(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!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

We've added a left column for Unit Chat Night Schedule. Many of the units that are deployed overseas have a weekly chat scheduled. For additional information, see the left column or visit our "Units Deployed" page of the web site.

 

Dr. Bridget Cantrell will hold a "Warrior Transitioning" chat night discussion on Wednesday, June 25. Click here for times.

 

We want to hear about what you are doing to support our troops and any of the MarineParents.com Outreach Projects. Are you planning a 9/11 Freedom Walk in your community? Are you holding a care package drive? Let us know; we'd love to write an article in the newsletter about your good works for our Marines!

Thanks to our readers, we're at 25% of our goal in just two short weeks! 

 

Each summer, we find ourselves short on funds to send the care packages overseas to our Marines in August. Our total cost for shipping will be $9800. We need your help today! 
 

We're asking every web site visitor to send a $1 bill to MarineParents.com to help us raise the funds needed to ship 1000 care packages to our Marines. Put a dollar bill in an envelope and mail it to the post office box below. Our goal is to raise $9800 by the packing date of Saturday, August 23, 2007. 

We received an after-hours phone call from a Marine in Iraq. He left a message on our answering machine so we were able to save it to share with you. Click the image to the right, then listen to message number three.  Colin received a care package from our June 7 packing date with a solar flashlight, a pair of Covert Thread socks, and plenty of snacks to share with his Marines. Thanks for taking time to call us Colin! Our prayers are with you and your Marine brothers.

Our first regional conference will be held in Kansas City, MO on Saturday, August 9, 2008. 

 

Dr. Bridget Cantrell, an expert on PTSD and warrior transitioning, will be presenting a two-part breakout sessions during the conference on Saturday. Additional sessions will include a two-part combat deployment discussion panel with experts on deployment: Our Marines.

 

Please register early. The $100 fee includes the conference plus the evening dinner and program. You can register for all or part of the events.  

 

The conference will be held at the Hilton Kansas City Airport with rooms available at $89/night for conference attendees. Free shuttle service is provided back and forth to the Kansas City airport.

 

For additional information and to register online, please visit the web site.

 

There is a prevailing question that comes up wherever I go. Why are many of the adjustments so difficult for both family members and service members when the deployment is over and they have arrived home?
 
Both parties, Marines and family members, must be open and honest with how these aspects of adjustment impact their lives. Likewise, compounding the issue of experiencing a life-altering event such as war certainly adds to the challenge.

 
When our loved ones are deployed to various locations around the globe many changes take place. Change is a critical aspect of the process. It allows one to examine their lives and determine where growth and decline have occurred. It gives us opportunities to put things into perspective in order to reconnect and move forward.

 

Have questions? Ask Dr. Cantrell in person during the online chat night with Dr. Cantrell. Next chat? Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 8:00 Central Time. For more information on chat night, click here.

TIFNIT, Morocco - More than 55 Marines and sailors from Military Police Company, Headquarters Battalion, 4th Marine Division participated in peace keeping operations training with members of the 7th Battalion, Brigade Infantry Mobile of the Royal Moroccan Army here as part of exercise African Lion 2008 from June 9-29.

Focusing on a large variety of military police tactics, techniques and procedures the Marines worked to continue forging and strengthen partnerships with the Moroccan military through shared training that will aid both forces in cooperative efforts to respond to crises and promote stability.

Every Monday and Wednesday Night  

 

The Marine Parents Chat Room holds two chat nights a week specifically for Recruit Parents. The chat room is an online interface that allows you to "talk" with other parents in real time by typing text into an interface.

 

Every Monday and Wednesday night, Recruit Parents have two Recruit Chat Rooms to chose from. The "New Recruits and Poolies" room is designed for newer chat members and those with poolies(awaiting shipment to recruit training/boot camp) or recruits who are currently in the first phase of recruit training. The "Recruit Room" is designed for more veteran chatters and those with recruits in Phases 2 and 3.

Be ready for your Fourth of July celebration and share your pride in the Marine Corps! This unique "Celebrate" design includes text: "Land of the Free...Because of the Brave...The Few...The Proud."

 

MONEY SAVING COUPON: for orders over $50, save $5 by entering coupon code MOUNDMACRO at checkout! Hurry, expires June 28!

 

All proceedds from sales of shirts in our Cafe Press stores go back to MarineParents.com, Inc. to support our projects and outreach services.  MarineParents.com is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity.

 

MotoMail is endorsed by the USMC! Communicate with your Marine via electronically delivered letters in as little as 24 hours! This is a free service; it's tried and true and really helps to communicate quickly with your Marine stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

Setup an account at MotoMail.us. Enter your Marines information and mailing address from the drop-down list. Type your letter using your computer keyboard. No software required! Click send, and your letter is already in Iraq and ready to print and be sent on the next postal truck to your Marine's camp.

 

The letter is printed in a sealed format, much like you receive a PIN number through US Mail for your credit or debit card. No one else reads the content of the letter; it's between you and your Marine! 
 

 

I don't know about you, but, "I don't do Rollercoaster's"!   Fortunately, life has a way to "Force Us" into facing our fears (or putting them off emotionally).  No matter where you are in respect to time in the Marine Corps (starting out or over 10 years) it is still important to know, at least part of, what will happen once you begin the Deployment Rollercoaster. 
 
There are three phases:
 

 

 

Pre-Deployment is the beginning. If it is your first time, you don’t know what kind of ride it will be. You have heard, but between hearing and experience is a huge gap. If it is your second time or even more, you have an idea of what’s going to happen but you have prepared better because of your past experiences.

Tonya, a life-long resident of Medford, Oregon and the sister of a Marine currently serving with an Infantry Unit in Afghanistan, has started "The Medford Oregon Troop Support Project" in an effort to raise awareness for troop support as well as to get much-needed items shipped overseas to Marines serving in Iraq, Aghanistan, and Africa in support of the Global War on Terror.

 

Tonya will hold a drive to collect items to send to the troops on July 26, 2008. The drive and fundraisers are being held in conjunction with the MarineParents.com, Inc. Care Package Project™ which ships over 1100 care packages six times a year to Marines stationed in combat zones.

 

Shipping costs for each care package date run over $10,000. Tonya has garnered the support of several radio stations for publicizing the event, collecting donations for shipping funds and sponsoring care packages prior to actual care package drive.