US Marines

Task Force Koa Moana 23, comprised of U.S. Marines and Sailors from I Marine Expeditionary Force, have deployed to Papua New Guinea to support PNG’s stability, security, and prosperity.

Their goal is to strengthen relationships with Papua New Guinea through a bilateral and multilateral security cooperation exercise that runs from June until September.

The exercise includes capacity training and infrastructure improvement projects. Koa Moana is an ongoing partnership that began in 2016.

The speaker of the island's legislature told the Japan Times the transfer plan involves about 1700 troops being permanently based on Guam and thousands more rotated every year.

The Marines are being moved from Okinawa after a deal was struck between the US and Japan to remove the unpopular military presence.

Many will be moved to Guam, a US territory, where a new military base is being built near the Air Force base at the top of the island.

The relocation is expected to cost more than $US8 billion.

Twenty-three of the MV-22 Osprey's crew were rescued in a search and rescue operation after the aircraft "entered the water" about 4pm during "regularly scheduled operations" on Saturday, according to the III Marine Expeditionary Force.

The tilt-rotor aircraft had been in Queensland as part of the Talisman Sabre joint training exercise between Australian and United States military forces, which ended on July 25.

The exercises were taking place in Shoalwater Bay training area near Rockhampton in Central Queensland.

The commercial, titled "Battle Up" follows the evolution of a female Marine.

She is seen as a schoolgirl standing up to bullies, on a rugby pitch, under fire in combat, and as a veteran helping the homeless.

The service said it celebrates the Marines' "fighting spirit".

In the advert, the protagonist tackles an obstacle course through icy water as the narrator intones: "No one knows where it comes from. Why some have it, and some don't. It's the fighting spirit, and it needs to be fed.

This was revealed during the unveiling of plans for the new Embassy building and compound on Wednesday.

The new compound which is to be completed by 2019 will cater for 200 people including 13 Marine Soldiers.

The soldiers, commonly referred to as Marine Security Guards (MSG), are members of the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group, a battalion-sized organization of U.S. Marines who are detached to  provide security at American embassies, American consulates and other official United States Governments offices.

The advice encourages marines to behave responsibly when sharing marine corps-related material online.

It adds that existing orders for the marines have "long prohibited" sexual or other harassment.

The Pentagon previously said sharing nude photos was "inconsistent" with its values.

Members have been redirected to new pages. In one case, someone not only launched a new page -- Marines United 2, or MU2 -- that promises to better weed out anyone looking to blow the whistle on the group's depraved behavior, but members have taken to taunting federal and military investigators.

"It would be hilarious if one of these FBI or (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) f***s found their wife on here," one member said on the original Marines United page.

The pictures were posted within a members-only group called Marines United, and were accompanied by vulgar and highly aggressive sexual messages.

The group has now been closed down.

"[This] is a direct attack on our ethos and legacy," said top enlisted marine Sgt Maj Ronald Green.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has also launched an investigation.

"This behaviour hurts fellow marines, family members, and civilians," said Sgt Maj Green in a written statement.

The Facebook group included around 30,000 active and retired male marines.

A private Facebook group called "Marines United" contained a link to a Google Drive folder, where the photos were being stored, a US defense official told CNN. Members on the site solicited others to submit photos of women without their knowledge. The cloud storage folder has been removed at the request of the military, the official said. It was not clear to the Defense Department how many current and former Marines may be involved in potential wrongdoing. A former Marine originally brought the matter to the attention of the Marine Corps last month.

The American request, confirmed in a statement from the commanding officer of Marine forces in Europe, comes as tensions between the US and Russia are increasing amid the humanitarian disaster in Syria and US assertions of Russian involvement in cyber hacks on American political organizations and individuals.