# A Marine's cellphone selfie got his whole unit 'killed' during training in California



## Ooh-Rah (Jan 8, 2020)

Hoe-Lee Shit.  

A Marine's cellphone selfie got his whole unit 'killed' during training in California

A junior Marine got his artillery unit into a serious bind after snapping a photo during a massive force-on-force training exercise in California's Mojave Desert.

Ten thousand troops recently descended on Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms for the biggest training event of its kind in decades. The Marines, sailors and NATO forces faced drone attacks, cyber breaches and other high-tech challenges during the free-play exercise.

But one team was taken out by a different kind of threat, Lt. Gen. Lori Reynolds, the Marine Corps' deputy commandant of information, told reporters at the Pentagon.

"A Marine in that exercise took a selfie of him being bored," she said. "It showed in that selfie it was an artillery unit. You could go geo-locate him, and you could see what unit it was.

"They were like, 'OK, you guys are dead.'"

It's a tough lesson for a young Marine to learn, Reynolds said.

"And I'm sure that lance corporal was not happy," she said. "But it's OK to learn those things in Twentynine Palms — we don't want to learn those elsewhere


----------



## SOSTCRNA (Jan 8, 2020)

What rank is lower than Lance Corporal?  I’m sure this kid just found out.


----------



## AWP (Jan 9, 2020)

SOSTCRNA said:


> What rank is lower than Lance Corporal?  I’m sure this kid just found out.



Dead. I think that's the rank he currently holds.

Selfie - Comissioner Gordon
He's alone - Lance Corporal
Guy taking the swim - Some Corporal or Sergeant...maybe both
Bane - Not to hard to figure out the NCO


----------



## Gunz (Jan 9, 2020)

Life used to be simple: YOU SLAPPED THAT SANDFLEA AND GOT THE WHOLE PLATOON WIPED OUT!!!"

Now social media reaps its own revenge.


----------



## SpitfireV (Jan 9, 2020)

I'm sure he'll be less bored for the foreseeable future.


----------



## Devildoc (Jan 9, 2020)

OPSEC used to be a thing.  Now, not so much.  The news puts it out there all the time: 1st battalion Special Forces Beret Paratroopers deploy from Camp Ft. Living Room enroute to Iraq via USAF.  Or, USS Crashesintootherships departs Norfolk at 12 noon with carrier strike group enroute to the Persian Gulf.  Embedded reporters will report live at 11.

This was a free and painless lesson on the perils and pitfalls of pocket technology.  It's not rocket science: even the bad guys on Chicago PD know to use a burner phone and keep it off.


----------



## Marine0311 (Jan 9, 2020)

I would make him do pushups but I think that's been banned also


----------



## AWP (Jan 9, 2020)

Send him to 3/6 to look for rifles and such.


----------



## Ooh-Rah (Jan 9, 2020)

I mean when you stop and think about it, this kid is so fucked.

Now that the story is getting some press? He’s fucked all again.

My guess is that he would rather finish out his contract at Rikers Island versus whatever unit he is currently with.

just wow.


----------



## ThunderHorse (Jan 9, 2020)

Don't they take phones away when your unit goes into the box? At NTC, we had a bunch of briefings on this when I was an Augment OC, even though we used our phones a lot to communicate during the exercise, it was noted of the various cyber capabilities that were used during exercises.  And they hacked phones all the time.


----------



## Brill (Jan 9, 2020)

Um, one does not hide an artillery unit of any size so I think the story is a bit overblown.

Now a jacked and tan gringo with sleeve tats with FB buddies all from Fayetteville and Clarksville, checking his Tinder from downtown Mashhad, Iran, yeah, that’s not very aware and could create unnecessary problems.

Wasn’t cell phones E in the commo PACE back in the day?


----------



## Gunz (Jan 9, 2020)

lindy said:


> Um, one does not hide an artillery unit of any size so I think the story is a bit overblown.



Yeah, it is. Unless we're fighting people who've got better artillery.

But I feel for the kid. After all, it is 29 Stumps...


----------



## AWP (Jan 9, 2020)

lindy said:


> Um, one does not hide an artillery unit of any size so I think the story is a bit overblown.
> 
> Now a jacked and tan gringo with sleeve tats with FB buddies all from Fayetteville and Clarksville, checking his Tinder from downtown Mashhad, Iran, yeah, that’s not very aware and could create unnecessary problems.
> 
> Wasn’t cell phones E in the commo PACE back in the day?



I can think of one SDV team in 2005 who thought they were valid "A's" in the Kunar...


----------



## PapaBacon (Jan 9, 2020)

AWP said:


> Send him to 3/6 to look for rifles and such.


Too soon? nah, keep it coming!


----------



## Arf (Jan 9, 2020)

lindy said:


> Wasn’t cell phones E in the commo PACE back in the day?



Still is if we are able.


----------



## DasBoot (Jan 10, 2020)

Haze him. To death.


----------

