March 20, 2012

We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for March 20, 2012


Lance Cpl. Alejandro Carbajal, scout swimmer and rifleman with Company A, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, scouts ahead before the primary raid force lands on the shoreline during a small boat raid here, March 17, 2012. The raid was conducted during the MEU’s Certification Exercise, which upon completion certifies that the MEU is capable to respond to any scenario that may arise. The 31st MEU is the only continuously forward-deployed MEU and is the nation’s force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region. Photo by Lance Cpl. Michael S. Oxton.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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