Dark Horse Amputee Marine Takes Hill With A Little Help From Brothers

Marine amputee climbs Pendleton's First Sergeant's Hill to honor his fallen comrades
Marine Corps Times
Lance M. Bacon
May 3, 2016

It was evident the bond and brotherhood fostered by the page would be needed long after the Marines returned home, Soto said, so the page never shut down.

Marine veteran Cpl. Josue Barron, an amputee who climbed First Sergeant's Hill at Camp Pendleton, Calif., said he hopes others who see him overcome his challenges will think twice about overcoming theirs.

(Photo: courtesy of Mark Soto and The Honor Group)

Some would say the two-minute video captures everything that is best about the Marine Corps — a one-legged vet pushing through immense pain to conquer a colossal hill that memorializes fallen comrades. Beside him, brothers in arms shout words of encouragement and motivation. Within him, the memory of lost Marines provides strength to endure.

The climb was part of a five-year reunion that honored the Marines and families of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, which completed Afghanistan’s deadliest deployment in 2011.

The “Dark Horse” battalion made great gains, but at great cost, when it deployed in and around the town of Sangin, in Afghanistan's embattled Helmand province. In seven months, the battalion saw 25 Marines killed in action and another 184 wounded. Nearly three dozen of the wounded returned home as single, double and triple amputees.

Among them is former Cpl. Josue Barron, who lost a leg and his left eye in the conflict, and is shown in the April 30 video.
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Dark Horse Marines Test Legged Squad Support

‘Dark Horse’ Military Unit Will Test Experimental Weapons
Epoch Times
By Joshua Philipp
February 23, 2016

Lance Cpl. Timothy Knaggs (center), a team leader with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, walks ahead of the Legged Squad Support System at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, June 19, 2014. The Marines is assigning a battalion to test new equipment and new ways of operating.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Matthew Callahan)

The “Dark Horse” battalion of the U.S. Marines will spend the next year field-testing new equipment, technology, and fighting methods that may eventually be used in the broader military.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller made the announcement on Feb. 19. According to Military.com, he announced the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, also called “Dark Horse,” will start testing the new gear and techniques in Camp Pendleton, California.

The battalion has close to 1,200 Marines in it, and was first organized in June 1917 for the First World War, and has fought in every major American war since then.

“They’re going to be our experimental platform, if you will, and we’ll give them capabilities and do it in an efficient way—which is, give it to Marines and let them figure it out, because they’re our best developers and experimenters,” Neller told Miltiary.com.
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