Here are the top 10 military stories on Checkpoint in 2014
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Version 0 of 1. It has been a tumultuous 2014 at home and abroad for the U.S. military. While moving on from 13 years of combat operations in Afghanistan, the Pentagon was forced to grapple with how to respond to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in western Africa and a variety of internal issues that rattled the ranks and required serious contemplation. Checkpoint came into existence in the middle of all this in June. It was just in time for the fall of Mosul in Iraq to militants, but after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which grabbed attention for weeks and prompted a massive search involving U.S. planes, troops, ships and drones as part of a broad international effort. The stories that readers gravitated to on Checkpoint sometimes tell another story, though. Yes, they touch on many of the biggest national security stories this year. But they also highlight ingenuity, heroism, sacrifice and controversy. Here are the top 10 most-read stories on this blog this year: 10. Marine lost at sea after bailing from Osprey aircraft in near-crash With operations in Iraq and Syria stepping up, a U.S. Marine was lost at sea in the Persian Gulf after an MV-22B nearly crashed, and he bailed out. He was later identified as Lance Cpl. Jordan Spears, and remembered as the first U.S. casualty in the military campaign against the Islamic State. 9. Viral video: No landing gear at sea? No problem for this Marine pilot. A Marine Corps pilot turned heads in June after a video of him landing a Harrier jet on the USS Bataan without landing gear was released. Capt. William Mahoney put the nose of his jet down on a makeshift stool, even though he couldn’t see it as he descended. “I looked for it, I remember looking for it,” he recalled later. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, boy. This is going to get interesting.’” 8. Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter celebrated at White House as modern miracle Carpenter, a medically retired infantryman now in college, appeared on Checkpoint a few times in 2014. He received the nation’s top award for valor in June, nearly four years after he suffered devastating injuries in a grenade attack in Afghanistan’s Helmand province on Nov. 21, 2010. Carpenter is credited with deliberately lunging at a hand grenade to shield it from another Marine, Lance Cpl. Nick Eufrazio. Later this year, he sky-dived into the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington. His fellow service members, meanwhile, recalled the scramble it took to keep Carpenter alive after sustaining such grievous injuries. 7. U.S. military announces 14 airstrikes in Iraq following James Foley execution The Islamic State executed two U.S. journalists this year in a bid to terrorize and stop the United States from launching airstrikes on its advance in Iraq and Syria. James Foley, the first was killed in August, but it did little to stop their military campaign. Video of the horrifying executions of Foley and Steven Sotloff was distributed widely by the militants on social media, prompting the #ISISMediaBlackout campaign. It pushed for people to not share the graphic images, and instead distribute photos of the two men while they were still alive. Other westerners also were executed by the militants, including former Army Ranger Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter. He had been in Syria distributing medical supplies to civilians, and said in interviews before his death that he wanted to help with the desperation he saw. 6. The Navy’s massive Triton drone just flew across the U.S. for the first time Technological feats frequently grab attention — and so do drones, which generated a variety of story lines in 2014. In this one, the 131-foot wide MQ-4C Triton made its first cross-country flight, departing from California and soaring over the U.S.-Mexico border, the Gulf of Mexico and Florida before coming up the East Coast and landing in Maryland. 5. Adm. Michelle Howard becomes first four-star woman in Navy history The Navy promoted a woman to become a four-star admiral for the first time in July, with Howard taking over as the vice chief of naval operations, the No. 2 officer in the service. After being promoted, Howard told those assembled that when she called to order her new four-star shoulder boards, she was told they did not exist. A special contract was devised to buy some, “and you folks are seeing the first set,” she said to cheers. The Army and Air Force each have named four-star female officers in the past. The first one in the military, Army Gen. Ann Dunwoody, retired in 2012, after serving as a four-star general for nearly four years. 4. Navy diver drowned refusing to leave his fellow sailor The tragic story of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Harris and Petty Officer 1st Class James Reyher explored their last moments at the bottom of a pond at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., after their equipment failed, and debris trapped Reyher some 150 underwater. Harris, 23, had the option to cut the line connecting him to Reyher underwater and survive. He refused to do it, though, doing everything in his power to free Reyher, 28, until both men died on Feb. 26, 2013. Both men were married, and Harris had two young daughters. 3. Obama’s ‘latte salute’ controversy spins into second day Oh, yes. The latte salute. President Obama’s misguided gesture toward a Marine in New York City in September sent some readers into a frenzy, and prompted others to call for cooler heads. In a nutshell, the president decided to salute with a coffee cup in his hand while stepping off his Marine One helicopter, and chaos broke out in the media. 2. Marine sniper at center of viral video scandal found dead The death of Marine Cpl. Robert Richards, a medically retired combat veteran who was badly wounded in Afghanistan and later appeared in a controversial video urinating on dead Taliban insurgents, grabbed attention from both mourners and critics in August. Richards’s life stands as an example of both the immense personal sacrifice and controversial nature of the Afghanistan war. He deployed there three times, and was nearly killed by an improvised explosive device while on a foot patrol on March 19, 2010. He later led a sniper team that was depicted in a viral video published in January 2012 urinating on the remains of enemy fighters, prompting international outcry and a drawn out legal battle. The cases and their handling remain steeped in controversy. As noted on Checkpoint, the Marine Corps’s top officer, recently retired Commandant Gen. James Amos, was investigated for allegedly interfering, but cleared in July. The issue remains deeply polarizing in the Marine Corps, however, and an open disagreement between Amos and another senior officer, Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, has been aired out in public. 1. Chris Kyle vs. Jesse Ventura The long legal battle between two high-profile veterans of Navy Special Operations captivated readers, with virtually every story about either man well-read. In July, Ventura, the former Minnesota governor and wrestling star, won $1.845 million in damages from the family of the late Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. A Minnesota jury decided that Kyle defamed him by saying he punched out Ventura after the former governor said the SEALs “deserved to lose a few” in war. The case had been closely watched by veterans, some of whom remain incredulous that Ventura continued to pursue his lawsuit even after Kyle was shot to death on a Texas gun range in 2013. Ventura said it was important to clear his name. The case has remained in the spotlight in part because of the recent release of “American Sniper,” a movie based on Kyle’s life and starring Bradley Cooper as the SEAL. It’s based on Kyle’s best-selling 2012 book, although the film deviates in numerous places from what occurred in real life. |