 Welcome to The Coal Report. I'm Lance Corporal Clayton Phil Poveage. And I'm Lance Corporal Ally Bisonger. Marines who have been using tuition assistance know that this year has been rough. But things are looking better. The Coal has an additional $40.5 million to send Marines to school through Amanda in the fiscal year. The money will break down like this. Just a reminder, Marines can only apply for TA if they have at least two years' time of service. Also, first-time students must establish a good academic track record. So, they'll only be approved one course at a time. To read more, click on the link in the video description. Marine Corps Assistance Command recently tested the Corps' newest flag jacket with Marines from the First Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. The new jacket, known as the Modular Scalable Vest, is designed to provide Marines with a single vest system to increase mobility. The new vest looks just like this. Even though it looks larger, the MSV is actually lighter than the two systems currently fielded. You know, it did take you a long time to put that on. Yeah, well, I'm a Pogue and it's my first time. What's this new Cyberg piece here in the back? It's supposed to help distribute weight evenly across the back and the hips. What do you think? Well, I think it feels great, but don't take my word for it. Even though it's still in early development stages, Marines with the first LAR didn't have many complaints. Minor changes like webbing placement and a more comfortable neckline were suggested. For more information, click on the link in the video description. Alright, by Swinger, get me out of this thing. We asked for your help finding the next featured Marine and got some amazing nominations. This episode's featured Marine has a story so awesome, we'd rather you hear it from the man himself. With us here today is Captain Brian Jordan. Morning Marines, thank you for having me. Good morning, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming, sir. Thank you. So you were awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross. What happened out there that day? I was. Well, it was a routine mission that we were doing. JTAR and things kind of went sour towards the end. British soldiers stepped on an IED and we had limited fuel, limited time remaining on station and decided to execute the Kazovac to get the soldier out of there and save his life. So what was your reaction when you were awarded this medal? Extremely humbled. It's a great honor to receive this award, but I'm receiving it on the behalf of my crew as well as the Marines that take care of the aircraft and maintainers. Without them we wouldn't be doing this or being able to do that mission. And the Marines, like Lieutenant Colonel Lightfoot and Captain Jablonski, the section lead putting down some press of fire as we came down and executed the Kazovac, co-pilot Captain Josh Miller and then crew chiefs, gunnery sergeant Vaughn, staff sergeant Sey and Copel Martinez. Those are the guys that made it happen and I'm glad to have had them with me because without them this mission wouldn't have been successful. Do you have any awards of wisdom for our viewers out there? At here in your training there's wonderful instructors out there and great Marines out there, so listen to what they've done, learn from their mistakes and learn from what they have to say. Alright, thank you sir. Appreciate it. Absolutely, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you very much. You're welcome. The heroes of today continue to stand on the shoulders of the legendary Marines of our past. February 19th marks the 69th anniversary of one of the most well-known battles in Marine Corps history, the battle for Iwo Jima. We'll never forget the fierce fighting of our Marines or their iconic feats like the flag raising on Mount Surabachi. Secretary of Navy James Forestel said, the raising of that flag on Surabachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years. Remember, if you can catch up on everything else going on around the Corps, then log on to our official social media sites. Those links are in the video description. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next Friday. Right here on The Corps Report.