Airborne Combat Engineer

Study: Lack of MRAPs cost Marine lives

More than 700 U.S. troops died from roadside bombs because the Marine Corps' devotion to a military vehicle years away from deployment kept it from buying available Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks, according to an internal Marine report obtained Friday by USA TODAY.

Instead of fulfilling an urgent Marine request from the field for 1,169 vehicles in February 2005, Marine Corps leaders and analysts delayed fielding the MRAPs, and instead bought more armored Humvees, the report written by Marine science adviser Franz Gayl says.

RL|USA Today|2008Feb16Sat

Robbers: Choose your victims wisely

(WSB Radio) -- A 14-year-old Atlanta boy is dead and police are looking for his accomplice after they tried to rob an ex-Marine in Forest Park [an Atlanta suburb]

Lt. Amy Wright tells WSB the man was in his vehicle at the Parkside Crossing apartments using his laptop.

"He was looking up some stuff on the internet. He heard a tap on his window. He looked up and saw a shotgun pointed at his face."

The robber demanded the laptop, but the ex-Marine produced his own gun and shot the robber dead.

He's also a recruit in the Atlanta Police Academy, but not a sworn police officer.

Forest Park Police also want know why the robber picked that apartment complex.

WSB 750 Atlanta