Gidget Fuentes

About Gidget Fuentes

Gidget Fuentes is a freelance writer based in San Diego, Calif. She has spent more than 20 years reporting extensively on the Marine Corps and the Navy, including West Coast commands and Pacific regional issues, and most recently was a senior writer and the San Diego bureau chief for Marine Corps Times and Navy Times.

Recent Posts By the Author


Japanese Amphibious Soldiers Hit the Beach in the Philippines with U.S. Marines, 7th Fleet

Japanese Amphibious Soldiers Hit the Beach in the Philippines with U.S. Marines, 7th Fleet

By:

Soldiers from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) and Marines, attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), stand by in the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD-48) Oct. 9, 2018. US Navy Photo

It was no ordinary beach assault when troops took off on amphibious assault vehicles from a U.S. Navy ship and raced ashore in a training exercise with U.S. Marines. Read More →

Pentagon Task Force Looks to Revamp Close-Combat Infantry Training, Lethality

Pentagon Task Force Looks to Revamp Close-Combat Infantry Training, Lethality

By:

Marines in the Infantry Officer Course fire at an enemy trench during a live fire training exercise at Range 410A aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., June 9, 2018. US Marine Corps

A Pentagon-directed group tasked with making close-combat infantry more lethal and effective has its sights on getting troops into more realistic, immersive training as soon as possible. Read More →

'Dirt Det' Deployment: 15th MEU Command Element to Lead Middle East Special Purpose MAGTF

‘Dirt Det’ Deployment: 15th MEU Command Element to Lead Middle East Special Purpose MAGTF

By:

A U.S. Marine with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, attached to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, Crisis Response-Central Command, prepares to board an MV-22 Osprey at a site near At-Tanf Garrison, Syria, Sept. 7, 2018. US Marine Corps Photo

When the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s command element leaves home later this year for the Middle East, it will deploy without its usual complement of ships and amphibious force of Marines. Read More →

Marines Deploy First F-35Bs to the Middle East; 13th MEU, Essex ARG Test Battle Readiness

Marines Deploy First F-35Bs to the Middle East; 13th MEU, Essex ARG Test Battle Readiness

By:

An F-35B Lightning II, attached to the Wake Island Avengers of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, launches from the flight deck of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2)on Aug. 30, 2018. US Navy Photo

Marines training on the ground on the Horn of Africa will see a new set of wings pulling the classic close air support mission: The F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Read More →

Retired Captain, 2 CPOs Indicted in Continuing 'Fat Leonard' Investigation

Retired Captain, 2 CPOs Indicted in Continuing ‘Fat Leonard’ Investigation

By:

Then Capt. David Haas. US Navy Photo

A retired captain and former 7th Fleet official pocketed at least $145,000 in exchange for steering Navy ships to ports where a foreign defense contractor managed port husbanding services, a federal grand jury alleged in an indictment issued Friday in San Diego in the latest in the ongoing probe into Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Read More →

75 years later, Search Finds Ship's Stern Ripped Away by Mine in WWII's Aleutians Campaign

75 years later, Search Finds Ship’s Stern Ripped Away by Mine in WWII’s Aleutians Campaign

By:

USS Abner Read (DD 526), bow view. Hunters Point, California, June 13, 1943. US Navy Photo from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command

Halfway through his midwatch, 19-year-old Seaman Daryl Weathers scanned the screens in the darkened radio shack as the USS Abner Read (DD-526) hunted Japanese submarines off the Aleutian island of Kiska on Aug. 18, 1943. Read More →