Important

I’ve just read an article in our newspaper titled “Suicide Hot Line Got Calls From 22,000 Veterans.” It is an AP writer by the name of Katharine Euphrat who wrote it. The figures are startling and come from the VA and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline evidently.

I just want to take this time to echo a thought and a message I left on Aaron’s message board on May 29, 2006 copied below.

I have to go to Heart’s Desire right now, but this afternoon I’m going to try and get in touch with the VA or the suicide hotline to see if there’s any way I can help from where I sometimes feel stranded. I would be honored to volunteer in this capacity.

If someone knows a connection off-hand that I could speak to, I’d appreciate the info. I called the VA and the nearest regional office near me is in Albuquerque, 5 hours away. But I will check further.

Meanwhile: VETERANS: I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANY PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD. YOUR SACRIFICE IS FOREVER. THAT IS THE TRUE AND UNSELFISH SACRIFICE.

AND WE STILL NEED YOU. MORE THAN EVER—WE NEED YOU. HANG ON. YOU ARE WORTH SO MUCH—MAYBE YOU ARE THE LIFELINE FOR ONE OTHER, ONE OTHER GENERATION, ONE OTHER SOUL IN TORMENT, ONE OTHER BROTHER!!

Much love,
Aaron’s Mom

--the old message follows—it is still true today!


May 29, 2006

Thank you for your sacrifice, son. Everyone in our country, as well as other countries, owes you and those like you such an enormous amount of gratitude. Some don't realize it at all, and others of us can only speculate, but spending five days in our nation's capital, admiring the portraits and statues of those before you who stood for freedom as well-- and not once was the cost small. Korea-54,000 names (imagine the number of families this sorrow reached out and devastated in the clutches of sorrow). Vietnam-50,000. The white crosses of soldiers and infants killed in the Civil War. Presidents, Lincoln and Kennedy, slain in their prime. Other bodies, unknown, unidentified. Blood, tears, blood, tears, over and over.

The haunting portraits of the Holocaust. The young Jewish boys in the museum with their heads covered by the fabric of their faith. America, at first hesitant to get involved, did involve themselves in Hitler's country and affairs. Thank God we went to save the few, fight for their inch of freedom and discover the atrocities of somebody else’s business. Nosed into a terrorist business and put those on trial for their horrible crimes against the persecuted.

So many cultures filled D.C. to visit the memorials of all that has been given to stroll in the land of the free. Koreans, Pakistani, Panamanians, nearly every race in our free world walked those avenues, snapped digital photos of the cost, and enjoyed the benefit of it all, hopefully a tiny bit more at those solemn moments, perhaps stood still a moment and reflected on something about this country that they were thankful for. That they, with me, were not able to find a precious moment in our history to stop and say, There, there. This is where we should have stopped fighting for our freedom as well as the freedom of those we do not even know. Here is the point where we should have stopped caring for humanity and shouted at Washington, no more...we've had enough. No, there was no point in the tours that I thought to myself: I don't care what all you did before, for us, I just care about me. Damn the future generations.

No, I thought none of these things. In awe, I was thankful and I wanted every tourist there, every free South Korean, every free Panamanian and Pakistani, and especially every American there in D.C. and Virginia to know that, My son has joined those who stood for something.

Thank you, Aaron. From the bottom of my heart, on this third Memorial Day without your laughter to fill our homes, I find it in the wind chimes and birds, and I find it on the streets before my home as young men race in their cars down the street, play their music loud and free, and I look at those kids and I think, you don't know how fortunate you are that so many people cared enough about you to die for you. And then I think that in a way, that too, is a great thing. That so many of us have always lived in freedom.

I will never quit missing you. And I will always be proud of you. Semper Fi, Marine,"Mom" (De'on Miller, Mother of Aaron C. Austin KIA, April, 2004)

Others called Home

My dearest in the world readers,

Last night we learned that Flag Gazer as well as others have recently lost warriors in the battle we fight for our lives to be free from terror. It is a forever battle, I fear, but with brave men and women to answer the call, others of us can relax, blog, read, write, discuss or argue politics. They give us so much that we may never even take the time to think about. Please click here to visit the tribute Flag Gazer has up for someone she held very close to her heart. You will be able to look and read about another brave and spiritual warrior that God has called home to be near our own and others like them. This family will desperately need our prayers (as you all know) and it's important to put faces with the names if at all possible. GOD BLESS AMERICA. KEEP HER STRONG AND KEEP HER GOLD STAR FAMILIES!

If I Die Before You Wake

CLICK HERE AND TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS (and your hearing aids) FOR AN AWESOME VIDEO AND RECORDING BY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER.

Call your radio stations and get in touch with American Idol. This soldier should have a contract!

Fallujah Pride

Iraq Journal: The Final Mission: Part One

Click here for this article on FOXNews.com





Michael J. Totten

Iraq Journal: A skeleton crew of a mere 250 Marines is all that remains as the United States wraps up its final mission in what was once Iraq's most violent city.

Semper Fi Mom's happy!

Semper Fi Mom tells me that Steven, Marine son # 1, is back on U.S. soil. Marine son #2 is stationed in North Carolina as well and so was able to meet his brother upon arrival. The Semper Fi Family in Lubbock now awaits #1 Son’s arrival for sweet, sweet leave. It’s my hope that I’ll get to meet Steven, even if briefly, during his short time home.


SFM said that he was “happy to be back and wanting Mexican food and that it was weird to see Marines in green cammies, evergreen trees, and working intersections.”

Thank you, SFM and much thanks to Steven for his service in Iraq, and to Father God for bringing him home! I know the party in Lubbock will be a big one! BELOW IS AN ARTICLE CONCERNING THE COMMAND'S RETURN.

After you read what Marine son #1 has been up to, then check out the article on the Ospreys. Marine son #2 spends his time with these creatures!

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RCT-2 command element returns to Lejeune

Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Jan 23, 2008 12:32:03 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The command element of Regimental Combat Team 2 is expected to arrive here today after a 13-month deployment in Iraq.

Throughout its third combat deployment, RCT-2 conducted counterinsurgency operations in western Anbar province. The roughly 350-man regimental headquarters initially directed operations in an area of more than 30,000 square miles; it later burgeoned to 50,000 square miles, including a 210-mile border with Syria, according to a II Marine Expeditionary Force press release.

Nearly 15,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers and 11 infantry battalions rotated through western Anbar under RCT-2.

The remainder of the regiment is expected to return later this month.

Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based RCT-5 took over from RCT-2 during a transfer of authority ceremony Tuesday.

During the ceremony, Col. Patrick Malay, commanding officer of RCT-5, assumed control from Col. Stacy Clardy, commanding officer of RCT-2. Malay is returning to Anbar after commanding 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, during the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.

RCT-5 will continue the training and mentoring of the Iraqi Security Forces and provide assistance to local governments and citizens. The regiment will also oversee the military, police and border transition teams in western Anbar, officials said.

Click here to read “Higher, Farther, Faster: Ospreys in Iraq" featured in Military.com

Semper Fi!
De’on

America's Marines

Check it out! This just in from one of my favorite Marines, SgtMaj. Ploskonka.

All,
This is the newest Marine Corps Commercial. It is pretty awesome. I just got done orking with a bunch of these Marines. You can look up on this blog page and see all the towns they went and what the people had to say there. This is why Marines are and have always been the best. Yeah we have our bad apples too but, damn we are good!

The link will take you to the latest and greatest Corps' Commercial. It is now airing in our sidebar (isn't it great?) and you can learn more about it by clicking here.

Thanks so much SgtMaj. Ploskonka and thank you USMC!

Rick Loomis and 2/1 Echo Co.

Jerrod, Aaron’s best friend, turned me on to a very important link today and I wanted to share it with any of Aaron’s brothers that may be reading. Rick Loomis shares his amazing photography and narrates the slide show from the beginning of the war through the loss of Major Zembiec. There are photos of our finest that have put their lives in danger at one time or another for all of us.

While it is of course sad, it is brilliantly done. Loomis’s talent and compassion for others are clearly evident and he shares a few photos I’d never seen before and a few are of me in Lovington as well as Doug in Sunray and Aaron’s grave in Amarillo.

I wish peace in the hearts of all my guys from 2/1 Echo company! I love you all. I’m celebrating Christmas and being with family. I hope you are doing the same. If you are not, then thank you and I love you all the more.

I pray there is much that remains for you all today, tonight, tomorrow and always.

Merry Christmas. You’re never far from me.

Semper Fi,
Deon

Click here and then click on VIEW MULTIMEDIA.

Numbers, names, $$'s and sense

We’ll Never Forget??

Once a year I have a “grave blanket” placed upon Aaron’s grave in Amarillo. Since I’m five hours away, I’m forced to deal with a florist. Florists, to me, are much like funeral directors and life insurance salesmen. “Trading” with them reminds me of an old military acronym: BOHICA (Bend Over Here It Comes Again).

I have the blanket placed upon my son’s grave on December 11th for several reasons. Aaron, my blanket-baby, was supposed to be married December 11, 2004 and instead gave his life on April 26, 2004. Too, December is freezing in Amarillo and usually it’s best to visit in the warmer months. Christmas was Aaron’s favorite time of year, and finally, Doug, my son’s dad, takes care of the flowers for the remainder of the year since he’s out at Memorial Park once a week to “visit Aaron’s marker” as he says.

I begin the process two weeks ahead of time. It’s a weird thing to be on the phone and perkily ordering flowers for your son’s grave at Christmas in the first place.

Once we finally get everything straight over the phone (though last year we never did), after I explain the size, explain that I want it natural, consisting mostly of pine needles, a few pine cones, and please go easy on the red bows, and yes, I want the large one, it should cover the grave, after I go through giving his name, his location (to a degree—I never go and look up numbers), I make sure they understand Lance Corporal, Iraq, and that even though our last names are different, I am indeed this child’s mom. At last the transaction is complete and within minutes my Visa is charged somewhere in the neighborhood of $150. This year it was $173, 4 or 5 something and a few odd cents. As I said, I don’t look up numbers, but just get the general gist or sense of things—even money.

Yesterday I called the florist and asked if once they placed the blanket if they might take a photo and e-mail it to me. Her brisk and condescending reply went something like this. “No. We don’t have that capability.” While row after row of costly wreath is going through my head—I do remember searching the florists’ website, but yet they don’t have this capability?? Perhaps they’re like Mom and haven’t moved into this decade’s technology, I’m thinking to myself, but no, that’s not it.

“Believe me, you are not the first person to ask this. We do not have time to take pictures of all that we deliver. Our deliverymen are on a crazy schedule,” Kitty says.

I feel a little bruised but then hope rises. I get a call from Texas. His name is Juan and he’s the supervisor for the grounds at Memorial Park in Amarillo. “Yes, Ma’am, the delivery boy is standing here. He says he has a wreath for Aaron Miller.”

Once again, I repeat his rank and name.

“Oh, yes, Ma’am, I know exactly where Lance Corporal Austin’s grave is.” I’ll get it handled.

He also said he’d send me a photo, but I don’t have it yet. I’m hoping it was my Texas accent mutilating my own e-mail address over the phone that has prevented its arrival, but nonetheless, I don’t feel quite up to finding out different.

Be kind this Christmas. So many of us still need to believe.

Wreaths Across America

Maine Wreath Convoy Arlington Bound

Portland Press Herald December 11, 2007

The 40-vehicle convoy was more than an hour behind schedule as it rolled down Route 1 south of Wiscasset late on the afternoon of Dec. 9.

The veterans, truck drivers and other "Wreaths Across America" volunteers had already visited two dedication ceremonies and watched countless well-wishers, old and young, wave from the side of the road.

Read full article here.

Virgie Bell's View: To still remember

Mom sent this post to me yesterday, so I apologize for its lateness, but still wanted to get it up. Thanks, Mom! –dm

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I wasn't there that day. In fact I was only about 5 years old on Dec. 07, 1941. The day that lives in infamy and a day we remember the horrible and tragic attack on Pearl Harbor and those veterans whose numbers are so few. So many died as bombs and bullets rained down on them. I think it was on a Sunday.... I know it was in the morning and it was without a doubt one of the worst attacks against my country and the entire free world.

There were 2300 casualties that day. Young innocent people. Many of the casualties were civilians. Bombs and bullets do not recognize military from non-military. They do not differentiate young from old nor male from female. I suppose one might call such an attack as truly non partisan. Certainly it is indiscriminate. To my knowledge, none of the victims were guilty of any sort of crime. Oh, we had our folks in Washington screaming that we did not want to enter a war that was not our own, it was someone else's problem, let them fight it out.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President and the Congress was controlled by the Republican Party. Polio had made our president become a victim the wheelchair. Congress tied his hands and my parents became members of the Democratic Party. We were still trying to come out of the Depression. We had bread lines all over our country and Hoover had been the third Republican president. My parents were always patriotic. This country and our freedom was number one for them. Our life too precious to let the GOP and its inactions polarize us.

My daddy came from a family that was blessed with plenty and my mother came from a family that was dirt poor. Two completely different backgrounds, but that old magic between boy and girl got them together and they loved each other the rest of their lives. The marriage did not last, but the love they found together never stopped. I remember the days then when my parents were young. The war was very much a part of my existence. We children were just little stair steps, one brother 18 months older than me, one 18 months younger. I was a boy’s idea of the perfect girl. I could climb trees and scuffle and I was no sissy. No one could accuse me of that. You can walk pretty tall and be mighty brave if there are three of you. We had our role models. Women took care of the factories. Rosie the Riveter was born into this generation. Our men were in the air, on the sea and on the land everywhere. WACs, Waves, nurses, and female welders followed.


Everyone was jamb-packed in those days. Los Angeles was one of the great shipping points for my country. We took anything we could get. We had three rooms and a bath. We had more room than some and less than others. No one thought anything about it. Our world was gripped in a war on terror. Our people had one aim. That was to survive or die. That was it. Patriotic? You bet. We stood shoulder to shoulder on that part and nothing could get in the way. So really in a way I was there on that day. The day of infamy. I don't remember anything before that time, but I was there then just as I am here today. The loss of life during that time was untold millions. The cost nearly crippled us. A Depression pretty much uses up every spare thing.

We come from the stock of families that dumped the piano beside the trail in order to take hammers and nails, and yes, guns. They fought terror then and we have never quit. We will always have this war. We have always had our officials in Washington D C in some kind of grid lock. Some are more one thing another thing. That will never change, but in looking back, it’s my opinion that the really wealthy are the best leaders. Those like FDR, from American royalty. He was my man. I cannot remember my life before him. I remember the day we lost him. It was a crushing blow to me and I was not yet ten years old. He never had to worry about an unpaid bill. He was able to buy the very finest of whatever, but for some reason he decided to help the poor people out of the Depression. He knew how because he knew how to handle an entire nation. We came so close to losing my country. We stood behind our military and we did whatever it took to do so.

In the end, we finally were capable of saving the lives of our military after the blood of our brave soldiers, our navy. Our air force was spread all over the planet. We did this after we developed the atomic bomb and only after we were able to bomb two cities in the country of those who attacked us and after we removed many citizens of the Japanese community. No, war calls for extreme measures and once we were attacked we fought back and our warriors were the farmers, the factory workers. We turned the plows into swords and gave life and limb. A complete generation was lost, leaving behind mothers and fathers, husbands, wives and children. We did not want war, we did not seek war, but when war came to us, we pulled together and we fought the fight of our lives so that freedom could reign. Can we do less for those who fight for our freedom against the terrorists of today’s world where even now the enemy walks among us, lives next door, in the shadows.

Today I remember Pearl Harbor. I remember 9/11. In my heart I know there is one that will stand and fight. He is a proven leader and he has seen firsthand the same thing in New York. To me there is no greater calling than for my leader to be willing to protect my freedom. I will leave it to others to judge his personal life. I just know he was there when our nation needed him.

I am for the G Man, for Rudy, for America's mayor. He does SUPPORT THE TROOPS!

Remembering Pearl Harbor Day

Thank you.

More

Flag Gazer sent us these links as she promised in her comment on the powerful piece Hope Rides Alone written by SGT Eddy Jeffers. Thank you so much, FG. I’m so sorry for this nation’s loss and so very sorry for your own personal loss out of this. I know you’ve sacrificed a great deal and still manage to support so many troops.

Click below for this great share.

1. Freedom Feels Good

2. The Real Deal in Ramadi

3. Eddie's Dad pays tribute

From our Best....

Karen sent the following to me today. I don’t know if some of you have already read this before, but I had not. It is well worth the read. It is beautiful.

If only…. –dm

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The Post Chronicle™

Original News

A Soldier's Last Words: Listen Up CBS, CNN, Cindy Sheehan, Al Franken
By Louisa Centanni
Oct 19, 2007

SGT. Edmund John Jeffer's last few words were some of the most touching, inspiring and most truthful words spoken since the tragedy of 9/11 - and since our nation went to war. SGT. Jeffers was a strong soldier and talented writer. He died in Iraq on September 19, 2007. He was a loving husband, brother and son. His service was more than this country could ever grasp - but the least you can do for the man who sacrificed his life for you ... is listen to what he had to say.
Listen up and pay attention to all of the Cindy Sheehans and Al Frankens of the world. To MSNBC, CNN, and CBS. To all who call themselves Americans ... Hope Rides Alone.

Hope Rides Alone
By Eddie Jeffers


I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others. I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy...my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there.


There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival. I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not.
And to think, I volunteered for this...


And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought.


But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.


I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.


People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward's war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it.


But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.


Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.


Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the Internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job.


It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.


America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It's not like World War Two, where people rationed food, and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a service member, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you. But it affects us. And when it is over, and the troops come home, and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.


We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped, and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause, and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.


Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't.
Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news, and let's stand and fight!

Eddie's father, David Jeffers, writes:
I'm not sure how many letters or articles you've ever read from the genre of "News from the Front," but this is one of the best I've ever read, including all of America's wars. As I was reading this, I forgot that it was my son who had written it. My emotions range from great pride to great sorrow, knowing that my little boy (22 years old) has become this man. He is my hero. Thank all of you for your prayers for him; he needs them now more than ever. God bless.


Though Eddie is no longer with us, you can help to let his voice be heard.

WE ARE AT WAR

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Stockings have been shipped!

Click here to view the photos of Lubbock Marine Parents and their packing party. Because of the generosity of those who gave, 225 boxes have been shipped out to our military that is currently deployed. Wow. Thank you, LMP!

Faces of Freedom at Flag Gazer's

Flag Gazer has posted a great read about a Gold Star Family. This is really inspiring and can be read by clicking here. I've heard of other stories similar to this one in which physicians with skills needed by our military giving up private practices to lend their talents to and for our troops. Thank you Krissoff family for your many sacrifices and thank you Flag Gazer for the constant coverage of good deeds and efforts for not only our freedom but for that of the nations we help to protect.

OPERATION SANTA

Post in place until Dec. 3rd. Scroll down for current posts.

This is a way that we can get Christmas cards (and kids drawings!) to our wounded troops in hospitals over the holidays. Feel free to post or pass along. Thank you!

Operation Santa
for the Hospitals & Our Wounded Troops

Operation Santa for the Hospitals is putting together Christmas stockings with gift cards and treats and cards to deliver to the OEF/OIF veterans at Bethesda, Walter Reed, Balboa Naval Hospital and Brooke Army Medical Center.

And, they need our help!!!! There are two ways to help -

Money - They can use our donations to purchase stocking stuffers and pay for postage. To donate, you can use a Pay Pal link for Marine Corps Family Foundation - a 501(c)(3) - so your donations are tax deductible - be sure and designate "For the Hospitals" in the notes box or, you can tuck a check into the envelope of Christmas cards!

Christmas Cards - They wish to put lots of Christmas Cards in the stockings! So, if you can sit down and write a joyful Christmas card (or a box or two!) and send them to:

Operation Santa - c/o Marine Moms-Bethesda - P O Box 22 - Cordova MD 21625

Please note: The cards must be glitter and coating free - these come off and can cause secondary infections in the wounds. Don't seal the envelopes - they are screened. Please consider tucking a check in (Marine Corps Family Foundation - Hospitals) to help with the project! They should be postmarked by December 3.

Contact Carrie at wrcostan@comcast.net for any one interested in supporting the efforts or for more information about the stockings.


Please help Carrie and Jane make our wounded troops Christmas a little brighter!

Stuffing Stockings

I’ve taken the liberty of lifting this post from Semper Fi Mom at Lubbock Marine Parents because I think it’s extremely important. Here’s a chance for us to put our money where our mouths are, or more to the point, here’s a great way to support our troops this Christmas.

I’ve met Semper Fi Mom in person. The mother of five, two of which are Marines with the elder in Iraq, she is one of the most amazing women I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, so I know there will be many ways to support the troops and I will be passing on those ways to you, but I particularly want to encourage you in this one.

If you live in or near Lubbock, lucky you, and here’s a list as well as drop off locations. If you want to donate $ instead, $35 will fill a stocking for some soldier away from home this Christmas. At the bottom is their address and they also have PayPal on their site as well. Click here to visit Lubbock Marine Parents.

Much thanks to all who help!

***

Please help make Christmas a little brighter for our troops who are far from home. We are requesting that all items be donated ASAP so that we can start sorting and getting them ready to mail.

Drop off locations for care pack items:

All locations of Bodyworks

Elks Lodge (34th and Milwaukee)

Leathers N Lace Motorcycle Apparel 3806 50th St Ste 210 (across from Memphis Place Mall)

All recruiter's offices (not just the Marine recruiters)

Crestview Elementary School 6020 - 81st Street

Requested Items:

Food items:

Beef jerky

Canned chips (Pringles/Torengos)

Canned ready-to-eat meals (Ravioli, chili, soup, Easy Mac, Dinty Moore, Ramon cup)

Dried fruit

Granola/Breakfast/Protein bars

Gum

Gummy candy, Hard Candy

Individual size canned fruit

Jelly beans

Microwave popcorn

Nuts, Sunflower seeds, Trail mix

PoptartsTuna lunch kits

**Pork or pork by-products are NOT allowed to be shipped to Middle East combat locations.

Drink Items:

Coffee, coffee mixes

Gatorade mix (powdered only)

Hot cocoa mix

Lemonade/Koolade/Tang mix

Presweetened beverage mixes (“On the Go” flavor packets that can be added to 16-20 oz. water bottle)

Sweetener/creamer packets for coffee

Tea

Recreational Items

Batteries (AA – most requested)

Board games/puzzles

DVDs (new or used; original only)

Hand held games

Magazines (current issues)

Music CDs (new or used; original only)

Nerf footballs/Frisbee/Hackey sack

Puzzle books

Stationary/small writing pads

Personal Care Items:

Advil/Tylenol (individual packs)

Baby wipes/Handi-wipes

Chap stick

Disposable instant hand warmersL

Liquid hand sanitizers (pocket/travel size)

Medicated foot powder/swabs

Toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash (travel size)

Q-tips (individual packs)

Sunblock

Tissue (individual packs)

~ MOST VALUABLE ITEM ~

♥ Letters and cards of encouragement and support ♥

Thank you for your willingness to help support the troops who are away from home during Christmas time. Your love and support are greatly appreciated.

A monetary donation of $35 will fill and send a stocking!

There are 3 ways to make a monetary donation:- Checks can be made out to Lubbock Marine Parents and mailed to:

Lubbock Marine Parents

PO Box 64192

Lubbock, TX 79464-4192

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Click here to visit Lubbock Marine Parents

Articles worth reading, re-reading, re-printing....

Our New National Divide

Owen West
September 13, 2007

Last month I was running the Central Park loop when a runner wearing a U.S. Marine Corps shirt approached. I alerted the two boys in the jog stroller and my eldest, who met this world with a father in Iraq, shouted, "Semper fi!"

The man saw the emblem on my visor and said, "You hear about Doug Zembiec?" If most Americans have six degrees of separation, Marines have no more than two. I nodded and stopped my watch. But all he managed to say was, "That one hurt." Then he plunged down the hill toward 72nd Street, cutting his own path against the flow.

I tried to make sense of it. Not the encounter but the sheer madness of the surroundings. Runners were chattering about school applications and subprime predictions. Yet most of them told pollsters that Iraq was the single largest anxiety in their lives. Like the majority of the nation, they were exhausted by a war in which they had no role. And they wanted out. MORE.

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November 12, 2007, 0:00 a.m.

Slandering the American Soldier
An American media tradition.

By Mackubin Thomas Owens

As anyone who has not been vacationing on the moon knows, The New Republic embarrassed itself this summer by publishing and defending a series of stories by one Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an active-duty soldier serving in Iraq. As we know, Beauchamp told of his comrades in Iraq mocking a woman horribly scarred by an IED, wrote of another wearing part of a human skull, and depicted yet another using a Bradley fighting vehicle to run over stray dogs. All of the stories have been discredited.

There’s not much I can add to the substance of the story. But what bothers me most about the whole dishonorable episode is what it says about the attitude of the media toward the American soldier. There is, as I have argued before, a troubling predisposition on the part of the press to believe the worst about those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is plenty of talk about supporting the troops, but it is a sham. MORE...


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I think you'll like these or maybe you've already read them. They are good.

Talk to you later!


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For whom the Bell Tolls
John Donne


From "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions" (1623), XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris - "Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die."

PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all.
When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member.
And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another.
As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which both piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled), which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest.
If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is.
The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that this occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.
Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world? No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours.
Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it.
No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.
If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels.
Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.
Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

What's not to love about our Marines?

I thought this was really good. DM

Tom Philpott November 15, 2007
Stepping Up: Marine Recruits on Why They Join In Wartime

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- “Some people, toward the end of their lives, may ask themselves if they made a difference. I’m not going to have to say no,” says Pvt. Rocky Consiglieri of Harrison, N.Y.

The 19-old-year recruit, who calls the president “the Honorable Mr. Bush,” is explaining why he joined the Marine Corps when multiple tours in Iraq are routine and polls show most Americans believe the war is a mistake.

“This isn’t for everybody,” Consiglieri concedes, speaking so fast and low he’s almost talking to himself. “Some people want to watch and see what happens. Some other people want to get in and make a change.”

Click here for full story at Military.com