The MarineParents.com chat room was established to encourage connecting and sharing among parents, spouses, family and friends of our Marines and Recruits. The chat room is for support, encouragement, and answering questions. The friendly atmosphere encourages conversation among friends; friends who understand the emotions you're experiencing during these uncertain times, whether it be bootcamp, deployment to a combat zone, or just feeling bewildered by the new lifestyle of the Marine Corps.

The Chat Room is only open during scheduled hours. See posted schedule to the right. Note new hours effective February 12, 2006. Each chat night has a specific agenda related to supporting our Marines and their families at home. We have a "Topics Room", "Groups Room", and "Units Room". If you are interested in settng up a particular topic, group night, or unit-specific chat, please let a moderator know.

By using the chat room you agree to abide by the security policies, guidelines and user agreement established by MarineParents.com as posted on this page. The chat room is assigned a moderator and/or coordinator to assure compliance with security policies, guidelines and the user agreement.

1. Follow MarineParents.com, Inc. Mission Statement:

Within Operations Security, posts must follow our mission of informing, connecting, sharing, and supporting Marines and their family members. For additional information, please see "MP.com Mission Statement".
2. Marine and Recruit Privacy and Safety

Personal information about Marines or recruits is not allowed, including but not limited to identifying information such as last name, email address, phone number, birthdates and addresses. This is a public message board and you should use discretion when posting other personal information. Please respect the privacy of your Marine or recruit. We reserve the right to suggest author edits or delete posts of a private nature.
3. Member Privacy and Safety:

Personal information about members is not allowed, including but not limited to identifying information such as last name, email address, phone number, and addresses. This is a public message board and you should use discretion when posting other personal information. Please respect the privacy of others. We reserve the right to suggest author edits or delete posts of a private nature.
4. USMC Personnel Privacy, Safety and Chain of Command:

Personal information about Marine Corps Personnel, Drill Instructors, Family Readiness Officers, or Key Volunteers is not allowed. Phone numbers for USMC personnel are not allowed, including office, cell or home numbers. Contact information for USMC personnel, when appropriate, will be published on the primary web site, MarineParents.com and the Unit Information Pages (UIPs). Complaints about the chain of command or the command of a Marine or recruit will not be allowed when the complaint is being posted by someone other than the person directly affected by the complaint.

Additional Information Regarding the Military Chain of Command: All branches of the military have a chain of command to follow for questions, complaints, inquiries and comments. Information your Marine or recruit may share with you regarding his/her command should be kept private out of respect for all Marines. Your Marine or recruit may ask you for assistance or you may feel it is necessary to offer assistance by contacting military personnel. Please verify with your Marine or recruit prior to taking any action or making any contacts on his/her behalf. This is your Marine's job. The Marine Corps is his/her employer. The Marine Corps is not obligated to discuss job performance or duties with anyone other than the Marine.

5. No Politics:

Endorsement of candidates or mention of political positions or any other political statements, expressed or implied, are not allowed. Discussions of the political nature of current conflicts are not allowed. MarineParents.com is first and foremost a support community; political differences have potential to denigrate the support environment. Expressions of patriotism and supporting the troops are not considered political statements and may be posted by members.
6. External Links and References to External Web Sites:

External links are not allowed. Link addresses and web site content have high potential to change without notice. We simply do not have the manpower to make corrections and updates in thousands of posts on the message boards.

The primary website, MarineParents.com and our Outreach Services websites, include links to information, resources, sponsors and advertisers. Links on the web site are updated by our web developers. References to the links on MarineParents.com are allowed on the message boards.

Members may suggest search terms for informational web sites that are a benefit to Marines and/or their families. However, suggestions for searches or links to the following types of web sites are not allowed: blogs, Yahoo groups, and other sites of similar nature.

To make a suggestion for a link to be published on one of our websites, please see "Web Site Link Policy". We encourage vendors wanting to sell products or services to advertise with us. See "Advertising Rates" for more information.

7. Calls to Action:

Posts that include a "Call to Action" or a suggestion for members to band together for the purpose of raising attention or awareness of a particular issue (no matter how "right" you may feel the call to action is) are not allowed. The MarineParents.com organization is first and foremost a support community. Differences of opinion on whether or not a "call to action" is a worthy cause has potential to denigrate the support environment.
8. OpSEC (Operations Security):

OpSEC: All posts must conform to Operations Security (OpSEC) guidelines. Posting of current or future troop movement, missions, numbers, locations, billets, mail delivery dates, phone availability, homecoming windows or dates and morale are not allowed. Remember, the enemy only needs to know that our troops are ready to defend and act.

Just because your Marine or recruit shared information with you, does not mean you should share it in a public message board community. These security measures should not be interpreted as intent to limit free speech or exercise editorial control. Freedom of speech does not include the right to endanger someone else's life or liberty. MarineParents.com is categorized as a military community and our troops are engaged. OpSEC will be followed with the strictest interpretation.

For additional information on Operations Security (OpSEC) please see:
http://www.marineparents.com/USMC/security-deployments.asp

9. From or About the USMC and Recruit Training:

Posts containing information or references to information that comes directly from the Marine Corps or a recruit training situation must be verified by a manager before the post can be approved. Posts which site "Official Marine Corps" information, training schedules or results, will be held; if verification is not possible in 48 hours, the post will be deleted. In some instances, information may not be "public knowledge"; the post will be deleted and the author notified.
10. Incidences and Casualties:

Posts containing information related to incidences or casualties incurred by Marines or recruits that have not yet been released to the general public will be held until official notification is received. All posts regarding KIA casualties (Killed in Action), unless posted by an immediate family member, MUST be accompanied by the DoD (Department of Defense) notification.
11. Photos:

To comply with OpSEC guidelines, photos that have NOT been released by the Marine Corps or DoD (Department of Defense) are not allowed. Links to photo-hosting web sites are not allowed. Links to photos from legitimate news sources may be allowed.

Note Regarding Photos: Sharing photos of your Marine or recruit after graduation has been requested thousands of times. MarineParents.com has a plan in place to make this happen, however, we do not have the manpower to staff the program with the number of volunteer hours required. Our hope is to bring on new volunteers that will be willing to undertake this responsibility and training required to bring this service to our Marine families.

12. Copyright:

Copyrighted Poems, Stories, Lyrics and Tribute Pages must include appropriate copyright information AND must be verified by a trained moderator.
13. News Articles:
    Links to legitimate news articles are allowed. To comply with copyright regulations, sources must be cited with any news article excerpt. Posts without sources will be held for the author to edit.

14. Funeral Notices:
    Posting of public funeral notices, dates, times and locations are allowed. Appropriate references should be included if at all possible. We reserve the right to hold posts pending verification of public information.

Please be responsible with your online communications. Our Marines and military personnel depend on you to maintain Operations Security. MarineParents.com encourages all military personnel and families to follow OpSEC guidelines and to practice safety and privacy in personal email as well as other online communities and environments which you participate in.

All text on this page is Copyright © to MarineParents.com, Inc. Copying or distributing for any other use is strictly forbidden without prior, written permission. For additional information on copyright and trademark use of MarineParents.com web site content, please see "MarineParents.com Copyright and Trademark Policy".

The chat discussion is intended solely for educational and informational purposes and not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical or mental health professional if you have questions about your health. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information discussed. The speakers and/or MarineParents.com assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the participation in the discussion or use of the information discussed.

By logging into the chat room, you agree that you, the user, are 13 years of age or over. You are fully responsible for any information supplied by this user. You also agree that you will not post any copyrighted material that is not owned by yourself or the owners of these chat rooms. In your use of these chat rooms, you agree that you will not post any information which is vulgar, harassing, hateful, threatening, invading of others privacy, sexually oriented, or violates any laws. I AGREE