron, Lt. Col. Christopher Raible and one of his sergeants, Sgt. Bradley Atwell. They also wounded dozens more and destroyed six of the attack jets, which cost $24 million a piece.

Sturdevant was responsible for all aviation assets in the region.

Amos asked Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commanding general of U.S. Central Command, to review the incident. Austin found gross negligence and culpability on the commanders.

During their time in Afghanistan, Gurganus and Sturdevant saw the size of their force decrease from 17,000 to roughly 7,000. Security for the part of the base the Taliban attacked fell to a small team of forces from the Pacific nation of Tonga who were notorious for falling asleep on post. Rajiv Chandrasekaran with the Washington Post reported the Taliban fighters simply walked past the perimeter. 

Gurganus was nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and slated to assume duties as director of the Marine Corps staff at the Pentagon. That nomination will be rescinded. Sturdevant is presently assigned as the director of strategic planning and policy at U.S. Pacific Command. 

There's some indication that this was an expected. In July, the Corps placed Gurganus' nomination and promotion on hold and assigned a different general to serve as the chief advisor to the commandant and oversee Marine Corps headquarters operations. 

“This is the hardest decision I’ve had to make as commandant of the Marine Corps,” Amos said. “I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me, but Mark Gurganus and Gregg Sturdevant were close personal friends of mine. I served with them for decades. They’re extraordinary Marine officers who have served their country with distinction and honor for many years. But commandership is a sacred responsibility and the standard for general officers is necessarily high. In their duty to protect our forces these two generals did not meet that standard.”

SEE ALSO: The Ingenious Way A Pilot Figured Out Who To Shoot During The Attack

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Many functions of the federal government have ground to a halt following the first federal shutdown in 17 years. Even a wily troop of World War II veterans had to storm a memorial in D.C. like it was Normandy.

Despite that, the Marine Corps air station in Miramar, Calif., will open its gates to an expected 200,000 members of the public this weekend for its annual air show. 

How, with the federal government defunded, one might ask. 

1st Lt. Chad Hill, a spokesman for the air station, told Business Insider that it's because the vendors and displays for the air show are paid for by Marine Corps Community Services, which he described as having a level of financial independence, given that not all of its funds come from congressional appropriations.

But bringing 200,000 people on to a Marine Corps installation is no small feat and will require the work of military police and others. And while no military aviation assets will participate in the show, there will be static displays, Hill said.

Additionally, Marine Corps Community Services is not unaffected by the shutdown. Many of its employees, even ones on Miramar, have been furloughed.

The Miramar website says that some divisions from the fitness section, recreation centers, and from Marine and family support services are closed as a result of the shutdown. All of those divisions are run by Marine Corps Community Services. 

A press release from the air station states:

Those excepted from furlough include employees who are required to provide crucial services that protect life, safety and property, provide essential range, training and air operations and those employees that provide necessary utility services.

And air shows, apparently.

SEE ALSO: Obama Releases A Message To The Troops On The Shutdown: Congress Has Failed You

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The annual air show at the Marine Corps air station at Miramar, Calif., has been called the largest in the nation. In previous years, it had garnered more than 500,000 visitors. As of today, this year's air show, scheduled for this weekend, has been canceled. 

Yesterday, Business Insider reported on how despite the shutdown, officials at Mirimar were pressing ahead with plans for the air show. 

Our story, which maybe painted the planned air show in a bit of a critical light, was the top story on the Marine Corps' Daily Media Report, a compilation of news stories about the Marines created by Headquarters Marine Corps. 

Shortly thereafter, the Marine Corps announced that the air show, which was slated to start tomorrow, was canceled. 

Miramar airshow canceled due to government shutdown http://t.co/iX9CemcR7a@MCASMiramarCA

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) October 3, 2013

NBC News in San Diego reported that the decision was made by the Secretary of Defense.

"In the end, it was just more than I had the authority to overcome," Col. John Farnam, the base commander, said today at a press conference. 

SEE ALSO: WWII Vets Appear To Push Past Gates, Storm Shut-Down Memorial In DC

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The Marine Corps has gone to great lengths hiding identities of the first female students to attend their officer and enlisted infantry courses.

But then one of them turned up on Facebook with a bloody face in a posed photo.

We're not going to link to the explicit military Facebook page that posted the photo, but solid sources have verified to Business Insider that the pictured Marine is indeed one of the females attending the course.

Moreover, it looks like she has an Instagram page, which features several pictures from Infantry School and of her injury, with a note that she suffered the injury when a Kevlar helmet fell from the top of her locker.

Her social media use may show bad judgment — Marines are warned explicitly against posting photos — but, needless to say, she seems untroubled by the challenges of the course.

In January, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cleared women to enter combat arms job fields in the military. Since then, the Marine Corps has started a pilot program to see if women are even capable of completing the rigorous infantry training without lowering the standards — those being just the basic physical standards required of men to be infantry.

Since then, six women have failed the officer's infantry course pilot program. The Corps intends to run 100 women through the program in a year's time.

Fifteen women recently became the first trainees in the Corps' enlisted program.

Notably, if any of these women pass the course, they will not earn the infantry rating. The pilot course is simply to test if women are capable of passing existing standards.

Any women who complete the course will then go on to another job school.

So essentially, these women are doing it strictly for posterity's sake.

Finally, this image of hers loaded to a personal account sums up her experience training with the grunts:

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An image making the rounds on Facebook gave us a chuckle — it's a notice posted in a port-a-potty on Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province, Afghanistan, and it sends a clear message to the troops deployed there:

Stop playing with yourself, or else.

The notice threatens anyone in violation of this silly rule with legal action, specifically under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Affectionaly dubbed the "catch-all" by Marines, Article 92 allows the military to prosecute its troops for "failure to obey an order or regulation."

The notice, which hilariously refers to a port-a-potty as a "masturbation facility," claims that there have been several cases of illness in the region due to exposure to bodily fluids. 

That sounded a little scientifically fishy to me, so I reached out to the Navy Corpsman who was my medic when I was deployed to Helmand province in 2011. He called malarkey. 

"Unless they're getting semen in an open wound, there's no way," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Dodson, a Corpsman with 2nd Marine Division in Camp Lejeune, N.C. "There's no transdermal infection passable through semen, at least to my knowledge."

SEE ALSO: Our Military & Defense Facebook Page for updates

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According to ANSA news agency, the U.S. has reinforced its presence in Sicily amid tensions with Libya following the recent raid by the Delta Force that led to the capture of an al-Qaeda leader in the North African country.

Some 250 marines (200 according to some sources) were deployed from Moron, Spain, to the NATO base of Sigonella to face potential threats to U.S. diplomats in Libya that could be sparked by the capture of Abu Anas al Libi.

The precautionary move is only the latest in a series of measures undertaken after the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that cost the life of ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

Immediately after the deadly attack last year, the Pentagon deployed to North Africa a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST), an expeditionary group of skilled and very well-equipped Marines capable of reinforcing U.S. security forces at embassies and other key installations around the world. Then, several Special Operations Assets, including AC-130U Spectre gunships and helicopters, were deployed in the Mediterranean area.

Earlier this year, in May, 500 American marines were moved from Spain to Sigonella amid growing tensions in Libya.

Sigonella is one of NATO’s largest airbases in southern Europe; it often hosts U.S. warplanes on deployment, tanker aircraft supporting them as well as drones spying on Mali, and maritime patrol aircraft.

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Lance Cpl. Chris Eichelberger, a Huey door gunner with a Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, unloads on a target at the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, California, Oct. 2, 2013.

Huey door gunners, whose role is firing and maintaining manually directed armament to provide cover to ground operations as well as to defend the helicopters from ground threats, participated in the close-air support exercise as supporting gunners for the student pilot to be able to learn to communicate and coordinate with the two gunners on the helicopter.

Gunners are particularly vulnerable to the ground enemy fire because of the helicopter’s open door that doesn’t shield them.

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Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey announced the Pentagon's plans to integrate women into previously closed combat jobs across all military branches.

Now the first 15 female enlisted Marines have volunteered to participate in enlisted infantry training. Before even starting this pilot course, the women have to complete a Physical Fitness Test (PFT), Combat Fitness Test (CFT) and the beastly High Intensity Tactical Training (HITT) assessment.

On the command side, 10 women thus far have attempted the Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course, and all of them have washed out.

We've got some pictures of enlisted women (notably kept anonymous) and men taking the tests.

This is the "buddy carry" drill which is an element of the Combat Fitness Test. Marines run 65 yards, zigzag through obstacles all while carrying a comrade. It is important for Marines to master this skill in order to save lives on the battlefield.

Marines must then carry two 30-pound ammo cans ...

... and run 75-yards while weaving through a series of cones.

The Marine Corps Times nabbed an exclusive interview with Joseph Chamblin, who as a Marine staff sergeant in 2011 commanded a platoon of Marines that urinated on Taliban corpses. When video of the incident surfaced in early 2012, it made national headlines and the commandant of the Marine Corps ordered an official inquiry into their actions. 

Chamblin was demoted to sergeant and medically separated from active service Oct. 6. But he said he regrets nothing from that fateful day when he was the man in charge of a group of Marines that unfastened their pants and relieved themselves on the enemy fighters they had just killed. 

The full interview is well worth the read. But here are four key quotes that offer a glimpse into the Marine veteran's mindset:

On his thoughts toward the Taliban fighters: "I won that day. They didn’t."

On the investigation into him and the members of his unit: "I think a lot of very senior Marines decided to use some of the junior or mid-level Marines as scapegoats."

On the morality of his act:"I don't see anything wrong with it, they're a bunch of f---ing animals."

On whether the act hurt the Corps' reputation: "If your ideal of what a Marine should be is the enemy's worst f---ing nightmare, that we'll go out there and kill him, and take the fight to him no matter what the cost, then I don't think it did."

There are a lot of quotable moments. Watch the video below:

NOW: See How This Case Could Lead To The Corps' Top General Being Investigated By Congress

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The helicopter dunk tank scenario is not a favorite of the Marines, but still, it saves lives.

In it, Marines mount up into a modified helicopter hull and strap in. Then the hull dunks into the water and rolls over. The Marines have 30 seconds to clear the vehicle.

The simulation is intended to simulate a belly landing in the water, which would result in a roll-over due to the top heavy nature of most helicopters.

The troops undergo extensive training prior to this exercise, and qualified instructors remain onhand.

Still, some Marines can't help but freak out:

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The U.S. military is the largest, most powerful force in the world. After two wars over the last ten years, it's clear that the U.S. has had plenty of time and practice to keep our forces battle-tested.

Combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan in 2014, effectively marking the end of the war. However, Marines, Army, and Navy continue to train and stay battle ready. 

The following night photos, drawn from the U.S. Marines, Army, Air Force, and Navy show just how cutting-edge our military has become.

Inspired by similar images posted by Foreign Policy, we have prepared our own gallery including a few more exclusively from military photographers.

A Marine Special Operations Team member fires a M240B machine gun during night fire sustainment training in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

U.S. Marines with Lima Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, fire M777A2 Lightweight Howitzers during exercise Steel Knight in California.

Marines participate in an external load lifting exercise with a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter.

The Marine Corps, 238-years-old Sunday, has served a role in every conflict in the history of the United States.

That's because the Marines operate on sea, air, and land and — unlike the other services — can respond to a crisis in under 24 hours with the full force of a modern military.

Today, there are more than 200,000 active-duty and reserve Marines. 

To celebrate the Corps, we've pulled some of the coolest photos from the archives.

SEE ALSO: 49 Reasons Why America Can't Fold Its Marine Corps

Created in 1798, the Marine Corps Band was called "The President’s Own" by President Jefferson during his inaugural ball. Since then, the band has played at every presidential inauguration. Here they are in 1893.

In the early 1900s, Marine forces were active in China and the Philippines. This photo from 1907 shows Marines posing in front of the Great Sphinx in Egypt.

WWI marked the beginning of trench warfare and poison gas. Mortars were useful in muddy trenches because a mortar round could be aimed to fall directly into trenches unlike artillery shells. These Marines are posing with a German trench mortar captured in France in 1918.