43 Commando Royal Marines Switches To C8 Carbine

The C8 had been in limited used by 43 Commando already but it is understood by IHS Janes that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) bought a further 300 of the Canadian-made carbines as part of a re-equipment effort that was completed at the end of 2015. The C8 is now 43 Commando’s standard weapon. The unit is the first outside of the Special Forces to completely drop the L85A2 in favour of the L119. Aside from United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF), the L119 is in various degrees of use by 16 Air Assault Brigade’s Pathfinder Platoon and the Royal Military Police Close Protection Unit. The Special Forces fleet of L119A1s were upgraded to L119A2 standard in 2013. While not specified in the article, it is likely that the new buy of 300 L119s was of the A2 model. Read more Here

ROYAL MARINES IN IRAQ

Justice for Sgt Alexander Blackman,

British Troops who wore green berets when they marched for Marine A could have their pay docked or be given extra duties - but those in civilian clothes will not be punished

Royal Marines who flocked to a rally demanding justice for jailed comrade Alexander Blackman could lose half a day’s pay as punishment.
Serving personnel defying a Ministry of Defence ban by turning up at the demonstration in their green berets may face action by their commanding officers.
They risk administrative punishments, such as docked pay or having to undertake extra duties, it is understood.But those who supported the protest wearing civilian clothing will not be reprimanded.
Hundreds of campaigners assembled in Westminster Square on Wednesday to support Sgt Blackman, who is serving eight years for killing a wounded Taliban fighter in the heat of battle in Afghanistan in 2011.
Those who attended the rally said the court martial of the 41-year-old sergeant – in which he was known as Marine A – was a travesty of justice with vital evidence withheld.HERE  

(RG) Free him now

Royal Marines Reserves: ration pack demonstration

ROYAL MARINES

Businessmen 'Yomp' Across Falklands for Charity

A group of businessmen have arrived back in the UK after swapping their suits for hiking boots and 'yomping' across the Falkland Islands for charity.

The 12 members of the April Fool’s Club followed the route taken by the Royal Marines of 45 Commando to liberate the islands in 1982, despite being more accustomed to boardrooms in Britain than peat bogs and sub-zero temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere.

Julie Knox followed their progress in the Falklands, while Kate Wathall was at their homecoming.Read more   HERE 

RM350 Wrapped Up

the ‘Bottom Field’ Assault Course at the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone.

Post by British Army.

ROYAL MARINES HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Post by Josh Fieldhouse.

ROYAL MARINES

Revealed: Untold story of how 22 Royal Marines held off hundreds of Argentinians

Told fully for the first time, how a force of 22 brave Marines held invading Argentines at bay in the run-up to the Falklands War Grim determination etched on their faces, the Royal Marines pose for a final photograph in the frozen silence of South Georgia. Thousands of miles from home and facing an unstoppable Argentine invasion force, few expected to survive until nightfall.Moments after the photograph was taken on April 3, 1982, the peace was shattered as the first enemy helicopter arrived - and was promptly shot down by the Marines' rifle and machine gun fire. In the heroic defence that followed, the tiny garrison numbering just 22 men fought on ferociously for hours to inflict heavy casualties, even crippling a 260ft Argentine warship. Like their comrades defending the Falklands 800 miles away, the Commandos on South Georgia were eventually forced to surrender - but not before giving the invasion force a bloody nose.Described as a modern-day Rorke's Drift, the 1879 battle in which 139 British soldiers fought off 5,000 Zulu warriors, the full story of the struggle has been revealed in a book by one of the Marines involved, George Thomsen. In March 1982, Thomsen was days from returning home from the small Royal Marine Falklands garrison when he was ordered to take eight men to South Georgia to monitor a group of Argentinian scrap dealers who had landed illegally and raised the Argentine flag, the incident which was to lead to full-blown war in the Falklands.Read more HERE

ROYAL MARINES IN IRAQ

Royal Marines, Falklands War,

THE BATTLE OF TWO SISTERS

How the British recapture South Georgia

On the 3rd April 1982 23 Royal Marines, commanded by Lieutenant Keith Mills RM, surrendered to the Argentinians after putting up a brave resistance in the face of air and naval support, armed as they were with only infantry weapons. The Marines did not lose a single man in the action, but destroyed two helicopters and did severe damage to the ARA Guerrico, a frigate operating in support of the Argentine Marines attacking Grytviken. Given that there was still a small hope of the conflict being resolved in the United Nations, the recapture of South Georgia was seen as the first logical step in recovering all the British territories in the South Atlantic. It was hoped that a successful operation on the remote and forbidding island may give the Argentine leadership pause for thought, and prove that the British Task Force now sailing south and approaching the Falkland area rapidly, was serious in both capability and intent.Therefore, on the 7th April Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse was ordered to plan the islands recapture. It was known that the Argentine forces that remained on South Georgia were based at Leith and Grytviken, and had limited if any naval and no air support. Because of the terrain of South Georgia, described as a cross between the volcanic areas of Iceland and the dark side of the Moon, along with the frequently inhospitable and dangerous climate, it was also known that the Argentine troops did not stray far from these places. The Argentine force was commanded by a naval engineering officer named Lt. Commander Alfredo Astiz. Astiz had a poor reputation as an officer and a military commander, but to be fair the forces under him were insufficient to properly occupy and control the whole island. As a result, members of the British Antartic Survey (BAS) and 2 women from ITV, Cindy Buxton and Annie Price, who were already on assignment for the 'Survival' nature programme on the island, had remained at large and undetected.Read more HERE

Falklands War medals expected to fetch up to £180,000

Medals won in the defence of South Georgia, when a heavily outnumbered platoon of Royal Marines held out against Argentine invaders, are to go on sale.Medals won in one of the most extraordinary incidents of the Falklands War, when a small band of Royal Marines held out for hours against Argentine invaders, are expected to fetch up to £180,000 at auction on Thursday.
The platoon of 22 Marines led by a young lieutenant braved an air and sea assault by a far larger force, as the sole defenders of the isolated island of South Georgia.
By the time they were forced to surrender against overwhelming numbers, the marines had shot down a helicopter, badly damaged an Argentine warship and killed or wounded many attackers.
Lt Keith Mills, later Captain Mills, won a Distinguished Service Cross for “conducting a valiant defence in the face of overwhelming odds” and went on to serve in Bosnia and Croatia. He is now selling his medals at auction in London, with auctioneers estimating they will go for between £140,000 and £180,000.
A spokesman for Spink, the auction house, said: “Having never been in battle before he led his detachment of 21 men in a valiant defence of the island against a major Argentine assault by land, sea and air.
Read more HERE 

After a bloody battle a Royal Marine found an enemy camera.

It was a long, hard and often terrifying battle fought in the bitter cold of a midwinter’s night in the South Atlantic. Decades have since passed, but Nick Taylor remembers every detail of the assault on the mountain peaks of the Two Sisters: the snow, the shouting, the rock-strewn ascent through the darkness, the red tracer bullets and exploding mortars launched by the Argentinian troops entrenched on the mountain above. Bayonets were fixed as Nick and his fellow Marines inched up the bleak incline towards the enemy machine guns. Their brave capture of the twin summits in June 1982, was a small moment in history – a strategic victory that opened the way for the liberation of Stanley two days later, and the Falkland Islands themselves. But for Nick there is a deeper, more personal significance to the terrible events of that night, which is why, 30 years on, he is to be found back on the same slopes, the same Falklands wind beating his face as he embraces a middle-aged lawyer from Buenos Aires. Read more HERE

Breaking the Rules During the Falklands Conflict

On BFBS Sitrep Major General Julian Thompson discusses breaking the rules during the Falklands Conflict to get the job done.
Photo © Crown copyright. IWM (FKD 178)   Listen  HERE  



Good call Sir!

Royal Marines 1664 Challenge

This is a huge challenge, but if anyone can do it the Royal Marines Commando's can do it, good luck lads.