Crossing boundaries with chainsaws
Marine Wing Support Squadron 172 Combat Engineer Isiah Gonyou poses proudly near the first tree he cut of the class. (USDA Forest Service Photo by Justin Abbey)
MONTANA — Six Combat Engineers from Marine Wing Support Squadron 172 stationed at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan, arrived at the Trapper Creek Job…
#JobCorps, #Training, #Military
When a national forest trained Americans for war
It’s 1941. Monday morning, mid-September, has dawned rainy and overcast. Gray clouds hang over the sweltering heat of south Louisiana. Deep in the tall pines of Kisatchie National Forest, a tense, humid calm coils around the thick trees. Shortly, though, it would be shattered by the largest military action to have ever taken place in North America.In the early hours of September 15, the tanks and…
#Military, #History, #Recreation, #VeteransDay
Producing Top Quality Wool
Marine Corps Officer in a 1960s era wool uniform. (Photo courtesy of Eric Davis)
From the sweater you wear, to airplane carpets, wool is one of the most incredible fibers in the world. It can keep you warm, its ability to absorb almost a third of its weight in water can keep you dry, and its low level of…
#Farming, #Livestock, #Grazing, #Conservation, #Sheep, #LandManagement, #Military, #History
Operation Firefly & the 555th
The 555th was formed in November 1943 as an all-black Army paratroop unit at Fort Benning, Georgia under the command of 1st Lt. James H. Porter. It was expanded to full battalion size November 1944 at Camp Mackall, North Carolina.In April 1945 the 555th was assigned as a 300-man smokejumper Component of a larger 2,700 person military effort group assigned to Operation Fire Fly in US Forest…