Summer time, And the livin’ is easy…

…except when your son is recovering from injuries acquired while training Iraqis in house-clearing and half of the house fell on him. Or your son returns home on leave safely after being over there and is involved in a very serious car accident at home. Or you’re the girlfriend who flew in from far away the night before to spend the weekend with your sweetheart of a sailor who is a patient in the hospital. Or your husband’s not eating well because of mouth injuries, but the beef barbecue the Marine Moms brought in for the luncheon tasted so good, you came back for seconds for him. We are grateful we can support them.

The food was wonderful and we fed more than twice as many as we had planned for. I still haven’t figured out how that always seems to happen but it does. Maybe the two large crockpots, one with beef barbecue from Robin and the other one with meatballs in tomato sauce and the 36 sub rolls cut in half from Janelle, as well as the gorgeous fruit platter from Deb were the reason. The cookies from Gladys’ friend were the icing on the cookie platter, and the generous donation of Entenmanns’s from Dave were sure to cure those sugar cravings after we had packed up and left. There was plenty of food for the patients, families, and staff. Musical gift bags again from Karen containing pantry items bought with the help from WA State Operation Thank You. The Ladies Bags with the Arbonne lotions from Ann and Friends, and special books from Karen for the Moms and Wives were also a pleasant surprise. As always, the t-shirts from Embroidery Friends were a hit.

The day of the luncheon, a Navy Mom thanked us for what we were doing. She said it was so nice to see the good things happening for the vets returning home. She and her husband are both Navy Vets from the late 60’s, early to mid-70’s and she remembers what they went through back then and is so thankful knowing, and seeing first hand, that her son isn’t going through the same thing.

And he isn’t going through it because of organizations like MarineMoms-Bethesda, Washington State Operation Thank You, Veterans of Valor, the Hugs Project, Rocky Mountain Military Moms, Packages from Home, the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, the Yellow Ribbon Fund, Soldiers Angels, the Marine Corps Family Foundation, the Gold Star, Silver Star, and Blue Star Mothers, MarineParents.com, the Patriot Guard Riders, Move America Forward, Gathering of the Eagles, Rolling Thunder, the V.F.W.s, American Legions, Marine Corps Leagues, Elks clubs, bikers’ clubs, businesses, military parents, spouses, and troop supporters, and then there are the older vets from past wars who are taking the newer vets under their wings. These are just a FEW off the top of my head who are supporting the troops in one way or another. The list could go on and on of supporters of our military who walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Every week I hear of a new group I had not heard of before. Every single one of them is impressive – someone saw a need and is filling it for our vets. Our military deserve it. The mainstream media hasn’t quite figured that out yet.

Gladys and Bob joined us for the first time and are planning on going back with us again. The Sergeant surprised us with a visit to meet us on his day off. It was nice putting a face to a voice.

The luncheon turned out great.

A HUGE “Thank You” to all who made the day possible.

Upcoming with MarineMoms-Bethesda –

The MM-B online store will be opening soon. Here’s a sneak preview:

http://marinemoms-bethesda.org/store/index.htm

Not all of the links on the store homepage work yet but they will as pages go online. All profits will go to the luncheons with a portion of the sales being set aside for future projects to benefit our returning combat vets. The Seahorse Protective Cases will be our first product going on sale.

We also have a local fall plant sale coming up in early October to raise funds for the luncheons. We’ll have pumpkins, mums, pansies, ornamental cabbages, straw bales, and cornstalk bundles. I think it will be fun. We planted the pansies for it last week

Thank you for your help, Vickie and Friends!

A few days ago I was interviewed on radio station WFLI 1070 AM of Lookout Mountain, TN about MarineMoms-Bethesda. Yes… I had to pop a few Spicy Gum Drops (my “chill pills”) before the interview. The show is called Town Hall Tennessee. If you live in the area, call into their show when they are on the air Monday thru Thursday, 3:30 to 5:30 PM, say hi and tell them Janie sent you. I'll be on as a call-in guest from time to time and would appreciate you calling in when you hear me. (423) 821-3555 or you can email them at WFLIradio@gmail.com. The show isn’t online yet, but will be eventually. MM-B will also be occasionally sponsoring and co-sponsoring questions in their trivia contest. If you have suggestions for Marine trivia, send them to me so I can forward them on. Let’s stump ‘em!

If there is one thing I came away with from Saturday’s luncheon it is that the more support our troops know they have and the more those who support them speak out, the better. It DOES make a difference to those who need to hear it the most –

Those who put their life on the line for OUR freedoms. I can’t remember if it was a mom at Bethesda or if I read it on one of my support groups, but she said that her son was going to leave the military when his contract was up. When he returned stateside, he experienced some special troop support. He didn’t know until then that there was so much support for the military going on “out there”. He decided to reenlist. Realizing that people DO care made all the sacrifice worth it to this vet.

There are links below for surfing around.

As always, continued prayers for our military and their families.

Love and Hugs,

Heading home.

Surfing around:

VA Mobile Health Care Clinics Reach Rural Veterans

http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1552

The clinics are planned to serve:

Colorado: Larimer, Jackson, Logan, and Weld counties;
Maine: Franklin, Somerset and Piscataquis counties;
Nebraska: Cheyenne, Kimball, and Scottsbluff counties;
Washington state: Greys Harbor, Mason, and Lewis;
West Virginia: Preston, Randolph, Upshur, Wetzel, Roane, and Taylor counties; and,
Wyoming: Albany, Carbon, Goshen, and Platte counties.

Once a Marine

http://www.onceamarine.com/

In April 2004, Nick Popaditch fights heroically in the battle for Fallujah and suffers grievous head wounds that leave him legally blind and partially deaf. The USMC awards him with a Silver Star for his valor and combat innovation.

http://www.pearlsofhonor.com/anamericanweddingstory.html

An American Wedding Story

Two Marines marry with the help from their Marine Family.

And from there I found this:

http://www.pearlsofhonor.com/home.html

Pearls of Honor

Honoring our Pearl Harbor Vets

Oliver North is in Afghanistan reporting. Very little is in the mainstream media about OEF.

Report from a Forgotten War

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,399845,00.html

Helmand Province, Afghanistan — First in a series --- To Americans of my generation and older, Korea is “The Forgotten War.” For this generation, it’s Afghanistan – or to be precise, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). (more at the link)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,403761,00.html

Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan part 2

Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan — This British-built fortress, perched on a plateau in southwestern Afghanistan, is well named. Surrounded by miles of open desert, the citadel has its own concrete runway, water supply, sewage, electricity, Level 3 Trauma Hospital, even fire mains — all constructed in the last 30 months. (more at the link)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,409283,00.html

Herat Province, Afghanistan, part 3 -- Our Fox News' "War Stories" team has moved to a former Soviet military base in western Afghanistan, about 50 miles from the Iranian border. We're now with the 207th Afghan Commando Battalion and their U.S. Special Operations Command, Army and Marine counterparts. (more at the link)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,412341,00.html

Herat Province, Afghanistan, part 4 — A Taliban sentry fired the first shots shortly after 2:30 a.m. as Afghan Commandos and U.S. Special Operations Command troops surrounded the compound at Aziz Abad. Though the Marine Special Operations Team had employed a daring deception to achieve surprise, they were heavily engaged by AK-47 and machine gun fire almost immediately after deploying at the objective. (more at the link)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,417044,00.html

Kabul, Afghanistan, part 5 — It is good to be heading home -- where there are paved roads and no Russian landmines -- and the man standing at the next intersection isn’t going to blow himself to pieces trying to kill me, my family and my friends. At home, drinkable water comes out of a faucet --not just from a plastic bottle. (more at the link)

Wounded EOD Warrior Foundation
http://www.woundedeodwarrior.org/

EOD stands for Explosive Ordnance Disposal. EOD is a joint service military occupational skill, which means that EOD Technicians serve within the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force. The program is strictly manned by volunteer candidates. (more at the link)