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MarineParents.com Newsletter
a Place to Connect & Share 
In This Issue
From Wheelchair to Marathon
NEW! Boot Parents Message Board
VOTE for the Marine Corps Slogan!
Marine Corps Accomplishments
America's Marines Tour Invites YOU!
Graduation T-Shirts
37 Marines Need Your Prayers
The Bootcamp Challenge Team
Major Mike Corrado FameCast.com Winner!
$5 Coupon Expires September 14!
Support Our Marines!
The Care Package Project™
 
Operation PAL
Operation PAL™
 
 
Purple Heart Hero Support™ from MarineParents.com
 
 
Team Marine Parents from MarineParents.com
Team Marine Parents™
 
Show your support of our Marines and their families at home! Partcipate in one of the MarineParents.com Outreach Programs today!  Our Marines need YOU!
Support for You:
a Place to
Connect & Share™
 
 
 
 
 
 
Learning Center:
Operations Security
 
 
 
Homecoming T-Shirts
Homecoming T-shirts for Marine Corps families
Learning Center:
About Deployment
 
 
(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)
 
 
Learning Center:
About Homecoming
 
 
 
 
 
(Tip: While in our store, check in your Marine's unit store for more homecoming shirts!)
Learning Center:
Bootcamp
 
 
 
 
Our Volunteers
We'd like you to take a moment to meet the volunteers who work several hundred hours a week to make MarineParents.com possible!
 
 
 
Marine Corps Spirit
T-shirts, Gifts & More
Show your Marine Corps spirit and pride!  Proceeds from sales support MarineParents.com, an IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marines The Few The Proud
Graduation Announcements!
Graduation Announcements are now available for your Soon-To-Graduate recruit! Use the coupon at the bottom of the newsletter to save $5!
Marine Corps Bootcamp Graduation Announcements
Visit Our Sponsors
 
Creative Cakery Cake
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.
 
To err human, forgive divine, neither is marine corps policy
 

Bad Feet in Iraq 2005

Don't let this happen to YOUR Marine! Visit Covert Threads for the best combat socks made!

My Child Mothers of War

 

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August 30, 2007
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.

This edition of our Newsletter includes stories of Marines and their accomplishments and stories of Marine families and organizations helping one another. As I was putting it together, I was in awe of the wonderful and amazing people I have come to know in the past five years. The selflessness and commitment to supporting one another humbles me.
 
In addition to the amazing families and Marines I've met, I am blessed to work side-by-side with over 60 volunteers that put in countless hours helping Marine Corps families and Marines around the nation.  Please join me in giving thanks to these amazing volunteers, Marine families, and Marines, all of which make up our incredible Semper Family!  Thank you!
 
Please take a moment to visit our sponsors. Without their continued support, we would not be able to provide so much with our many outreach projects. A particular thank you goes out to Covert Threads who have donated another 300 pair of their specialty socks for the care package that go to our Marines in Iraq. And a quick reminder that proceeds from sales of T-shirts in our online store go to support the projects and services of MarineParents.com, and IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity.
 
We thank you for your continued support and hope that we can support you. 
From Wheelchair to Marathon
Iraq Veteran LCpl. Lopez goes from Wheelchair, to Cane, to Hand-Cycle, to Marine Marathon!
 
Josef Lopez, Marine and Team Marine Parents memberIn October of 2006, while in Iraq with 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, LCpl. Lopez became very ill which caused total paralysis. He is making great progress and can now walk short distances without his cane. 

In 2007, Josef attended the MarineParents.com 2007 Annual National Conference in a wheel chair. Joe met Neil Schalk, a Purple Heart Marine who ran the Marathon in 2006 and will run again in 2007. As Josef was being introduced, he stood at his wheelchair and announced that he would be competing in the Marine Corps Marathon in 2007. Neil stood behind Josef and announced that he would do whatever it took to make sure that Josef crossed the finish line.  

Cpl Neil Schalk and LCpl Josef LopezThanks to Georgette Frank, Gold Star mom and founder of The Heart of a Marine Foundation (HOMF),  LCpl. Lopez was outfitted with a hand-cycle to compete in the Marathon. Training is under-way to increase his upper-body strength and compete successfully in the Marathon this October.
 
LCpl. Lopez has set a goal of $5,000 to raise as a Team Marine Parents™ participant for Purple Heart Hero Support™, an outreach program of MarineParenst.com that provides lunches to families of injured Marines at Bethesda Hospital during the weekends when the cafeteria closes. Josef is also a participant in our Operation PAL™ program.
 
Please take a moment to leave some words of encouragement for LCpl. Lopez, Cpl. Schalk, and the other Team Marine Parents™ members participating in the Marine Corps Marathon this year. If you would like to make a donation to Josef's goal, please remember to put his name in the "fundraiser" field if you donate online, or in the memo area of your check.
 
 
 

What's After Bootcamp

 

Announcing a New Message board community for new "Boot" Parents

Bootcamp GraduationMarineParents.com has a New Message Board Community set up for parents of newly graduated Marines who are continuing with Occupational Training. You are able to connect and share with other parents and loved ones, ask questions and learn about "What's after bootcamp" as your new Marine transitions into and through this phase of training and education in preparation for their Permanent Duty Station (PDS).

The message boards,
www.BootParents.com is set up with areas for SOI (ITB & MCT) and MOS parents and loved ones. The SOI areas are divided by ITB east and west coast, and MCT east and west coast. Each area of the MOS is arranged by the Occupational Field number and Occupational Title to make it easier for you to find the best area of the message boards to start connecting with others whose newly minted Marines are in training or in school with one another.

If you have a new Marine and have been posting to the RecruitParents.com message boards or the forum "For Parents of Marines" on the MarineParents.com message boards, be sure to now use this new forum to continue to give and receive support and connect with friends.


While you can read the message boards without registering, to post you will need to register even if you are registered on RecruitParents.com and/or MarineParents.com.
 
Vote for the Marine Corps Slogan!
Winning slogans will be etched on a plaque on Madison Avenue in New York City. Winners announced Sept. 26.  

Vote for the Marine Corps Slogan!U.S. MARINE CORPS BASE, CAMP H.M. SMITH, Hawaii (Aug. 31, 2007) -- The Marine Corps is known for its fighting prowess, but how does it stand up in the world of product recognition?

Yahoo Inc., in partnership with USA Today, is holding an online poll to choose the next addition to the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame.

The vote is part of Advertising Week 2007, the largest annual gathering of advertising and media decision-makers in North America.

Beside famous slogans like Nike's "Just Do It," and Taco Bell's "Think Outside the Bun," is a slogan that has characterized the Marine Corps for more than 20 years.

"The Few, The Proud, The Marines," has been nominated as one of the 26 best slogans in the 2007 competition.

The winning slogans will be etched on a plaque and set alongside other time-honored slogans on Madison Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets in New York City.
The winner will be announced on the Net Sept. 26.

Marine Corps Accomplishments  
Marines with 8th ESB have completed a six-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
 
8th ESB Marines in Anbar, IraqAL TAQADDUM, Iraq (Sept. 8, 2007) -- The Marines with 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), have completed a six-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Marines with the battalion enjoyed many accomplishments, including major construction projects for both coalition and Iraqi Security Forces. Many of those missions were larger than those normally performed by a battalion.

"Constructing combat outposts and observation posts for (5th Battalion, 7th Calvary Brigade) during Operation Fardh al Qanoon and the introduction of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit in support of Operation Faridh al Aminh helped facilitate a persistent security presence in areas previously left unchecked," said Lt. Col. Daniel P. O'Hora, the commanding officer of the battalion.
America's Marines
Silent Drill Team United Sates Marine Corps in San FranciscoYou are invited to share in this experience around the United States. 
The Marine Corps will be filming a new commercial in multiple locations across the country over the next two months.  The title of the new campaign is "America's Marines," where the objective is to reconnect America with the Marine Corps by showcasing the Corps in communities around the country, and encouraging Americans to interact with Marines on a personal level.
 
The campaign will be one part commercial filming (to debut on television in early 2008), and another part audience interaction.  We encourage Marine Parents in the area to come by the shoot locations to observe the Silent Drill Platoon and experience the making of the new Marine Corps commercial.
 

Graduation T-Shirts

 

$5 off orders of $50! Hurry, offer expires September 14, 2007.  

Graduation T-shirts for Parris Island and San DiegoGraduation T-shirts customized with your recruit's graduation date and platoon number for both Parris Island and San Diego!
 
Orders of $50 or more receive $5 off using coupon code SUBURBCRANES. Expires September 14. Enter the coupon code when checking out. Restrictions may apply.
 
All proceeds from sale of shirts support the projects of MarineParents.com, Inc. an IRS approved public charity.
Operation PAL™ Marines & Sailors
37 Marines and Corpsmen on our list requesting cards, letters and prayers 
 
Operation PAL MarineThe mission of Operation PAL™ is to provide support to injured or ill Marines and Sailors who have previously served in combat zones through prayers and letters from the general public and to encourage support of our wounded military personnel in communities throughout the United States.
 
We currently have 37 Marines and Corpsmen on our list requesting cards, letters and prayers. We have just recently added 2 more Marines who have requsted your support thru Operation PAL™:

LCpl Jose
http://operationpal.com/PublicDetails.asp?ID=62

LCpl Michael 1/1 Bravo.
http://operationpal.com/PublicDetails.asp?ID=63
 
To date, folks participating in sending support with prayers and letters through Operation PAL™, have sent a total of 12,554 cards and letters of support to our Marines. Ooh Rah!

Operation PAL 

Team Marine Parents™ -
The Bootcamp Challenge
With less than four weeks until the Boot Camp Challenge, three of our very brave  Team Marine Parents™ members are working hard on training and fund raising.
 
Team Marine ParentsSaturday October 6th, Nanette and Mario Sagastume of California and John Holden of Arizona will enjoy a taste of what our recruits endure when they stand on the yellow footprints. The Boot Camp Challenge is a 3-mile fast and furious race around MCRD San Diego and takes the participants over the obstacle course that recruits train on. The course is filled with Marine Corps Drill Instructors to help "motivate" the participants to run faster, jump higher or do more push ups.

Team Marine Parents Bootcamp ChallengeThese brave folks are subjecting themselves to the DI Gauntlet not only to promote "Support Our Troops" awareness, but also to raise money for Marine Parents' support services. All three are running to support our Care Package Project™, which sends care packages to deployed Marines every 10 weeks who might not otherwise receive support or mail from home. Click here to follow their fundraising progress.


Please feel free to leave some words of encouragement for these folks on the Message Board Community:
 
Major Mike Corrado 
Winner of FameCast.com Armed Forces Fenom! Congratulations Major Corrado!   
 
2007 Marine Parents ConferenceIn our July 17 Newsletter we introduced you to Major Mike Corrado, a Marine who served in Iraq, and singer/songwriter. Mike had entered his song and video "On My Watch Tonight" in a video competition for military personnel on FameCast.com. We asked our readers to vote for Mike.
 
On August 22, FameCast.com announced Mike Corrado as the winner in the Military category. As the first-ever FameCast Armed Forces Fenom, Mike will receive global exposure, $10,000 and a spot in the FameCast Fenom Gallery.
 
Thank YOU for taking time to vote for this outstanding Marine!  Our congratulations go out to Mike. Visit the link below for information and a link to the song and video.
 

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 in AMARIYAH-FERRIS REGION, Iraq -- Two Marines from Bridge Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), set up wire on the outside of Combat Outpost Blackhawk, April 16. The Marines build these outposts to establish a U.S. and Iraqi presence. Photo by:Cpl. Wayne Edmiston, Date:09/08/2007.  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.
 
Neither the United States Marine Corps nor any other component of the Department of Defense has approved, endorsed, or authorized this service.
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