Metro-East News

Roger That: Remains of fallen Marines retrieved off Hawaiian coast

Some remains have been retrieved from the site of two downed Marine Corps helicopters off Hawaii's North Shore, a Honolulu newspaper reported, according to Military.com.

Twelve Marines died in the Jan. 14 crash, which remains under investigation.

The deceased Marines' families have been given information about the remains, according to the Star-Advertiser in Honolulu.

“We have a very detailed plan in place to handle any of our brother Marines as we retrieve them and then bring them back to their families, wherever they would like, in a dignified fashion,” Capt. Timothy Irish, a Marine Corps spokesman, told the newspaper.

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A senior enlisted U.S. Navy SEAL will be the first sailor in a decade to receive the Medal of Honor, for a mission to rescue an American civilian hostage in Afghanistan in 2012, according to a Tuesday release from the White House, according to Navy Times.

President Obama will present Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Edward Byers with the nation's highest award for valor in a Feb. 29 ceremony at the White House, the release said.

Byers’ actions were so clearly beyond expectation, even for a Navy SEAL, that the Navy had no hesitation in nominating him for the Medal of Honor, according to a defense official familiar with his case, but not authorized to speak publicly about it, told USA Today.

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The Pentagon is developing a new, innovative brain chip to treat PTSD in soldiers and veterans that could bring sweeping new changes to the way depression and anxiety is treated for millions of Americans, according to Defense One.

With $12 million (and the potential for $26 million more if benchmarks are met), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, wants to reach deep into your brain’s soft tissue to record, predict and possibly treat anxiety, depression and other maladies of mood and mind.

Teams from the University of California at San Francisco, Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Medtronic will use the money to create a cybernetic implant with electrodes extending into the brain. The military hopes to have a prototype within 5 years and then plans to seek FDA approval.

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The U.S. Army's chief of staff told Congress on Tuesday that female soldiers could begin their training to serve in direct combat arms jobs such as infantry and armor by this spring, but it could take up to three years to form gender-integrated units, according to Military.com.

Gen. Mark Milley joined Marine Corps and Navy leaders at a Feb. 2 hearing to testify before a skeptical Senate Armed Services Committee about future plans to merge women into ground combat units across the services.

"Readiness is the Army's number-one priority, and I believe that full integration of women in all career fields will either maintain, sustain or improve the overall readiness of the United States Army ... if and only if we maintain and enforced rigorous combat readiness standards, we retain a merit-based results-oriented organization, and we apply no quotas," Milley said.

Roger That is a regular feature by BND military beat reporter Mike Fitzgerald: 618-239-2533, @MikeFitz3000

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Roger That: Remains of fallen Marines retrieved off Hawaiian coast."

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