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<ul><li><strong>The Indian army has revised its policy for the purchase of four wheelers from the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) which sets vehicle purchasing limit at ₹12 lakh for officers.<br /></strong></li><li><strong><keyword id="3969981" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="General-Bipin-Rawat">General Bipin Rawat</keyword>, attributed the decision to budgetary constraints and step to bring parity among Commissioned Officers, Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and other ranks (ORs).<br /></strong></li><li><strong>The new ceiling has also set the engine limit for officers at 2500 CC and for JCOs and other ranks at 1400 CC.<br /></strong></li></ul>Indian army Junior Commissioned officers and other rank jawans are set to gain from the new policy of the Indian army on the purchase of four wheelers from Canteen Stores Department (CSD).<br /><br />Earlier there was no limit on the purchase of four wheelers from the CSD canteens, but the new rules have set a limit due to which expenditure on cars more than ₹12 lakh, excluding GST is no more permissible for the officers. The new expenditure limit for Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) and jawans of other ranks ₹6.5 lakh including GST.<br /><br />Speaking at a seminar of retiring officers, on June 27 the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that the policy changes are going to bring parity in the opportunities to use the CSD facility to buy four wheelers among officers and not just officers, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/price-ceiling-on-the-purchase-of-four-wheelers-from-csd-due-to-budgetary-constraint-army-chief/articleshow/69968031.cms">reported the Economic Times</a>.<br /><br />Explaining the reason for the policy changes, General Rawat said that the Parliament sanctions a fixed amount for CSD under miscellaneous heads for buying essential items to be provided to the army personnel including four wheelers, and high value car purchases by officers leaves less opportunities for JCOs and other ranks. <br /><br />The <a href="https://indianarmy.nic.in/Site/FormTemplete/frmTempSimple.aspx?MnId=eE5gXwRZLNFCokYZlobZWw==&amp;ParentID=x9XdWbgX/9flpihdvNGPLw==">Quartermaster General’s branch</a> of the Indian army, which is responsible for planning, provisioning and issue of supplies to the Army, last month, issued an order that placed restrictions on the expenditure and capacity of the cars that can now be purchased from the canteen.<br /><br />The new orders started functioning from June 1.<br /><br /><strong>The new policy</strong><br /><br />The new rules Restrictions over capacity of the engines have also been applied. Commissioned officers at most can buy cars with 2500 CC, whereas for JCOs and other ranks the limit is 1400 CC.<br /><br />Junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and jawans, will now be allowed to buy a four wheeler once in service and once after retirement. The time in between purchases is reduced from ten to eight years. This will further benefit non-commissioned officers who have high aspirations to buy four wheelers, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/price-ceiling-on-the-purchase-of-four-wheelers-from-csd-due-to-budgetary-constraint-army-chief/articleshow/69968031.cms">as per reports</a>.<br /><br />The policy has also made changes in the frequency of the purchases. Officers can now buy two cars in eight years which was four years before the order was issued. <br /><br />“Earlier they could buy any top vehicle model they wanted. Now, they can’t. And the frequency of buying still remains the same for them, except for the gap between two vehicle purchases,” said an official.<br /><br />The official also said that the decision on placing a price ceiling was taken in view of the ‘larger picture’. The government provides 50% GST rebate on all CSD items once price negotiations are complete which provides the army personnel with cash saving benefits.<br /><br />“The chief had also said that if someone has the capability to buy a luxury car, then he can do it from the civil market,” another official said.<br /><br /><br /><br />

Army’s junior officers and jawans gain from new canteen store policy aimed to bring in ‘parity’

<br />The <keyword id="7428788" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Army-is-third-largest">Indian Army is third largest</keyword> in the world with more than 1,325,000 active troops and 2,143,000 reserve troops. The primary goal of the army is to work for national security and protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country. It guards the country from threats and external aggressions. Its secondary responsibilities are to support the civil authority during calamities and natural disasters. Here is an overview of the structure of Indian army, its responsibilities, ranks and reporting portfolio. <br /><br />The Indian Army is divided into three segments namely Army, Navy and Air Force. The President of Indian is the Supreme Commander of these three services. The army headquarters is located in Delhi and under the command of the Chief of the Army Staff. He holds the rank of a four star General and is assisted by 8 Lieutenant Generals.<br /><br /> The description of these eight lieutenant generals include a vice-chief, two deputy chiefs, a military secretary, the quartermaster general, an adjutant General, the master general of ordnance and the engineer in Chief.<br /><br /><strong>Indian Army Commands</strong><br /><br />The Indian Army is divided into six commands for operations and one command for training. The General-Officer-Commander-in-Chief (GOC-i-C) also called as the Army Commander heads each of these commands. Usually the senior-most Lieutenant Generals in the army is conferred with this rank.<br /><strong><br />Corps</strong><br /><br />Every command generally consists of two or more corps. In total there are thirteen corps in the Indian army each of them commanded by a General Officer Commander (GOC), who is also called the Corps Commander. He holds a Lieutenant General rank. <br /><br /><strong>Division</strong><br /><br />Every corps is made of three to four divisions. Each of these divisions is headed by GOC (Division Commander) who holds the rank of Major General. Indian army has totally 37 divisions. <br /><br /><strong>Brigade</strong><br /><br />Every corps is made of three to four Brigades. In a Brigade, there will be usually 3,000 troops. Every Brigade is commanded by a Brigadier. <br /><br /><strong>Battalion</strong><br /><br />Four to five rifle companies constitute a battalion. Ever battalion is commanded by a battalion commander in the rank of a Colonel. A battalion is the main fighting unit of an infantry. <br /><strong><br />Rifle Company</strong><br /><br />A rifle company is made of three platoons. A company is commanded by a Company Commander who is in the rank of a Major or Lieutenant Colonel.<br /><br /><strong>Platoon</strong><br /><br />A platoon is made of three sections. The Platoon Commander who is also a JCO commands a platoon.<br /><br /><strong>Section</strong><br /><br />This is the smallest military outfit comprising 10 candidates. A section commander in the rank of a Havaldhar commands a section. <br /><br /><strong>Indian army Organization</strong><br /><br />Indian Army functions under two parts namely Arms and Services. The troops that will actually carry out the different operations make up the arms segment. The rest of the army is said to belong to the services segment. The responsibility of the services segment is to provide the logistics and administration support for the army. <br /><br />Fighting arms consist of armor, infantry, and mechanized infantry. <br /><br />Supporting Arms comprise artillery, engineers, army air defense, army aviation corps and signals.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.indianarmy.nic.in/site/formTemplete/frmtempsimple.aspx?MnId=TqWSDHmc2ua6KzgEgvgO7w==&amp;ParentID=RuQ+vVM57FirJYXrHRLBHA==)">Services consist </a>of Army Service corps (ration, transport and clerks), Army Medical Corps, Army ordnance corps (armament, ammunition, vehicles, clothing and all equipment), Corps of electronics and mechanical engineers (repairs and recovery), Remounted veterinary corps and The Intelligence corps. <br />

Indian Army Ranks  - All you need to know

<p><div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">DoD</p><p class="caption">Sarina Butcher, was 19 years old in 2011 when she was killed in <keyword id="6354541" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan">Afghanistan</keyword></p></div></div></div>Back in August, The New York Times ran a spread containing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/faces-of-the-dead.html?ref=us#/copes_gregory_t">all the faces of the dead Afghanistan veterans</a>.</p>
<p>On the 10th anniversary of America's invasion of <keyword id="6355112" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iraq">Iraq</keyword>, it's important to remember there's still a very active fight going on in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Below is a first-person account from August of my reaction to seeing the faces of the dead after the Times piece ran.<br /><br /></p>

<p>The New York Times ran a four-page spread Wednesday of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/faces-of-the-dead.html?ref=us#/copes_gregory_t">every American servicemember killed in Afghanistan</a>. I saw it at the gym on TV in the morning, and with the demands of the day promptly forgot about it.</p>
<p>But there it was laid out at the corner bodega on my way home from dinner, and the shop owner just let me take it. </p>
<p>Titled "The Roster of the Dead," the four-page section contains the faces, ages, and hometowns of more than 2,000 dead American troops.</p>
<p>It's horrific, and while I took pictures of the four sheets of newsprint and posted them below, it's impossible to convey what they mean.</p>
<p><strong>I spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center</strong> (WRAMC) before The Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html">finally had to report on what was happening there</a>, via Dana Priest in 2007. </p>
<p><span>Walter Reed was where soldiers got sent to die or go home, and for someone like me, with a trivial but serious injury, it was a spectacular glimpse into what The New York Times missed with its roster.</span></p>
<p>I'd written to The Post in 2005 — along with several other media outlets. It was hard not to, with what I saw every day, and how we were treated. Priest's piece was great, but it only scratched the surface and came too late to stop the commanding general from deleting my medical records for trying to get the word out.</p>
<p>The Times' roster, too, just touches the surface: The thing is, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-vets-recover-after-losing-their-limbs-in-the-iraq-and-afghanistan-wars-2012-8">not everyone dies</a>.</p>
<p>The Walter Reed 'ortho' ward was worse than dying. It's where everyone got sent when their bones needed attention. When they got blown up. </p>
<p><div class="image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">NYT via Robert Johnson</p></div></div></div>When I got there in 2003 <a href="http://www.jessica-lynch.com/">Jessica Lynch's</a> room was cordoned off at the far end of the hall. The 20-year-old quartermaster had been grabbed by the Iraqis and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-2725423.html">rescued by U.S. Special Forces</a> just days before.</p>
<p>If her name sounds familiar it should, because she was the first in a long line of female recruits to come through Ward 57. But she was the only one to make the front page.</p>
<p>There were so many it seems shameful to mention any one in particular — but the dirty-blonde-haired 19-year-old girl in the wheelchair sticks out; with her room on the way into the corridor so you had to pass her and her family to get into the courtyard and away from the Ward.</p>
<p>Her legs had been blown off in an IED attack on her convoy as she tried to deliver supplies to troops up some fucking road to somewhere. She had pins in her neck and that dramatic metal collar around her skull, darting her eyes at the kids she'd never have, while her sisters and her mom willed her to survive. </p>
<p>That was bad, but it wasn't the worst.</p>
<p>I'm still torn about whether it was the groin or facial wounds. The groins were bad, no doubt. Under 20, guys mostly, with no legs, no balls, no penis. Guys who had not only woken up to that after the blast, but awoke to the realization that the pact they'd made with their buddies, to let them die in case the worst actually happened, meant nothing. Meant everything. Meant they had to go on.</p>
<p>But the facial wounds may have been the worst. This one guy — burned so badly his face slid down his skull like a wax figure in the sun — his mom walked with him everywhere he went. She carried extra cotton diapers so he could dab the gap below his bottom lip to keep the saliva from pouring out his mouth as he strolled the path to formation.</p>
<p>Yeah, the facial wound guys were the worst. They had this look of embarrassment, and could never look you in the eye. Try that scene every day for two years. Two years. The time it took for a medical discharge back then.</p>
<p>The system is infinitely more efficient now. The processing of the wounded is streamlined and organized, but for the troops that roll through the new "Ward 57" one thing is the same: They know you don't care.</p>
<p>They know you're too busy to understand what they're going through. Too ashamed to admit you have no time for their agony and sacrifice; no concern that a lack of jobs propelled them into the only career that would have them.</p>
<p>They know. And it's OK. They accepted it a long time ago, and so have their families and friends as they walk past the newspaper boxes by the hospital and watch your demand for distraction online.</p>
<p>It's OK;  none of them blame you.</p>
<p>Really, at their weakest moments all they imagine is that it will stop; that you'll see past your day and into what it means to have precious few options and try for a better life in a country far from home. To look for security in a place where people want them dead, but more often than not just fuck them up real bad.</p>
<p>So let's take a second, if not for them, then for The New York Times that sacrificed its bottom line to illustrate what really matters.</p>
<p>Look into that picture at the top of this post. Look into Sarina's eyes and imagine telling her infant daughter it's all worth it. Then maybe you should subscribe to The New York Times.</p>
<p><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">NYT vis Robert Johnson</p></div></div></div></p>

Everyone Should Remember The Casualties Of War On The 10th Anniversary Of The Iraq Invasion

<p><div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">DoD</p><p class="caption">Sarina Butcher,  was 19 years old in 2011 when she was killed in Afghanistan</p></div></div></div>The New York Times ran a four page spread Wednesday of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/faces-of-the-dead.html?ref=us#/copes_gregory_t">every American servicemember killed in Afghanistan</a>. I saw it at the gym on TV in the morning, and with the demands of the day promptly forgot about it.</p>
<p>But there it was laid out at the corner bodega on my way home from dinner, and the shop owner just let me take it. </p>
<p>Titled "The Roster of the Dead," the four-page section contains the faces, ages, and hometowns of more than 2,000 dead American troops.</p>
<p>It's horrific, and while I took pictures of the four sheets of newsprint and posted them below, it's impossible to convey what they mean.</p>
<p><strong>I spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center</strong> (WRAMC) before The Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html">finally had to report on what was happening there</a>, via Dana Priest in 2007. </p>
<p><span>Walter Reed was where soldiers got sent to die or go home, and for someone like me, with a trivial but serious injury, it was a spectacular glimpse into what The New York Times missed with their Roster.</span></p>
<p>I'd written to The Post in 2005 — along with several other media outlets. It was hard not to, with what I saw every day, and how we were treated. Priest's piece was great, but it only scratched the surface and came too late to stop the commanding general from deleting my medical records for trying to get the word out.</p>
<p>The Times' Roster, too, just touches the surface: The thing is, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-vets-recover-after-losing-their-limbs-in-the-iraq-and-afghanistan-wars-2012-8">not everyone dies</a>.</p>
<p>The Walter Reed 'ortho' ward was worse than dying. It's where everyone got sent when their bones need attention. When they got blown up. </p>
<p><div class="image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">NYT via Robert Johnson</p></div></div></div>When I got there in 2003 <a href="http://www.jessica-lynch.com/">Jessica Lynch's</a> room was cordoned off at the far end of the hall. The 20-year-old quartermaster had been grabbed by the Iraqis and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-2725423.html">rescued by U.S. Special Forces</a> just days before.</p>
<p>If her name sounds familiar it should, because she was the first in a long line of female recruits to come through Ward 57. But she was the only one to make the front page.</p>
<p>There were so many it seems shameful to mention any one in particular — but the dirty blonde-haired 19-year-old girl in the wheelchair sticks out; with her room on the way into the corridor so you had to pass her and her family to get into the courtyard and away from the Ward.</p>
<p>Her legs had been blown off in an IED attack on her convoy as she tried to deliver supplies to troops up some fucking road to somewhere. She had pins in her neck and that dramatic metal collar around her skull, darting her eyes at the kids she'd never have, while her sisters and her mom willed her to survive. </p>
<p>That was bad, but it wasn't the worst.</p>
<p>I'm still torn about whether it was the groin or facial wounds. The groins were bad, no doubt. Under 20, guys mostly, with no legs, no balls, no penis. Guys who had not only woken up to that after the blast, but awoke to the realization that the pact they'd made with their buddies, to let them die in case the worst actually happened, meant nothing. Meant everything. Meant they had to go on.</p>
<p>But the facial wounds may have been the worst. This one guy, burned so badly his face slid down his skull like a wax figure in the sun — his mom walked with him everywhere he went. She carried extra cotton diapers so he could dab the gap between his bottom lip to keep the saliva from pouring out his mouth as he strolled the path to formation.</p>
<p>Yeah, the facial wound guys were the worst. They had this look of embarrassment, and could never look you in the eye. Try that scene every day for two years. Two years. The time it took for a medical discharge back then.</p>
<p>The system is infinitely more efficient now. The processing of the wounded is streamlined and organized, but for the troops that roll through the new "Ward 57" one thing is the same: They know you don't care.</p>
<p>They know you're too busy to understand what they're going through. Too ashamed to admit you have no time for their agony and sacrifice; no concern that a lack of jobs propelled them into the only career that would have them.</p>
<p>They know. And it's OK. They accepted it a long time ago, and so have their families and friends as they walk past the newspaper boxes by the hospital and watch your demand for distraction online.</p>
<p>It's OK;  none of them blame you.</p>
<p>Really, at their weakest moments all they imagine is that it will stop; that you'll see past your day and into what it means to have precious few options and try for a better life in a country far from home. To look for security in a place where people want them dead, but more often than not just fuck them up real bad.</p>
<p>So let's take a second, if not for them, then for The New York Times that sacrificed its bottom line to illustrate what really matters.</p>
<p>Look into that picture at the top of this post. Look into Sarina's eyes and imagine telling her infant daughter it's all worth it. Then maybe you should subscribe to The New York Times.</p>
<p><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">NYT vis Robert Johnson</p></div></div></div></p>

Everyone Should Look At The NY Times' Roster Of The Dead

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">DoD</p><p class="caption">Sarina Butcher, was 19 years old in 2011 when she was killed in <keyword id="6354541" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan">Afghanistan</keyword></p></div><p></p></div></div>Back in August, The New York Times ran a spread containing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/faces-of-the-dead.html?ref=us#/copes_gregory_t">all the faces of the dead Afghanistan veterans</a>.</p>
<p>On the 10th anniversary of America's invasion of <keyword id="6355112" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iraq">Iraq</keyword>, it's important to remember there's still a very active fight going on in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Below is a first-person account from August of my reaction to seeing the faces of the dead after the Times piece ran.<br /><br /></p>

<p>The New York Times ran a four-page spread Wednesday of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/faces-of-the-dead.html?ref=us#/copes_gregory_t">every American servicemember killed in Afghanistan</a>. I saw it at the gym on TV in the morning, and with the demands of the day promptly forgot about it.</p>
<p>But there it was laid out at the corner bodega on my way home from dinner, and the shop owner just let me take it. </p>
<p>Titled "The Roster of the Dead," the four-page section contains the faces, ages, and hometowns of more than 2,000 dead American troops.</p>
<p>It's horrific, and while I took pictures of the four sheets of newsprint and posted them below, it's impossible to convey what they mean.</p>
<p><strong>I spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center</strong> (WRAMC) before The Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html">finally had to report on what was happening there</a>, via Dana Priest in 2007. </p>
<p><span>Walter Reed was where soldiers got sent to die or go home, and for someone like me, with a trivial but serious injury, it was a spectacular glimpse into what The New York Times missed with its roster.</span></p>
<p>I'd written to The Post in 2005 - along with several other media outlets. It was hard not to, with what I saw every day, and how we were treated. Priest's piece was great, but it only scratched the surface and came too late to stop the commanding general from deleting my medical records for trying to get the word out.</p>
<p>The Times' roster, too, just touches the surface: The thing is, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-vets-recover-after-losing-their-limbs-in-the-iraq-and-afghanistan-wars-2012-8">not everyone dies</a>.</p>
<p>The Walter Reed 'ortho' ward was worse than dying. It's where everyone got sent when their bones needed attention. When they got blown up. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">NYT via Robert Johnson</p></div><p></p></div></div>When I got there in 2003 <a href="http://www.jessica-lynch.com/">Jessica Lynch's</a> room was cordoned off at the far end of the hall. The 20-year-old quartermaster had been grabbed by the Iraqis and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-2725423.html">rescued by U.S. Special Forces</a> just days before.</p>
<p>If her name sounds familiar it should, because she was the first in a long line of female recruits to come through Ward 57. But she was the only one to make the front page.</p>
<p>There were so many it seems shameful to mention any one in particular - but the dirty-blonde-haired 19-year-old girl in the wheelchair sticks out; with her room on the way into the corridor so you had to pass her and her family to get into the courtyard and away from the Ward.</p>
<p>Her legs had been blown off in an IED attack on her convoy as she tried to deliver supplies to troops up some fucking road to somewhere. She had pins in her neck and that dramatic metal collar around her skull, darting her eyes at the kids she'd never have, while her sisters and her mom willed her to survive. </p>
<p>That was bad, but it wasn't the worst.</p>
<p>I'm still torn about whether it was the groin or facial wounds. The groins were bad, no doubt. Under 20, guys mostly, with no legs, no balls, no penis. Guys who had not only woken up to that after the blast, but awoke to the realization that the pact they'd made with their buddies, to let them die in case the worst actually happened, meant nothing. Meant everything. Meant they had to go on.</p>
<p>But the facial wounds may have been the worst. This one guy - burned so badly his face slid down his skull like a wax figure in the sun - his mom walked with him everywhere he went. She carried extra cotton diapers so he could dab the gap below his bottom lip to keep the saliva from pouring out his mouth as he strolled the path to formation.</p>
<p>Yeah, the facial wound guys were the worst. They had this look of embarrassment, and could never look you in the eye. Try that scene every day for two years. Two years. The time it took for a medical discharge back then.</p>
<p>The system is infinitely more efficient now. The processing of the wounded is streamlined and organized, but for the troops that roll through the new "Ward 57" one thing is the same: They know you don't care.</p>
<p>They know you're too busy to understand what they're going through. Too ashamed to admit you have no time for their agony and sacrifice; no concern that a lack of jobs propelled them into the only career that would have them.</p>
<p>They know. And it's OK. They accepted it a long time ago, and so have their families and friends as they walk past the newspaper boxes by the hospital and watch your demand for distraction online.</p>
<p>It's OK;  none of them blame you.</p>
<p>Really, at their weakest moments all they imagine is that it will stop; that you'll see past your day and into what it means to have precious few options and try for a better life in a country far from home. To look for security in a place where people want them dead, but more often than not just fuck them up real bad.</p>
<p>So let's take a second, if not for them, then for The New York Times that sacrificed its bottom line to illustrate what really matters.</p>
<p>Look into that picture at the top of this post. Look into Sarina's eyes and imagine telling her infant daughter it's all worth it. Then maybe you should subscribe to The New York Times.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">NYT vis Robert Johnson</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo)</span></p><p class="caption">Bodies sprawled on the beach of Tarawa atoll after a battle there in late November 1943.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The battle for Tarawa, regarded as one of the fiercest in Marine Corps history, ended 76 years ago, on November 23, 1943.</li><li>More than 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed, and several hundred of them remain missing or unidentified.</li><li>Efforts to locate and identify servicemen killed there, led by the nonprofit History Flight, have found hundreds of remains, but some in the island nation are warning that time is running out.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>The 18,000 Marines and sailors who landed on the island of Betio in the Tarawa atoll in the Pacific Ocean early on November 20, 1943, waded into what one combat correspondent called "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/battle-of-tarawa-in-wwii-the-toughest-battle-in-marine-corps-history-2017-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the toughest battle in Marine Corps history</a>."</p><p>After 76 hours of fighting, the battle for Betio was over on November 23. More than 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed and nearly 2,300 wounded. Four Marines received the Medal of Honor for their actions - three posthumously.</p><p>Of roughly 4,800 Japanese troops defending the island, about 97% were killed. All but 17 of the 146 prisoners captured were Korean laborers.</p><p>"Betio would be more habitable if the Marines could leave for a few days and send a million buzzards in," Robert Sherrod, a correspondent for Time, wrote after the fighting.</p><p>The victory at Tarawa "knocked down the front door to the Japanese defenses in the Central Pacific," Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific fleet, <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Tarawa/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> afterward.</p><h2>Hundreds were left unidentified and unaccounted for</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo/US Marine Corps Photo)</span></p><p class="caption">Four Marines carry a wounded Marine along the cluttered beach to a dressing station for treatment after fighting on Tarawa eased.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Because of environmental conditions, remains were quickly buried in trenches or individual graves on Betio, which is about a half-square-mile in size and, at the time of the battle, only about 10 feet above sea level at its highest point.</p><p>Navy construction sailors also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/graves-of-30-us-servicemen-found-on-pacific-wwii-battlefield-2019-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed</a> some grave markers as they hurriedly built runways and other infrastructure to help push farther across the Pacific toward Japan.</p><p>The US Army Graves Registration Service came after the war to exhume remains and return them to the US, but its teams could not find more than 500 servicemen, and in 1949, the Army Quartermaster General's Office <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/history-flight-makes-second-largest-recovery-of-missing-wwii-remains-300494875.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> those remains "unrecoverable," telling families that those troops were buried at sea or in Hawaii as "unknowns."</p><p>Over the past 16 years, however, Betio, now part of Kiribati, has yielded some of the largest recoveries of remains of US service members.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo)</span></p><p class="caption">US Marines storm the Japanese-held airfield at Tarawa atoll in November 1943.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That work has been led by History Flight, a Virginia-based nonprofit and <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">Defense</keyword> POW/MIA Accounting Agency partner that's dedicated to finding and recovering missing US service members.</p><p>"History Flight was started in 2003, and we've been researching the case history of Tarawa since 2003, but we started working out there 2008," Katherine Rasdorf, a researcher at History Flight, told Business Insider on Thursday. "We had to do all the research and analysis first before we went out there."</p><p>The first individual was found in 2012. That was followed by a lost cemetery in 2015 and two more large burial sites in 2017 and 2019, Rasdorf said.</p><p>In 2015, History Flight found 35 sets of remains at one site, including those of US Marine 1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, Jr., who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle.</p><p>In July 2017, the organization turned over 24 sets of remains to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency for identification.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Marine Corps/Sgt. Melanye Martinez</span></p><p class="caption">Osteologists with History Flight excavate a grave site from the battle of Tarawa at Republic of Kiribati, July 15, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This summer, the graves of what were thought to be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/graves-of-30-us-servicemen-found-on-pacific-wwii-battlefield-2019-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 30 Marines and sailors</a> killed during the last day of fighting were found on Betio.</p><p>Those are the largest recoveries of missing US service personnel since the Korean War.</p><p>Using remote sensing, cartography, aerial photography, and archaeology, History Flight has recovered the remains of 309 service members from Tarawa, where the organization maintains an office and a year-round presence, Mark Noah, president of History Flight, <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/the-defense-powmia-accounting-agency-bringing-our-nation-s-heroes-home?fbclid=IwAR0HulQroRcZdzGTfQ2uqombJ6s8ZWuS51gYoE5jaz5FTni-D4OOKI23YYA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> a House Committee on Oversight and Reform in a hearing on November 19.</p><p>Seventy-nine of those discoveries were made during the 2019 fiscal year, Noah said, adding that History Flight's recoveries are 20% of the DoD's annual identifications.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Marine Corps/Sgt. Melanye Martinez</span></p><p class="caption">Archaeologists with History Flight excavate a grave site from the battle of Tarawa, in the Republic of Kiribati, July 15, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"Many of them were underneath buildings, underneath roads, and houses," Noah told lawmakers of remains on Betio, noting that they are often discarded, covered up, and accidentally disinterred - the first two Marines his organization recovered on Tarawa in April 2010 were displayed on a battlefield tour guide's front porch.</p><p>Today, 429 servicemen killed at Betio remain unaccounted for, Rear Adm. Jon Kreitz, deputy director of the DPAA, said when <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/18/remains-22-troops-killed-76-years-ago-battle-tarawa-return-us.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at least 22 servicemen</a> returned to the US in July.</p><h2>Hero's welcome for those returned home</h2><p>Those discoveries have allowed the sailors and Marines who died at Tarawa to finally return home.</p><p>Joseph Livermore, a 21-year-old Marine private when he was killed by a Japanese bayonet on November 22, 1943, was given <a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/joseph-livermore-wwii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a hero's welcome</a> in his hometown of Bakersfield, California, where his remains were buried on November 15.</p><p>A thousand people lined the streets for Livermore's return, Noah said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Navy/MCS 1st Class Amara Timberlake</span></p><p class="caption">Service members with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency fold flags on transfer cases on a C-17 Globemaster, in Tarawa, Kiribati, September 27, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Pvt. Channing Whitaker, an 18-year-old from Iowa killed in <a href="https://www.caldwellparrish.com/obituaries/Channing-Whitaker?obId=8840306" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Japanese banzai attack</a> on the second day of the battle, <a href="https://www.kcci.com/article/a-teen-with-autism-had-a-magical-polar-express-experience-even-though-he-couldnt-ride-the-train/29891867" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was buried</a> with full military honors in Des Moines on November 22. His remains returned to the US in July.</p><p>Other Marines killed at Tarawa who were <a href="https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/1932574/marine-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-benson-e/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recovered</a> after the battle have also been <a href="https://apnews.com/81923141b63f4927a95e9cacc05a4a78" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified</a> in recent <a href="https://apnews.com/0702a88b288a4ea18a0ce4ff54e48d8d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">months</a>.</p><p>In History Flight's experience, more than 50% of those recovered had living brothers, sisters, and children at their funerals, Noah told lawmakers this week.</p><p>"The recovery of America's missing servicemen is a vital endeavor for their families and for our country. What we are accomplishing in recovering the missing is putting a little bit of America back into America," Noah said.</p><h2>An island nation 'facing annihilation'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/David Gray</span></p><p class="caption">Binata Pinata stands on a rock with a fish her husband, Kaibakia, just caught in Bikeman islet, off South Tarawa in Kiribati, May 25, 2013.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>While hundreds of servicemen likely remain on Betio, environmental conditions there may soon make finding them even harder.</p><p>Kiribati, one of the most isolated countries in the world, is also one of many Pacific Island nations likely to be <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/three-islands-disappeared-past-year-climate-change-blame-ncna1015316" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unlivable</a> in a few decades due to the effects of climate change.</p><p>More than half of Kiribati's nearly 120,000 residents live on South Tarawa, just east of Betio. Rising sea levels are a particular threat to densely populated country. Exceptionally high tides and sea-water incursions <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/23/waiting-for-the-tide-to-turn-kiribatis-fight-for-survival" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threaten the fresh water</a> under the atolls.</p><p>Many of the graves located by History Flight are below the water table, meaning workers had to pump water from the sites each day to excavate.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Associated Press</span></p><p class="caption">Graves of US servicemen under the water table in Tarawa, during excavation by History Flight, June 1, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"When it's rainy season, it's very difficult to do archeology, because the locations fill with water and we have to come up with drainage solutions that are not impacting the highly populated areas and ... reroute [the water] to places where it's not infringing on their clean drinking water," Rasdorf said.</p><p>On the whole, History Flight's day-to-day work has not been greatly affected by changing environmental conditions, Rasdorf said, but others in Kiribati have called for drastic action in response to the threat of climate change.</p><p>Anote Tong, Kiribati's president from 2003 to 2016, <a href="http://www.climate.gov.ki/2014/05/30/kiribati-buys-a-piece-of-fiji/#:~:targetText=Kiribati's%20Head%20of%20State%20%E2%80%93%20President,biggest%20island%20of%20Vanua%20Levu." target="_blank" rel="noopener">bought</a> nearly 8 square miles of land to potentially relocate to in Fiji, about 1,200 miles away from Kiribati, for nearly $7 million in 2014.</p><p>His purchase was decried by some as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/world/asia/climate-change-kiribati.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a boondoggle and alarmist</a>, and his successor took office in 2016 planning to shift priorities and <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20112017/kiribati-climate-change-refugees-migration-pacific-islands-sea-level-rise-coconuts-tourism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">making no plans</a> for people to leave. But Tong continues to sound the alarm.</p><p>"The Republic of Kiribati," Tong said in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/10/24/kiribati/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an op-ed he coauthored</a> last year, "is facing annihilation."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uss-indianapolis-wreckage-discovered-navy-worst-disaster-at-sea-2017-8">The wreckage of a World War II-era US warship that the Navy called the worst disaster at sea has been discovered</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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