The commander of Navy Region Southeast presented a chief the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism during a ceremony Jan. 3.

Chief Gas Turbine System Technician (Electrical) (SW) Bryain Williams of Transient Personnel Unit/Pre-Trial Confinement Facility (TPU/PCF) Jacksonville received the prestigious presidential award from Rear Adm. Jack Scorby Jr. Williams for rescuing 4-month-old Jimmy Knight from a burning house May 11, 2010 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Williams spoke about those intense minutes as he risked his life to save the young child.

Maneuvering under the thunderous echoes emanating from mortar rounds hitting a fortified position ahead, the Marines bring the precision of an organized assault to the chaos of the battlefield.

Marines and Sailors with Company A, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, conducted a live-fire and maneuver exercise in a collection of hills and valleys, Jan. 4.

One squad at a time, the Marines set out from their campsite to push their way through thick foliage and deep mud on the way to the target.

The Modern Army Combatives Program at Army Support Activity Fort Dix, N.J., is geared towards training Soldiers for combat, but military personnel aren't the only ones benefitting from the realistic scenarios.

MACP Instructors assigned to 174th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East, extend their training services beyond the mobilization mission.

"Our trainers have gained an outstanding reputation for their skills and willingness to assist other organizations," commented Col. Craig A. Osborne, commander, 174th Inf Bde.

Guided-missile frigate USS Gary celebrated the New Year with its own Damage Control (DC) Olympics while conducting Counter Transnational Organized Crime (C-TOC) operations while assigned to U.S. 4th Fleet.

Divided into 12 four-man teams, Gary's Olympians were timed in several events including suiting up in full firefighting gear, aligning and using dewatering equipment, emergency egresses from main engineering spaces while blindfolded, as well as a final dash to dewater a 50 gallon trash can with buckets.

Under darkness and a light drizzle, recruits of Company C, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, lined up to receive an M-16 A4 service rifle aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Dec. 26.

Throughout the remainder of recruit training these rifles will be in recruits’ hands constantly. There will be few places these rifles do not accompany the recruits, such as their rack and mess hall.

A Coast Guard aircrew medevaced a man from a 64-foot sailboat 200 miles offshore New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, Thursday.

An early morning drive to Baumholder quickly turned into a nightmare recently for Heather Majorwitz and her two children, Kaitie and Bret.

They were on their way to school when the car hit a patch of ice and started to skid across the road toward an oncoming bus. Majorwitz swerved to avoid the bus and slid off the road, rolling the car.

"One minute we were on the road and the next we were hanging from our seatbelts," said Majorwitz.

To spark awareness and vigilance against a growing global human rights crisis, President Barack Obama has proclaimed January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

Linda Dixon, the Defense Department’s program manager for combating trafficking in persons, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service in a recent interview that DOD has strengthened training modules and reporting avenues to combat trafficking in persons, a criminal enterprise that generates roughly $32 billion per year worldwide.

On this day in 1944, Col. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, World War II ace and leader of Marine Fighter Squadron 214, the infamous “Black Sheep,” downed three Japanese aircraft during his final combat mission of WWII. This feat brought his total number of downed enemy planes to 26, tying the mark in aviation history set by Army Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, who downed 26 planes in World War I.

During his last mission, Boyington made several flights through hostile enemy fire over Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. His aircraft went down during the ensuing dogfight.