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Sgt. Matthew Callahan is the first servicemember ever to be named both Military Photographer and Videographer of the Year . An article about him was featured in Stars and Stripes , recently. Callahan is a many time distinguished Performance winner and is expected to pick up his award at the Annual Awards Banquet on Aug. 22 during the 2018 USMCCCA Professional Development & Training Symposium to be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New Bern, NC, from Monday, Aug. 20 -

By Tom Graves For Tom Pach, a veteran of the Korean War, Joe Rosenthal’s Iwo Jima flag raising photograph has a special significance, not just as a Marine, but as a man who lost his older brother in the battle for the island. Pach was one of the estimated 200 people gathered on Memorial Day Weekend to learn about Joe Rosenthal and his iconic photo taken in the midst of the bloody battle. Many men and women in the audience stood to be acknowledged for their military service

Shawn Rhodes , former combat correspondent and vice president of the USMCCCA, recently delivered a keynote at the training symposium hosted by I MEF at Camp Pendleton, CA. More than 50 communications/strategy Marines from various west coast commands were present to hear Shawn share his lessons learned, both as a CC and from leveraging media products in his own business. Shawn also shared the new initiatives underway at the USMCCCA and encouraged the Marines present to attend

Second Lieutenant 2nd Lt. Brian A. Tuthill recently commissioned as a Marine Corps officer May 12 at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA to earn a bachelor of science in Public Management & Policy, and was selected as his university’s Naval ROTC unit’s distinguished Marine officer graduate. At his NROTC unit, he served in multiple billets, including assistant operations officer, communications officer, pre-OCS developme

Former Marine CC Amy Forsythe is now a U.S. Navy Reserve Public Affairs Officer and is currently mobilized to active duty serving her third tour in Afghanistan. Forsythe, a lifetime USMCCCA member, never goes anywhere without a camera. Here she is crossing the famous "Friendship Bridge" at the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan border in the northern part of the country. The announcement that there's going to be a short ceasefire is welcome news for everyone! Hoping for peace and reconc

By Ed Evans If you haven't heard, it is with a heavy heart I share the news that LtGen. "Mick" Trainor passed away June 2, 2018 . Mick was a legendary Marine who served as a Platoon Commander in Korea and a Recon Battalion Commander in Vietnam. He was one of the best military minds in the Marine Corps. A friend and mentor to many. Quick story. LtGen. Trainer was CO of Recon in 1970 when Leatherneck Magazine sent me to Vietnam for coverage. I was with Trainor's Marines w

By Don Knight My platoon-sized, MAG 32 ground defense and guard unit stationed at MAS El Taro got the word: get our tails down to Pendleton for five weeks of combat training. Bring our rifles, helmets and extra clothing. To begin: long hikes at night, including a seven mile climb over "old rocky", part of the terrain on this vast hunk of southern California. Then two mock invasions of the California coast. From a training vessel we pushed off in rubber rafts, five or six

The first winner of the newly launched 2nd Marine Division CommStrat Photo of the Month competition depicts a drummer in the 2nd MarDiv Band, playing "Colors" during the post and relief ceremony for the 2nd MarDiv Sergeant Major, SgtMaj Michael P. Woods . This image was made by LCpl Elijah J. Abernathy , a Combat Mass Communicator (4531). Abernathy has worked as a photographer for 2nd MarDiv for a year and works with a Canon IDX . He's become skilled on the Canon Mark III

Tom Graves writes: The Joe Rosenthal Chapter has an opportunity to man a USS Joe Rosenthal ( www.USSJoe.org ) table at the California DAV State Convention next week (June 7-8) in Orange County (near Anaheim), Calif. Unfortunately, the dates directly conflict with the California VFW Convention where we will be hosting a table and where I will briefly address the veterans about Joe Rosenthal . Is there a (retired) CC in Orange County who might like to represent us at the

Jessica Rambo , a Combat Camera veteran tells us she is associated with Semper K9 , an organization which rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to be service dogs at no cost for disabled service members. Semper K9 is proud to announce the acceptance of service dog in training Perkins into our Service Dogs for Veterans program. Perkins, an 8-week old shepherd lab mix, is named in memory of USMC Combat Photographer Corporal William T. Perkins Jr. and comes to us from