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MarineParents.com Newsletter
a Place to Connect & Share™ | |
| Support for You:
a Place to
Connect & Share™ |
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| Learning Center:
Operations Security |
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| Learning Center:
About Deployment |
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(from your Marine, with the USMC, and with other families)
(tips, tricks and money savers for mailing to YOUR Marine)
(bills, taxes, legal issues, injuries, notification from the Marine Corps)
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Learning Center:
About Homecoming |
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(Tip: While in our store, check in your Marine's unit store for more homecoming shirts!) |
| Learning Center:
Bootcamp |
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| Our Volunteers |
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We'd like you to take a moment to meet the volunteers who work several hundred hours a week to make MarineParents.com possible!
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| Marine Corps Spirit
T-shirts, Gifts & More |
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Show your Marine Corps spirit and pride! Proceeds from sales support MarineParents.com, an IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity.
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Graduation Announcements! |
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Graduation Announcements are now available for your Soon-To-Graduate recruit! Use the coupon at the bottom of the newsletter to save $5!
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| Visit Our Sponsors |
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The Cakes are arriving in excellent condition in Iraq. They are withstanding the intense heat of the summer desert! Cakes can be shipped to any APO/FPO address. |
| Newsletter Signup |
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Dear 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. We thank you for your support and hope that we can support you. |
| Seeking Marine Mothers for Important Research Study |
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| Emotional Distress and Health Risk Behaviors in the Mothers of Marine Sons Deployed in OIF & OEF
 If you are the mother of an active-duty Marine son, deployed or stateside, we are requesting your help.
Pamela Slaven MSN, FNP-C, a family nurse practitioner from rural Maine, and a doctoral student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, is conducting a study of the mothers of male members of the United States Marine Corps. The online, confidential questionnaire takes about 15 minutes to complete. The findings of this study will be made available on the MarineParents.com website and published in a reputable peer-reviewed medical or nursing journal.
The study aims to examine emotional distress and health risk behaviors, such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and poor dietary choices, among the mothers of those deployed to a combat zone. These measures will be compared to the same measures in the mothers of male active duty members of the USMC who are not currently deployed.
The study is launched in effort to better understand the needs of this unique population such that they may be better anticipated and addressed by health care providers.
If you are the mother of an active-duty Marine son, deployed or stateside, please click the link below to learn more and participate in the study. To be effective, we need a large sampling from each study group. Your participation is immensely valuable.
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Homecoming and Deployments |
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 Tools and Resources for Homecoming Planning
We have several battalions preparing for retrograde, or homecoming, from combat zones. This section of the web site offers several tools for you to help prepare for your Marine's homecoming. Many family members have worries and concerns about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and COSR (Combat Operations Stress Reaction). This section of the web site offers information and resources to help understand these issues as well as a workbook to use in preparation for the emotions of homecoming.
Deployments: Locate Your Marine's Unit Information
 Every Marine is assigned to a unit or battalion in the Marine Corps. Often, finding information about that particular unit can be challenging. Our database includes virtually every unit in the Marine Corps and includes base locations, current station, phone numbers, the unit FRO (Family Readiness Officer, a contact for family members), and links to the unit's message boards and chat night schedule.
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| Calling Cards in Iraq |
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Understanding the Types of Calling Cards Available to Iraq-Deployed Marines
 Assurance that your Marines can call home while deployed to Iraq is a critical component to your peace of mind during combat deployments. There are two types of calling cards that will work from Iraq and Kuwait. Your Marine's location will dictate which card to use. We recommend obtaining one of each.
The first is the AT&T Global calling card that can only be purchased through the military AAFES exhanges. We have a link on our web site that you can purchase directly from AAFES without needing a military I.D. The cost per minute is about 39 cents. These are regular land line phones at the AT&T call centers. These calling cards will work at most other overseas locations for all military personnel.
 The second is the SPAWAR calling card that uses VOIP or "Voice Over IP" line which is essentially a computer connection. These can only be purchased by setting up an account with SPAWAR online. You can setup the account for your Marine. The cost per minute is about 4 cents.
We recommend purchasing one of each type of calling card. Charge it with the minimum requirement until you are sure which type of card your Marine will be using. Send the access number, instructions, and the PIN number from each card to your Marine through regular U.S. mail, motomail.us, and/or via email (if your Marine has access to email). Your Marine can re-charge both types of phone cards or by keeping the information for each of the cards, you can recharge the card for your Marine.
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| $1 Campaign a Huge Success |
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We've EXCEEDED our goal! Thank You!
We've exceeded our goal!! As of Monday, July 30, 2007 we've exceeded our goal of $4950! Thanks to the tremendous outpouring of support from families and corporations across the U.S., we've raised $5,061 in 30 days--that's one month ahead of our target date! We'll be shipping 1100 care packages to our Marines in Iraq on August 25th!
Companies Offering Additional Support
In addition to the target goal, Miller-Stauch Construction Co., Inc. out of Lenexa, Kansas raised over $2400 with employee and company donations to go toward costs for shipping the care packages in October this year. A huge thank you to Miller-Stauch and employees!
Radio Station Campaign
The Gunny Bob talk radio show out of Denver, Colorado is leading a successful campaign to raise $2200 to purchase 1080 bed sheets to send to our Marines in Iraq through the Care Package Project™ this coming August. The campaign is called " Operation Leatherneck Sheets". A huge thank you to Gunny Bob and his listeners! Click here to watch their progress...
We encourage you to work with your employer, church, or other ogranization to hold a drive or fundraiser to send much needed items to Marines in Iraq through our Care Package Project™. Perhaps you'd like to collect 500 pairs of socks or raise funding to sponsor 10 Marines. Please contact us and we'll work with you to assure a successful campaign!
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| RAV Helps Marines Make Decision to Stay |
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| Since arriving in Iraq in January, more than 300 Marines with 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) have reenlisted.
 AL TAQADDAM, Iraq (July 20, 2007) -- Since arriving here in January, more than 300 Marines with 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) have reenlisted. A retention assist visit conducted by monitors of a number of military occupational specialties at the Headquarters Company office here July 20 helped that number grow by 85 and counting.
The intent of the visit was to try and reenlist as many Marines from fiscal years 2007 and 2008 as possible to meet the Marine Corps' end-state strength goal of 202,000 Marines by the close of fiscal year 2011. The Corps hopes that by swelling its ranks by 23,000 additional troops, they will be able to ease the strain of deployment cycles and increase operational readiness around the globe.
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On-Base Lodging for Graduation |
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| Headed to San Diego for your future Marine's Graduation?
 As the family member of a graduating recruit, you can stay in Billeting Housing at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego during graduation regardless of whether or not you are former military.
Billeting is the military terminology used to define transient housing, guest housing, and/or other accomodations while traveling. Generally, Billeting accomodations would be located on a military installation.
It's really easy and convenient to stay on Billeting at MCRD in San Diego and it's truly a beautiful area. The prices are very affordable. To be "on the base" really adds to the ambiance of graduation.
The down-side to Billeting is, that as the family member of a graduating recruit, you get what is available and your reservation is taken on a space available basis. So be sure to have a back-up plan.
You cannot make your reservation until just a few weeks out from graduation. Remember, you are a guest on a military installation when you stay in Billeting as well as a guest of your future Marine. Your actions on the depot are a direct reflection on your son. Please be courteous and respectful.
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Graduation T-Shirts |
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Order Now! Buy 3 get one Free!
 Graduation T-shirts customized with your recruit's graduation date and platoon number for both Parris Island and San Diego!
Buy 3 get 1 Free is a limited time offer. Restrictions apply. Visit the web site for more details.
All proceeds from sale of shirts support the projects of MarineParents.com, Inc. an IRS approved public charity.
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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 USMC photo of Marines with 1st Battalion, 11th Marines, in Taqqadam, Iraq. The photo was taken by Gunnery Sgt. Jefferson Edouasie, 07/24/2007. Click here to read accompanying story.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 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 and we'll be offering the 3rd Annual National Conference in Washington DC, 2008. We've helped over 30,000 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 lunches to families caring for their Marines at Bethesda Hospital. You've found a Place to Connect & Share™.
God Bless and Semper Fidelis,
Tracy Della Vecchia
Founder and Executive Director
MarineParents.com, Inc. |
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