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MarineParents.com Newsletter
a Place to Connect & Share 
In This Issue
Deployment Learning Center
Homecoming Learning Center
Bootcamp Learning Center
Marine Corps T-Shirts & Gifts
Graduation Announcements
Please Visit Our Sponsors
Hearts of Valor Benefit Ball
2008 Conference in Washington, DC
My Miracle Marine
I Heart USMC
Lunches at Bethesda
Marine Corps News in Iraq
Covert Threads Socks
12,189 Cards Sent to Marines in 2007
Wear Red Friday
$5 Coupon Expires February 14!
Support Our Marines!
 
 
Purple Heart Hero Support™ an Outreach Program of Marine Parents.com
 
 
Team Marine Parents, an Outreach Program of Marine Parents.com 
Team Marine Parents™
 
Show your support of our Marines and their families at home! Participate 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
Operations Security OPSEC

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

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
 
 
 
 
Local Support Groups in Your Area
NEWEST SUPPORT GOUPS:
 
Fredericksburg, VA
(Stafford/Spotsylvania)
 
Shelton, NE
(Buffalo)
 
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:
 
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
Thank You to This Week's Newsletter Contributors 

A special thank you to:

Linda Crooms, Director of Outreach Services
Barbara Gemmell, Manager of Operation PAL
Stephanie Nigro, Purple Heart Hero Support™
Kathy Green, Director of Conference Services
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February 13, 2008
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.

February is a month of hearts, but for Military families, the symbolic heart carries much more significance.  From Purple Hearts to Hearts of Valor, we all have experiences that conjure up a different meaning than a red or pink valentine shape. And for those of us with our Marines deployed or stationed far from home, the emotions of another holiday without them can be, well, heartbreaking.
 
In this issue of our newsletter, we'll touch your heart with a new book from Connie McClellan about her Marine son, a three-time purple heart recipient. We encourage you to attend or support the Hearts of Valor Benefit Ball this Saturday in Arlington Heights, Illinois. We're unveiling the 2008 Marine Parents Conference in Washington, DC to include a pre-conference day of Marine Corps Tour Sites. And we'll tell you about our successes at Bethesda Hospital for our Purple Heart Hero Support™ program.
 
Thanks for reading. It's good to have you as family.
God Bless and Semper Fi!
Hearts of Valor Benefit Ball
The Heart of a Marine Foundation: Saturday, February 16, 2008 in the Chicago Area 
 
The Heart of a Marine Foundation"The Hearts of Valor Ball is a fitting tribute to the men and women who have served, and are serving our country."
 
The Heart of a Marine Foundation was created in memory of LCPL Phillip E. Frank, to support service members and their families.
 
The foundations annual fund raiser, The Hearts of Valor Ball, will be Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at the Meridian Banquets - 1701 Algonquin Road in Rolling Meadows, Illinois
 
All proceeds will assist The Heart of a Marine Foundation to continue on their mission of helping our military (all branches) and their families through the foundations services.
 
Click here for more information on
The Heart of a Marine Foundation
http://heartofamarine.org/
 
Click here for more information on
 
The Heart of a Marine Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.
'08 Marine Parents Conference
Join us in Washington, DC for the 3rd Annual Conference and Benefit Dinner April 18-20! (Pre-Conference April 17-18.)
 
2008 Annual National Marine Parents ConferenceThe 3rd Annual Marine Parents conference will be held in the Washington, DC area, April 18-20, 2008 at the beautiful Doubletree Hotel, located across from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The pre-conference will be held April 17-18, 2008.
 
The Marine Corps is rich in history and our Nation's Capital is an extraordinary place to celebrate that history. The Pre-Conference All-Day Tour on Friday will take you through years of the Marine Corps, from the amazing National Museum of the Marine Corps, to the famous 8th & I Marine Corps Barracks, Iwo Jima, and an exhibition of our own Marines making history today: the Silent Drill Platoon.
 
Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, the lead investigator into the looting of Baghdad's Iraq Museum in 2003, will open a new window of historical perspective for you during the richly illustrated keynote at Saturday's Benefit Dinner. Colonel Bogdanos is a spit-and-polish Marine, a competitive boxer, a classics scholar, and an assistant DA in Manhattan. It is truly an honor to host Colonel Bogdanos as our keynote speaker this year.
 
General Session topics and speakers on Saturday will include Veterans' Ombudsman Pat Rowe Kerr delivering the morning general session on Veteran's Benefits. Immediately following will be a panel led by Colonel Bryan P. McCoy for the combat deployment session. That afternoon, Dr. Bridget Cantrell will present a discussion panel on Traumatic Stress Injury and Warrior Transitioning.
 
Learn more about the conference, make your hotel reservations, and register online at the conference web site:
My Miracle Marine
By Connie McClellan, a Marine Parent 
 
My Miracle Marine Connie McClellan Lucky John McClellanConnie McClellan is a Marine Parent whose son John McClellan, was injured in combat not once, not twice, but three times.  John was dubbed "Lucky" by a Stars in Stripes correspondent after his second gunshot wound sustained in Afghanistan.  Connie has written a book that tells the story of the journey her family has taken during this incredible time in their lives.
 
In My Miracle Marine Connie shares how her devotion and a never-ending faith in God's healing through consistent prayer brought miracle after miracle to her Marine son, John. Connie's story will lift you and inspire you and, for those of you with a son or daughter deployed or soon-to-deploy, will help you face another day of deployment. Marines maintain an "always faithful" pledge to God and country; Connie raises the motto "Semper Fidelis" to a new level. I encourage you to read and share this uplifting story!
 
You can pre-order a copy of My Miracle Marine and save $4.00, PLUS have it autographed! All pre-ordered books will be signed and shipped within a few days of the release date, expected to be March 15.
 
To order, go to http://www.mymiraclemarine.com and click on the Online Store Page.  This discount will be available until March 6, 2008.
I Heart USMC
Heart USMCNot Just for Valentines Day!
A new T-shirt design just in time to wear year-round! That's right, it doesn't have to be Valentine's Day to show  your love of the USMC.  Let our February 14 coupon for $5 off be your inspiration. See the coupon at the bottom of this newsletter. 
 
Proceeds from shirts sales benefit MarineParents.com, Inc, and IRS approved public chartity. 
 
 
Lunches at Bethesda
Purple Heart Hero Support™ serves up another day of support and success! 
 
Purple Heart Hero Support™ an Outreach Program of Marine Parents.comPurple Heart Hero Support™ hosted a successful lunch at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD on February 9, 2008.
 
Four volunteers from MarineParents.com served over 100 burritos in 45 minutes (a new record!) to Marines and their families, as well as some of the doctors and nurses who care for OIF/OEF Marines. Each lunch, nurses also come to pick up lunches for their patients who aren't mobile, making sure that every Marine who is able to eat the lunch we bring can. This lunch, more Marine patients than ever before came by to get their own food, including three Marines from the PTSD Floor upstairs.
 
To sum up the February lunch, as one volunteer said afterwards "...the families really appreciated us being there and that we (MarineParents) would do all this work and give up our day to bring them lunch."
 
January 2008 marked the one year anniversary of the Purple Heart Hero Support™ Lunch Program at the Medical Center, with over 1200 lunches served in the first year of the program. We continue to rely on donations to purchase the food and drinks for the lunches, so please consider donating today to support injured Marines recovering at the Medical Center and their families. 
 
Marine Corps News in Iraq
Ops Specialist Soars Above Expectations 
 
Marine Corps Ops Specialist Shamara Soars Above ExpectationsAL ASAD, Iraq (Feb. 11, 2008)
-- During a seven-month deployment to Al Asad with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, one junior Marine surpassed the expectations of her rank and billet making a positive impact on operations inside and outside of the wire.
 
Lance Cpl. Shamara L. Turner works as an aviation operations specialist, who coordinates training and manually records the flight hours for all air crew members of the unit.
 
The Goose Creek, S.C., native's efforts were recognized in a commendation from Brig. Gen. Timothy C. Hanifen, the commanding general of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward).
 
According to the award, Turner made a lasting impression on the HMLA-773 operations department. Whether providing situational briefs to pilots or assisting Marines in completing more than 200 Marine Corps Institute courses, she continued to seek out opportunities to improve herself.
 
Covert Threads Socks
The best socks to protect YOUR Marine's feet are back! 
Logo Covert Threads
Covert Threads has the socks that are requested frequently by our Marines. Both deployed and stateside. After a short hiatus, we are happy to welcome Covert Threads™ back on line!
 
The good folks at Covert Threads will be shipping donated cases of socks to the MarineParents.com headquarters so we can send them overseas in the next Care Packages going out March 15.
 
If you have been waiting for these socks, Covert Threads is ready to help you out. Be sure to tell them thanks for supplying these fantastic socks to The Care Package Project™!  We get more thank you notes from Marines about these socks than any other product we've every sent.
 
If you haven't tried Covert Threads before, now is the time.  They're offering a "welcome back" special--Buy 5 get 1 Free, or Buy 10 Get 3 Free! We know this will bring a smile to many Marine's faces.
 
 
"Buy 5 pair get the 6th Free -or- buy 10 get 3 free pair!!" 
Over 12,000 Cards in 2007
The Operation Prayers and Letters progam sends 12,189 cards to our Marines and Corpsmen in 2007! 
 
Operation PAL, an Outreach Program of Marine Parents.comOperationPAL sends prayers and letters to severely wounded or critically ill Marines whose families have requested support. We currently have 34 Marines and one Navy Corpsman on our list.
We sent out over twelve thousand cards and letters in 2007 (12,189 to be exact).
 
I would like to extend a huge thank you to all the individuals, church groups, schools, and clubs around the United States that gather to send sunshine to our recovering heroes and their families.
 
We can't do it without you.
 
Semper Family!
Barbara Gemmell,
Manager: OperationPAL™
 
Showing your support to our Marines is a priceless component of recovery. If you'd like to write a note of support to one or all of them, please check out the web site:
Support Our Troops: Wear Red on Friday
Wear Red on Friday
 
Join the "Wear Red Friday" campaign to show your support of our troops!  We've opened up a brand new line in our online store--you get the quality and service you've come to expect, and you can help encourage those in your community to "Support Our Troops: Wear Red on Friday!"  We've got yard signs and red t-shirts for every family member and everyone in your office! Check it out today:
 
 
 
Remember, all proceeds from sale of products in our stores go to support the organization MarineParents.com, Inc. and our outreach projects. MarineParents.com is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) Public Charity.

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 CAMP RIPPER, Iraq - Lance Cpl. Shamara L. Turner, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 aviation operations specialist, prepares to fire the AK-47 in training for Task Force Lioness. Turner served 45 days with the task force in Haqlaniyah, Iraq in support of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment.  Courtesy of: Lance Cpl. Shamara L. Turner, 10/30/2007. 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 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 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.
$5 Off Coupon
Receive $5 off any order of $50 or more. Enter coupon code CLOUTDANCE at checkout. Restrictions apply. Limited time only. Visit the web site for more details.
 
HURRY! Offer expires February 14!
 
NOTE: All proceeds are used in support of MarineParents.com, Inc., and IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity.
New "Heart USMC" Design! Check these out!