The amphibious assault ship Wasp was contacted by the French Coast Guard via bridge-to-bridge radio that a blue and white civilian Cessna with two people on board went down in the Caribbean, said Cmdr. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for Fleet Forces Command.

The Wasp responded, sending an MH-60S helicopter to search for the downed aircraft. They located the two male passengers after a 45-minute search and transported them to the Wasp, where they’re being treated by the ship’s medical team.

The Wasp is part of Joint Task Force – Leeward Islands and has assisted in relief efforts following Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Rats rotting on a reservoir gate, a dead frog clinging to a ladder and a rodent carcass floating in treated water were found by inspectors during a June visit to the Marine Corps base.

Despite the nauseating discovery, Camp Pendleton officials say the water — consumed by some 55,000 Marines and their families — is safe, and that there is no need to boil water or take other precautions, according to a memo circulated by the base’s leadership.

“Simply put, the water is and has been safe to drink,” base spokesman Carl Redding told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Camp Pendleton is committed to providing safe and compliant drinking water. This is a duty and responsibility that we take very seriously.”

State and federal investigators, however, found “significant deficiencies” in the systems comprising the base’s water treatment program. According to the Environmental Protection Agency report, Camp Pendleton “lacked adequate supervision and qualified operators for treatment and distribution.”

After the base failed the June inspections, the “USMC removed the animal remains and cleaned, refilled, and tested the reservoirs for total coliform and chlorine.” Additional testing to ensure the water is safe to drink will be conducted, according to the EPA release.

On Sept. 28, the Marine Corps and the EPA entered into a consent decree, forcing the base to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Under the decree, the Marine Corps has 180 days to shut down, inspect, clean and sample all Camp Pendleton reservoirs.

“Public water systems must meet all state and federal requirements to provide safe drinking water to their customers,” said Alexis Strauss, EPA’s Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Our priority is to ensure the base achieves compliance promptly, to serve those who live and work at Camp Pendleton.”

Raised in a devout Catholic family, the young sailor was drawn to a higher calling, so after completing his first enlistment, Dorwart enrolled in the University of Notre Dame, where he completed his Master of Divinity degree. And in 1980, Dorwart was ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest.

In 1985, Dorwart returned to the sea, accepting a commission in the Navy as a chaplain. Over the course of six years, he served with Marines in Okinawa, with sailors in Subic Bay and aboard the carrier Midway, an assignment that included a deployment during the first Gulf War.

The Catholic Congregation of Holy Cross called for him in 1991 to return to full-time duty with the church. Leaving active duty as a lieutenant commander, Dorwart ultimately had to resign his commission because his commitment to the church didn’t leave time for his reservist duties.

In 2008, Dorwart was working at the University of Portland, which had a student body of about 4,000. It was then he became inspired by the troop surge into Afghanistan, an increase that also totaled about 4,000.

“I said to myself and my colleagues, ’It’s like if you just uprooted this whole campus and sent it halfway around the world into battle,” he said. “It’s the same age group, 18 to 25.”

Dowart put on his uniform once more at the age of 57, although he did have to take a pay-cut, being moved down a grade to lieutenant.

At 62, he needed an age waiver to continue serving on active duty. The Navy agreed, as long as he was willing to deploy aboard the amphibious assault ship Makin Island.

“It was the great need for Catholic priests. There are only 45 of us in the whole Navy, Marines and Coast Guard,” Dorwart said of his reasons for staying.

Dorwart plans to return to his congregation in Notre Dame.

“You retire from the Navy,” the priest said, “but you don’t retire from the ministry.”

Adm. Bill Moran, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, presented Thomas with the award for his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy, in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.”

On October 20, 2016, the lead vehicle in Thomas’ convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device, mortally wounding one of his teammates.

A 10-hour firefight ensued, during which Thomas repeatedly maneuvered through heavy small arms, RPG and mortar fire to sweep for additional explosives, enabling medics to reach the disabled vehicle and care for casualties.

Thomas then guided the vehicles out of the minefield, ensuring safe transport to the evacuation zone.

“After the EOD supervisor, a friend and mentor, was mortally wounded Jeff knowingly exposed himself to hazards in order to protect the lives of his teammates and brothers in arms, and secure a MEDEVAC for his wounded teammate,” said Cmdr. Geoff Townsend, commanding officer, EODMU 3. “His actions that day saved the lives of his teammates and exceeded all measures of selflessness and devotion to his country.”

During his keynote address, Mattis cheekily answered a question about his reported nickname, “Mad Dog.”

“It was a slow news day I think and somebody made it up,” Mattis said, noting that even his troops laughed when they read the news.

“My call sign was ‘Chaos,’” Mattis continued to laughter and applause from the audience. “But I must confess how I got that name.

“It’s probably because, you know, the great Chinese classical warfare strategist, Sun Tzu. You copied him or something like that,” he continued. “I’d love to tell you it was for a dignified reason like that.”

When the call sign originated, the then-colonel was a regimental commander in Twentynine Palms where, according to Mattis, “there’s nothing to do but go blow up the desert.” As he was leaving his operations office, he noticed the word “Chaos” written on the operations officer’s whiteboard.

“I said, ‘What’s this about?’ I’m curious, you know. We all are. He says ‘oh you don’t need to know that,’” which only further piqued curiosity.

“Finally, he kinda said, ‘Well it means the colonel has an outstanding solution,’ and it was very much tongue in cheek, ladies and gentlemen. They didn’t consider all my solutions quite as outstanding as I enthusiastically promoted them,” said Mattis.

Mattis ended up adopting the moniker as his call sign.

“There was never a ‘Mad Dog’ in there,” he said, “other than some press person who needed a little bit of a fantasy life fulfilled I think.” 

Capt. Sonny Hernandez, an Air Force Reserve chaplain for the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, ministers to thousands of men and women serving in the Air Force. He contends that Christians serving in the military “serve Satan” if they support other service member’s rights to practice their own faiths.

In a blog published on BarbWire.com, Hernandez wrote: “Counterfeit Christians in the armed forces will appeal to the Constitution, and not Christ, and they have no local church home — which means they have no accountability for their souls.

“Christian service members who openly profess and support the rights of Muslims, Buddhists, and all other anti-Christian worldviews to practice their religions — because the language in the Constitution permits — are grossly in error, and deceived,” he wrote.

Hernandez asserts that “Christian service members must share the Gospel with unbelievers so they can be saved, not support unbelievers to worship their false gods that will lead them to hell.”

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation said in a statement it’s received multiple complaints regarding Hernandez over the past few years and that they’ve filed complaints with the DoD regarding his conduct.

The foundation said Hernandez’s article “blatantly and indisputably advocates the subordinating of the U.S. Constitution to his personal Christian ideology and violated his oath of office as a commissioned officer.”

In a blog for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, author Don Byrd writes that the idea that only counterfeit Christians wou whld support the rights of all Americans to practice their faith is “outrageous.”

“Personal theological beliefs do not disqualify an individual from public service,” Byrd writes. “However, Hernandez’s post goes well beyond questions of theology. He encourages Christian service members to refuse support for the “rights of all Americans.”

”Denying the rights of non-Christians is an offense to American liberty,” Byrd writes. “But it also undermines the strength of the Christian faith by suggesting it is threatened by a truly free conscience. The success of a religion should not depend on the extent to which the rights of others are restricted.”

Smith was initially awarded the Silver Star for his actions on April 6, 2004, when his squad was urgently sent to help Marines under heavy enemy fire in Ramadi, Iraq. He was serving as a corporal at the time.

“All hell broke loose,” Smith told Marine Corps Times in 2006. “We took fire from every angle. [Rocket-propelled grenades] were flying in. I remember a group of insurgents about 50 feet away shooting heavy machine guns. It became a full-scale battle.”

When his platoon commander was hit, Smith assumed command and led his platoon to covered positions. He then ran through intense rifle and machine gun fire to get his wounded platoon commander to safety and organized a counterattack against the insurgent forces.

After the battle, Smith learned that his platoon commander had died while on a helicopter to Baghdad.

Smith received his upgraded award on Thursday. He is one of only 40 Marines to receive the Navy Cross since Sept. 11, 2001, a Marine Corps news release says.

“I am honored and humbled to receive the upgraded award of the Navy Cross,” Smith said on Thursday. “I understand that this places me in a category of Marines that I would have never imagined to be a part of. I firmly believe that I was an ordinary Marine placed in an extraordinary situation.”

Morell was a senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. 

Harvard announced Wednesday that Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst convicted for leaking classified documents, would be joining Harvard as a visiting fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and that she will speak on issues of LGBTQ identity in the military. 

“Senior leaders in our military have stated publicly that the leaks by Ms. Manning put the lives of U.S. soldiers at risk,” Morell wrote. “I have an obligation to my conscience — and I believe to the country — to stand up against any efforts to justify leaks of sensitive national security information.”

Morell made it clear in his resignation letter that he fully supports “Ms. Manning’s rights as a transgender American, including the right to serve our country in the US military,” according to the letter shared by CBS News.

However, he said “The Kennedy School’s decision will assist Ms. Manning in her long-standing effort to legitimize the criminal path that she took to prominence, an attempt that may encourage others to leak classified information as well.”

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Steven Giordano spoke to sailors at an all-hands meeting, where he addressed concerns over the manning issues that potentially contributed to recent collisions involving the destroyers Fitzgerald and John S. McCain that claimed the lives of 17 sailors. 

“Manning is one of those things we need to get fixed immediately,” Giordano told sailors. “We need the right people on board at the appropriate pay grade. We don’t want you out there operating with reduced manning at a level that has you working 100-hour plus weeks.”

The Government Accountability Office also addressed the Navy’s manning issues in a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.

Giordano said the Navy has been pulling sailors from shore units in an attempt to fill gaps on ships, but this isn’t a permanent solution.

“Manning is affecting every part of our Navy,” he said. “It’s not just here at 7th Fleet, it’s not just at sea, it’s not just at shore. We just don’t have the inventory right now to get that manning level where it should be at across all spectrums, at sea and at shore.”

Manning will speak on issues of LGBTQ identity in the military, Institute of Politics Fellows co-chairs Emily Hall and Jason Ge wrote in an announcement posted Wednesday.

“We welcome the breadth of thought-provoking viewpoints on race, gender, politics and the media,” Bill Delahunt, IOP acting director, said in the announcement.

Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, was convicted in 2013 for leaking a huge cache of classified and sensitive documents. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison after a military judge found her guilty of six Espionage Act violations and multiple other charges relating to the dissemination of more than 700,000 classified military and State Department documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning was acquitted on the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.

After President Barack Obama commuted her sentence before leaving office, Manning has worked to re-brand herself as an activist for queer and transgender rights. She also speaks on topics related to artificial intelligence through op-ed columns for The New York Times and The Guardian, according to Harvard’s website.

Harvard’s IOP also announced three other visiting fellows: former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, CNN political commentator Robby Mook and Kansas City Mayor Sylvester “Sly” James Jr.