(from your Marine, with the USMC, and with other families)

 

Care Packages

(tips, tricks and money savers for mailing to YOUR Marine)

 

Issues During Deployment

(bills, taxes, legal issues, injuries, notification from the Marine Corps)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Tip: While in our store, check in your Marine's unit store for more homecoming shirts!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting a Support Group 

Show your Marine Corps spirit and pride!  Proceeds from sales support MarineParents.com, an IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity.

 

Semper Fi Family Wear

 

 

The Few. The Proud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this is the first edition of the MarineParents.com Newsletter you have received, WELCOME! If you are a returning reader we are glad you have joined us.

 

We've got exciting news to share about events held this past weekend, including the Jerabek challenge with Team Marine Parents™ and our fourth conference, a regional conference held in Kansas City this weekend. Be sure to read the articles and take a look at the photo slide shows from these two amazing events.

 

We have a new phone system in the office that allows you to access more information and contact our volunteers to get answers to your questions.  Our new number for support is 573-303-5500. The business office phone number will not change.  Look for this update to the web site in the next few days.

 

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and remember to take care of YOU. 

Thanks to our readers, we've exceeded our goal and raised a total of $11,639 for shipping care package overseas to the Marines in Iraq and Aghanistan! We met our goal two weeks early. Thank you for your support of the Marines.

 

Did you know we've got graduation announcements for each current bootcamp graduation class? Announce your Marine's graduation and and get matching t-shirts as well.  Wear your new Marines battalion and graduation date with pride! All proceeds from purchases in the MarineParents.com Cafe Press stores go back to support the projects and services of MarineParents.com, Inc.  

 

Take a look at our custom designs. Be sure to check out the graduation announcements customized with the graduation date as well. 

 

COUPON SAVINGS!

From now until August 20, enjoy $5 off your order of $50 or more using the coupon code SECANTLEAVES.

 

From Our Columnist Kyndra Rotunda

 

Today, August 4, 2008, JAG lawyers face off in Guantanamo Bay to deliver closing arguments in the Hamdan case.  Hamdan is the alleged bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden.  According to prosecutors, he was part of bin Laden's inner circle; swore allegiance to bin Laden; attended al Qaeda training camps; transported weapons for bin Laden;  and helped bin Laden evade capture by U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan at a most crucial time --  in the weeks after September 11th, when U.S. forces were hot on his heels.  Hamdan was bin Laden's bodyguard and get away driver. Because of co-conspirators, like Hamdan, Osama bin Laden has gotten away with murder.
 
Prosecutors in Guantanamo Bay presented mountains of evidence, lasting nearly two weeks, to six jurors who will decide whether Hamdan is guilty.  If the jury finds Hamdan guilty, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.  
 

 

What a day. A very early day! Several of our tough Team Marine Parents™ participants climbed out of those EVIL warm beds and braved the cold dark morning to be interviewed by Fox 11's Good Day Wisconsin show.

 

With everyone looking sharp in their Team Marine Parents™ t-shirts, we had the opportunity to explain what Team Marine Parents™ is and what we do. This team of sixteen participants raised over $3500 for The Care Package Project™. Several more Marine Parents members joined us for the 2 mile walk/4 mile run as well. We represented 4 different states. (WI, MI, IL, MN).

 

We were proud to be able to support the Jerabek family, honor our active duty military, veterans and support our Care Package Project™ while connecting with one another and having fun! 

The war I witnessed for more than five years in Iraq is over. In July, there were five American fatalities in Iraq, the lowest since the war began in March 2003. In Mosul recently, I chatted with shopkeepers on the same corner where last January a Humvee was blown apart in front of me. In the Baghdad district of Ghazilia -- where last January snipers controlled streets awash in human waste -- I saw clean streets and soccer games. In Basra, the local British colonel was dining at a restaurant in the center of the bustling city.

For the first time in 15 trips across the country, I didn't hear one shot or a single blast from a roadside bomb. In Anbar Province, scene of the fiercest fighting during the war, the tribal sheiks insisted to Barack Obama on his recent visit that the U.S. Marines had to stay because they were the most trusted force.
 

MarineParents.com encourages our members to show your American spirit by committing to participating in or organizing a Freedom Walk.

Freedom Walks are not fundraisers or 5ks but a way for individuals, groups and communities to come together, reflect on the tragic events of 9/11 and recommit ourselves to freedom. The size of the walk does not matter; they come in all shapes and sizes. The meaning behind them is what counts!

Last year Tennessee's Helping Hearts organized their first annual ASY Freedom Walk. They planted two trees behind their local Chamber of Commerce in honor of soldiers who gave their lives and then walked to the Armed Forces Memorial Wall at the County Courthouse.

What will YOU do? We'd love to hear your ideas, your plans and have you share your photos with us after the event.

 

Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, deployed aboard USS Peleliu (LHA 5) in the Gulf of Aden, helped prevent a pirate attack August 8, providing aerial support and Explosive Ordnance Disposal.

 

At 7 a.m. the crew of USS Peleliu received a distress call from the Singaporean cargo ship Gem of Kilakarai reporting being attacked by two small pirate vessels about 10-miles away from USS Peleliu's position. After receiving the reports, USS Peleliu changed course and launched three helicopters to provide security for the civilian cargo ship and to run off the pirates.

"The mission showcased the Marine Corps-Navy team's ability to react to a no notice, real-world contingency and execute a successful mission profile within a compressed timeline" said Lt. Col. Pete C. Farnum, 15th MEU Operations Officer.

The cookbook Devil Dog Chow: a Collection of Recipes from Marine Corps Families is now available in the Marine Corps Museum Gift Shop. You can still purchase it online for the new low price of $19.95 which includes shipping.

 

There are literally thousands of acronyms in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and all branches of the military and there are hundreds of new terms to learn.

 

Recruits in Marine Corps Bootcamp learn to call a flashlight a "moon beam", a pen becomes an "ink stick", and the bathroom is "the head".

 

MarineParents.com created a terminology page as a starting point for recruit families-the reference contains terms that are most important to learn during recruit training.

 

Show your support. Let your friends, neighbors and co-workers know you support the troops by wearing red on Friday. Our T-shirt designs are just the ticket! We have designs for Marine Corps or any branch of the service.

 

Proceeds from sale of items goes to operating costs of MarineParents.com, and IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity.