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.


Recent Posts By the Author


New Barges, Budgeting Tweaks Set to Ease Crew’s Life During Ship Repair, Maintenance

New Barges, Budgeting Tweaks Set to Ease Crew’s Life During Ship Repair, Maintenance

Sailors and civilian contractors watch as the non-self-propelled barracks ship (APL-65), used during the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)’s Planned Incremental Availability (PIA), is transported off the pier on Sept. 6, 2023. US Navy Photo

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — For the first time in more than 20 years, sailors moved off their ship going into major repairs are getting better digs with new berthing barges. Read More

Navy Expanding 'Cold Spray' Welding Alternative in Fleet Repair

Navy Expanding ‘Cold Spray’ Welding Alternative in Fleet Repair

David Wible, a welder at Letterkenny Army Depot, demonstrates the cold spray advanced manufacturing initiative Feb. 2, 2022. US Army Photo

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – If a part breaks on a ship or submarine sailing in a conflict zone or moored at its homeport, the fix just might be done with a portable welder or a mobile workshop set up on the pier in an unconventional way, using an innovative technology known as “cold spray.” Read More

USS Bataan, USS Carter Hall and 26th MEU Now in the Persian Gulf

USS Bataan, USS Carter Hall and 26th MEU Now in the Persian Gulf

Two U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft operate alongside amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) in the Gulf of Oman, Aug. 17, 2023. US Navy Photo

Amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and landing dock ship USS Carter Hall (LSD-50), sailing on orders to the Persian Gulf region, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, USNI has learned. Read More

100 Marines, Sailors Ready to Ride Commercial Ships in Zone Defense Against Iran

100 Marines, Sailors Ready to Ride Commercial Ships in Zone Defense Against Iran

Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (MEU(SOC)), prepare to board a UH-1Y Venom during a defense of amphibious task force (DATF) rehearsal aboard amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), Red Sea, Aug. 7, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

A force of 100 Marines, newly trained by Navy personnel, stand ready to respond, if ordered, to provide armed security aboard foreign commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, USNI has learned. Read More

CO: In Australia, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin is at the ‘Cutting Edge’ of Force Design

CO: In Australia, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin is at the ‘Cutting Edge’ of Force Design

A U.S. Marine with India Co., 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment (Reinforced), Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 23 provides security during Exercise Talisman Sabre 23 at Lakeside Airpark, Queensland, Australia, July 28, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

What began with 250 American Marines and sailors at Australia’s “Top End” 12 years ago has grown into a Marine air-ground task force of 2,500 that spends its seven-month rotation spread across Australia and the western Pacific. Read More

VCNO Franchetti Talks STEM Skills at Autonomous Sub Contest

VCNO Franchetti Talks STEM Skills at Autonomous Sub Contest

Adm Lisa Franchetti, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, delivers opening remarks during a concert in celebration of the Navy’s 247th Birthday in 2022. US Navy Photo

NAVAL BASE POINT LOMA, Calif. – As teams of college and high school students pored over their home-built robotic submarines and others prepared to place theirs in a huge, hillside water tank, Adm. Lisa Franchetti couldn’t be happier with what she saw. Read More

13th MEU Pacific Deployment Expanded Marine F-35 Operations, Tested Contested Logistics, Says CO

13th MEU Pacific Deployment Expanded Marine F-35 Operations, Tested Contested Logistics, Says CO

A Marine Corps F-35B Lighting II pilot with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepares to land on the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8), March 31, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s recently-completed deployment across the Pacific started out with the Marine Corps’ first operational deployment of a full squadron of F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and closed out with a sinking of an old warship during an exercise in the South China Sea. Read More

First Crews Graduate from New, Tougher ACV Training; Marines Still Working on Surf Operations

First Crews Graduate from New, Tougher ACV Training; Marines Still Working on Surf Operations

A U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicle operated by Marines with the ACV Transition Training Unit drives up the beach at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, June 21, 2023.US Marine Corps Photo

This week’s graduation of 29 Marines re-certified to operate the Marine Corps’ Assault Combat Vehicle marks the latest step in building a force of trained ACV operators and maintainers that will help transition the rest of the community to a new, tougher standard, officials said Friday. Read More