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MarineParents.com Newsletter
a Place to Connect & Share 
In This Issue
Deployment Learning Center
Homecoming Learning Center
Please Visit Our Sponsors
Fight for Fair Compensation
Gifts for Marine Dads!
First U.S. Cyber Command
Military Handbooks
A Letter from The Gunny
I'm Staying With My Boys
DONATE with every swipe of your card
Support for You:
a Place to
Connect & Share™
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Learning Center:
Operational Security
Operational Security

NOTE: When communicating online, your Marine's privacy is as important as Operational Security. Please respect YOUR Marine's privacy!

Learning Center:
About Deployment
 
 
 
 
 
 
Learning Center:
About Homecoming
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tip: While in our store, check in your Marine's unit store for more homecoming shirts!
Unit Chat Nights
Unit Chat Night Schedule:
 
Monday: 1/3, 1/2
Wednesday: 3/4, 3/7
Thursday: 1/6
Friday: 3/6
Sunday: 24th MEU, 1/9
 
For additional information about the Chat Room and Unit Chat Nights for your Marine's Unit, please see:
           MarineParents.com Chat Gif 
Local Support Groups in Your Area
 
For a list of all support groups in our database or to find one in your area, see:
 
If you are interested in starting a local support group in your area, please visit the "Support Groups" section of our website:
Support Our Marines!
 
 
Purple Heart Hero Support™ an Outreach Program of Marine Parents.com
 
 
Show your support of our Marines and their families!Participate in one of the Marine Parents Outreach Programs today! Our Marines need YOU!
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May 26, 2010
Greetings Marine Families!
 
  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.

  Each week we receive correspondence from families and Marines around the country. This week we have several requests to make to you, our Marines families, to pull together and help with some projects.

  Sgt. Eddie Wright is a Marine who was severely injured in Iraq during OIF II. While at the hospitals, his brother noticed a need for different nutrition for our warriors. As part of his master's degree program, he's asking for combat veterans to answer a questionnaire he's got online about food during combat. If you have a combat vet that could spend a few minutes answering some questions, please forward this email to him or her to complete the survey:  Click here to learn more...

  There are several great articles and updates in the newsletter this week; we hope you'll take time to read each one. We've got a link to some fantastic resources for military, some updates from the Department of Defense, R. Lee Ermey, a book review on Basilone's biography, as well as information about how you can help with LCpl. Josef Lopez' battle for fair compensation of wounded warriors.

  To all the families with sons and daughters in Afghanistan, our thoughts and prayers are with you, your family, and our warriors.  May God grant each of us the strength, courage, commitment and knowledge to do the right things and endure or overcome whatever hardships may come our way to achieve a peaceful goal.  God Bless and Semper Fi!
Fight for Fair Compensation
Attention on Deck: The Voice of Our Marines  
 
Marine Fights for Fair CompensationWe're asking for the attention of all our extended Marine Corps family members; there's an important story you need to hear.
 
It's Lance Corporal Josef Lopez's story of severe injuries suffered while on active duty and his subsequent fight for fair compensation from the Veterans Administration.
 
If won, this fight could affect hundreds of our treasured veterans who are currently treated unfairly. Take the time to educate yourself on the facts and take action today. See Joe's story below. 

My name is Lance Corporal Josef Lopez and I served in the Marine Corps for 5 years. This is what I looked like in 2006, when I was left completely paralyzed and on life support for weeks. I still have trouble walking and I take up to 15 pills a day to control the shaking in my legs. For the last several years I have been recovering from my injuries and battling the Veterans Administration for fair compensation. The VA feels they can treat veterans like me unfairly because there are so few of us and we receive little media attention, but I'm trying to change that.
 
Read on and learn how you can join the fight, Click here...
Gifts for Marine Dads!
Shop Today - Father's Day is June 20th 
 
Father's Day is June 20th! Shop the EGA Store Today!Father's Day is June 20th and we know you're thinking of gifts for Dad.
 
From Eagle, Globe, and Anchor aprons for summer barbeques, to USMC hitch covers and license plate frames, we've got your Father's Day shopping needs covered.
 
Shop our EGA Store for gifts the Marine Dad in your life will love, plus an added bonus - your purchase allows you to give back to the organization that supports your Marine family. We thank you for your support!
 
First U.S. Cyber Command
DOD Announced May 21, 2010
 
First U.S. Cyber CommandSecretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander's appointment as the first U.S. Cyber Command commander, officially establishing the initial operating capability for the new command.
 
The announcement comes immediately following Alexander's promotion to receive his fourth star during a ceremony at Fort Meade, Md., today. 

"Given our increasing dependency on cyberspace, this new command will bring together the resources of the department to address vulnerabilities and meet the ever-growing array of cyber threats to our military systems," said Gates. 

U.S. Cyber Command possesses the required technical capability and focuses on the integration of military cyberspace operations.
 
Empower Yourself with Knowledge
Military Handbooks Offer Valuable Info
 
Military Handbooks Offer Valuable InfoBrought to you by MilitaryHandbooks.com.
 
These handbooks are FREE and offer valuable information about pay, benefits, retirement planning, education benefits, career decisions, and more for both active and retired U.S. military personnel.
 
Handbook topics include: After the Military, Veterans Healthcare Benefits, Base Installation Directory, Benefits for Veterans & Dependents, Guard and Reserve Military, and others.
 
Peruse them all, or focus on the handbooks that apply specifically to you and your loved one in the service.
 
Knowledge is power and you don't want to miss this amazing opportunity to empower yourself with pertinent information.
 
A Letter from The Gunny
56 Senators Cosponsor S.504 
 
Marine Corps Identity CauseListen up Troops!
 
Your efforts are working - Senator Roberts has assembled 56 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate to pass S.504.
 
In order for this bill to become law it has to pass the Senate. Therefore, we must keep the momentum going.

Those in blue are co-sponsors, but the names in white have not signed on yet.
 
Please keep calling your U.S. Senator if they have not signed on as a co-sponsor.
 
Thank you for your support!
R. Lee Ermey - The "Gunny"
 
Semper Fi! Oorah!
I'm Staying With My Boys
Review from Founder Tracy Della Vecchia 
 
I'm Staying With My BoysI'm Staying with My Boys: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC is the firsthand look inside the life of one of the greatest heroes of the Greatest Generation.
 
Review from Our Founder:
I was fortunate to be able to read this book as I was watched the HBO mini-series, The Pacific.
 
As a Marine parent, I have become quite a history buff and am particularly fond of Marine Corps history (imagine that!).
 
This book was one I didn't want to put down, and only did so when forced to. It was interesting to read it at the same time as watching The Pacific, but is so well-written you'll enjoy it even beyond The Pacific, and even if you've not seen the mini-series.
 
For those of you who want to know more about Marine Corps history, and this amazing hero of World War II, this book will give you everything you're looking for, including tears and cheers. 
 
DONATE with every swipe of your card!

We hope this week's edition of our email newsletter has been useful for you and your family. If there are topics you would like us to address, or if you have other suggestions for the newsletter, please contact us.

The banner used at the top of this newsletter is a May, 2010 USMC Photo by Sgt. Deanne Hurla of several CH-46E "Sea Knights" staged on the flight deck of the USS Peleliu. Click here to read additional credits. 
 
MarineParents.com, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity. MarineParents.com, Inc. was founded in January, 2003 in response to parents' needs to find information and to have a Place to Connect & Share™ with one another during deployments. Our free online services and connections have expanded to support and educate Marine moms & dads, spouses, families and friends. We've helped over 40,000 Marine and recruit families during bootcamp, training, active duty and deployments. We've shipped thousands of care packages overseas to our Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, sent thousands of prayers and letters to injured Marines and served hundreds of meals to Wounded Warriors and their families on both the East and West coasts. You've found a Place to Connect & Share™. 
God Bless and Semper Fidelis,
 

Tracy Della Vecchia
Founder and Executive Director
MarineParents.com, Inc.
 
Neither the United States Marine Corps nor any other component of the Department of Defense has approved, endorsed, or authorized this service.