Marines ordered to destroy own weapons when fleeing from embassy

[exlude]

Yep, they were contracted but commercial. If you have Marines leaving an area on commercial, you do like anything else, you remove the bolt and carry your weapon on. Simple.

I see what Denny is saying, I've never flown commercial with civilians (minus the flight attendants).

[soap]

That's just nuts.

[Danny46]

Yep, they were contracted but commercial. If you have Marines leaving an area on commercial, you do like anything else, you remove the bolt and carry your weapon on. Simple.

We did not remove bolts or firing pins or anything from any of our weapons on the civilian bird.


But couldn't take our pocket knives. I guess each flight is different

[Broncojohnny]

Up until about six months ago one of my relatives was one of the Marine guards at that embassy. He is now in South America at some cushy ass embassy down there.

[orphan Shelby]

Im looking at that picture where they are climbing the fence. At what point are soldiers allowed to fire to protect themselves? Do they have to get an order or get to use their best judgement?

[Denny]

Im looking at that picture where they are climbing the fence. At what point are soldiers allowed to fire to protect themselves? Do they have to get an order or get to use their best judgement?

When working on a DoS post, there is no telling. The State Dept is a place I wouldn't want to work right now. First Clinton and now Kerry? F that!

[Forever_frost]

They probably have to wait until they are fired upon and have clear line of sight with no danger of hitting anyone else.

[Forever_frost]

Eight congressmen with military ties signed a letter sent to the heads of the departments of State and Defense pointedly questioning responsibility for the hasty departure of a Marine embassy security guard detachment from Yemen's capital this week, and reports that weapons and vehicles left behind were seized by Shiite rebels.

The State Department made the call to close the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa and evacuate personnel Feb. 10 amid security conditions that had been deteriorating since last fall, when Houthi rebels with Iran ties swept into the capital and plunged it into chaos and violence. Officials said the Marines guarding the embassy destroyed larger weapons according to protocol before departure and smashed their personal weapons with sledgehammers just before boarding flights out of the country. Reports from airport officials indicated that rebels seized 25 U.S. vehicles, some with weapons inside, as the embassy staff departed, though it's not clear where the weapons originated.

MARINE CORPS TIMES

Marines provide new details about Yemen evacuation

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., a retired Marine officer, wrote the Feb. 13 letter questioning the evacuation. The letter was signed by seven fellow Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee and included five detailed questions about the evacuation operation:

What assets were available to DoD personnel in lieu of the commercial aircraft reportedly used to depart Yemen
Why military assets were not used for transport out of country to avoid destroying equipment
Who gave final approval for the Marines to destroy their weapons, and whether DoD or State had operational control of the Marines during the evacuation
What advance planning had taken place for a potential evacuation, and whether DoD had approved the final evacuation plan
If it was standing policy for DoD personnel to leave weapons and equipment behind during evacuation of an embassy in a permissive environment

"We are concerned State Department and Department of Defense leadership failed to coordinate an orderly military evacuation of embassy personnel in Yemen and, in haste, ordered our Marines to engage in an 'approved destruction plan' of weapons and equipment that is beyond comprehension," the lawmakers wrote, noting that U.S. Embassy evacuations from Tripoli and Juba, South Sudan last year had been successfully carried out using U.S. military aircraft.

The other signees to the letter were Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.; Rep. Paul Cook, R-Calif.; Rep. Robert Wittman, R-Va.; Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala.; Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss.; Rep. Richard Nugent, R-Fla.; and Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.

A Defense Department spokesman said a response to the letter would be provided to the congressmen. State Department officials did not immediately have a comment.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/capitol-hill/2015/02/13/query-order-destroy-marine-weapons-yemen/23359611/

[S_K]

this is SOP for an embassy EVAC. You leave nothing to fall into the enemies hands. A Marine's duty is leave with his dog tags and his skivvies, everything else is optional.

Sometimes leaving weapons is a question of weight. A Marine in full battle rattle is 250+ lbs whereas person weight is 150+. This determines how many bodies you can get on the aircraft. A quick evac usually does not mean boarding a luxury aircraft as a ticketed passenger. Their commercial flight was probably the first cargo plane out of town.

[Gasser64]

Im looking at that picture where they are climbing the fence. At what point are soldiers allowed to fire to protect themselves? Do they have to get an order or get to use their best judgement?

Under this admin, they probably have to be bleeding out

[Chili]

How many weapons are we talking about here? I'm still not really understanding what the big deal is. Sure, using military evac to be able to hold on to the weapons would have been preferable, but the focus on the fact that we destroyed weapons is confusing to me.