(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.

 

  Around the United States, Marine Parents are gearing up for The Bootcamp Challenge and The Marine Corps Marathon for our Team Marine Parents™ participants. In the office we're gearing up for The Marine Corps Birthday and Veteran's Day, as well as planning for the next Care Package Event to be held on November 1. Our "Marine Birthday Box" campaign officially kicks off today.

 

  We're still in a peak season for new Recruit Families to join us as their sons and daughters depart for bootcamp, and we've got another round of homecoming and deployments from both Afghanistan and Iraq right around the corner.

 

  For families that have a Marine returning from combat, congratulations!  If you have questions about what to expect from your Marine at homecoming and transitioning stateside, we strongly encourage you to attend the Chat Session this evening with Dr. Bridget Cantrell at 8:30 p.m. Central Time. You'll find additional information and a link to the online "meeting room" below. 

WASHINGTON -  The names of all 184 victims who perished at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, were read aloud during the official Pentagon Memorial dedication ceremony.  

 

The memorial, on a two-acre plot with dozens of maple saplings, consists of 184 illuminated benches, each engraved with a victim's name and arranged north to south from oldest to youngest, respectively.

"I lost my younger brother Dave here seven years ago," said James J. Laychak, Pentagon Memorial Fund chairman. "When I see the reflected sunshine climb up the sides of the memorial units, I see the beauty of life. I hope the Pentagon Memorial will provide a sense of closure and comfort to all those who are still in pain ... The memorial represents what great things can happen when we all work together to create something good."  

 

We've got a great linup planned with the Marine Corps Birthday boxes to ship to our Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, and we need your help with two things.

 

First of all, we need a "Happy Birthday" card for every box that we ship. That's 1000 cards we need from YOU, our Marine Corps families.  We must receive them in our office by October 28 to be included in the boxes we'll ship on November 1. Please allow plenty of time for the cards to arrive to us at the following address:

The cards should be addressed to "Dear Marine" and include a personal, handwritten sentiment.  If you will be sending several cards, you may put them in one large envelope to mail to us.  Please do not seal the individual envelopes. 

Secondly, we need to raise $6000 to purchase content for the "Birthday Boxes".  We will be including an olive green t-shirt, a Hormel Turkey Dinner (for Thanksgiving), and a birthday cake kit for each box.  The cost will be approximately $6 per box. This cost is in addition to the funds we've already raised for shipping costs of $9850.  Please help us meet our $6000 goal by November 1 for the Marine Corps Birthday Boxes!

 

Click here to donate...

 

The Marine Corps Birthday is coming up soon and your Marine will appreciate gettng a Birthday card from you. We've got unique designs for you and your Marine in our Cafe Press store. All proceeds go back to MarineParents.com. 

 

Cards can be purchased individually and are also available in packaged quantities of 10 and 20 as greeting cards and note cards.  These are the perfect choice if you'll be sending cards for the "Birthday Boxes" campaign above.

 

 

Even though you can write cards and letters to our wounded year round, it's especially nice to honor them on the day this country celebrates all service personnel.

 

If you act quickly, you can visit www.OperationPAL™.com for a current list of names, gather a class or a church group, and thank these Marines and Corpsmen for doing their jobs.

 

Any cards and letters received by Oct 31 will be delivered by Veteran's Day. They have given so much for you and me. Thank you for letting them know how much you care.

WASHINGTON -  The Navy Cross will be awarded to Sgt. Rafael Peralta posthumously for valor during combat operations conducted November 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, the Secretary of the Navy announced Sept. 17.

 

Peralta, 25, based out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, with Company A, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, assigned to 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, was shot while clearing his seventh house on the morning of Nov. 15, 2004, during Operation Al Fajr, an assault to eliminate an insurgent stronghold within the city.

According to a I MEF press release, during search and attack operations Nov. 15, 2004, while clearing houses, Peralta was caught in a crossfire between Marines and insurgents, leaving him mortally wounded. 

"After the initial exchange of gunfire, the insurgents broke contact, throwing a fragmentation grenade as they fled the building," the press release said. "Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Peralta reached out and pulled the grenade to his body, absorbing the brunt of the blast and shielding fellow Marines only feet away."

 

This evening, Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (central time), we invite you to chat online with Dr. Bridget Cantrell, author and expert on homecomings, PTSD, and combat recovery. The chat will be held in the MarineParents.com Chat Room. It is free and open to the public.

 

Dr. Cantrell is co-author of the critically acclaimed Downrange to Iraq and Back, and the new Once a Warrior: Wired for Life. Her third book, Souls Under Seige, will be available this October, 2008 and addresses the impact of multiple deployments on our warriors.

 

Click to learn more about the chat...

 

There is a slang term used for the first Friday after arriving in bootcamp: "Black Friday". This is the first time recruits are introduced to their drill instructors.

 

Indeed, this is one of the defining moments in the recruit's training. Marines hold their DIs and SDI (Drill Instructors and Senior Drill Instructor) in the highest esteem and with intense respect.

 

How do recruits move from "Black Friday" to holding their DIs in the highest esteem in 13 weeks? The drill instructor creed says it all. These are not just words; this is the 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, 13-week mindset of every Marine drill instructor. The drill instructors do not go home at the end of the day when they are training a platoon--they stay with the platoon. They sacrifice much to live by this creed and they make sure every recruit EARNS the title of "United States Marine".