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MarineParents.com Newsletter
a Place to Connect & Share 
In This Issue
Outreach Projects
Shipping Girl Scout Cookies
COMM Marines in Iraq
PTSD: Asking Questions
Planning a Fundraiser
IRR: Individual Ready Reserves
Deployed Marines Filing Taxes
Your Marine's Unit
Colonel McCoy to Speak
Preparing for Homecoming
New Colors for T-Shirts!
Support Our Marines!

The Care Package Project™

Operation PAL™

Shipping Girl Scout CookiesŪ

Tributes

Support for You:
a Place to
Connect & Share™
 
 
 
 
 
 
Learning Center:
Operations Security
 
 
 
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
 
 
 
 
Our Volunteers
We'd like you to take a moment to meet the volunteers who work several hundred hours a week to make MarineParents.com possible!
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Visit Our Sponsors
Covert Threads Socks Help Prevent This
 
 Rosetta Coffee Company
 
sponsor a soldier stress relief
Join our list
Join Our Mailing List
Outreach Projects
Button Operation PAL
 
The Care Package Project from MarineParents.com, Inc.
 
Team Marine Parents ? from Marine Parents.com, Inc.
 
Devil Dog Chow ? Cookbook from MarineParents.com, Inc.
MarineParents.com
Annual National Conference
April 20-22, 2007
St. Louis, Missouri
 
 
 
 
 
 
Conference Sponsors,
Advertising, Exhibitors
and Opportunities

Help us have a successful conference! Contact your employer, organizations, & corporations, for opportunities to support the conference, sponsor a Marine, and advertising!

 
 
 
 
For $30, you can publicly say thank you to your Marine in the conference keepsake program.
February 28, 2007
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. We thank you for your support and hope that we can support you.
 
The format of our newsletter has changed slightly. On the left side you'll find newly labeled categories with links to helpful information and learning centers.  On the right is our series of articles which address time-sensitive information and announcements.
 
Our newsletter is emailed to over 12,000 readers every two weeks. If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the newsletter, please let us know.
 
It's Girl Scout Cookie time again and we need your help to make sure our Marines have a taste of home again this year! Be sure to read our article about raising funds to ship 400 cases of cookies to our Marines!
Shipping Girl Scout Cookies
GS Cookies 100x100We need your help to raise funds to ship 400 cases of Girl Scout Cookies to our Deployed Marines!
The Housatonic Girl Scout Council out of Bridgeport, Connecticut has donated 400 cases of cookies for us to ship to our Marines. This is the third year in a row for this project. We need your help to raise $5940 to get the cookies into the hands of our combat-deployed Marines.
 
Please consider making a donation and encourage your friends, co-workers and family to do the same! MarineParents.com, Inc. is an IRS approved  501(c)(3) public charity eligible to receive charitable contributions. Every donation is acknowledged with a receipt.
 
COMM Marines in Iraq
COMM Marines repair fiber optics in IraqComm Marines Keep TQ Area Connected 
AL TAQADDUM, Iraq (Feb. 22, 2007) -- Pick up any phone aboard Al Taqaddum. Do you hear a dial tone? Even better, where did that phone come from? Who wired it up?

The answer: communication Marines.

"We support the operational communication requirements of the 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) by providing secure and non-secure internet protocols, phone services, Web browsers, and video conferencing to tenant organizations aboard Taqaddum," said Lt. Col. Robert C. Wright, the senior communications officer for 2nd MLG (Fwd).
 
PTSD: Asking Questions
PTSD Expert Bridget CantrellNeed some help with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? 
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, can affect as many as 1 in 5 returning veterans from Afghanistand and Iraq*. You may have questions about recognizing PTSD or how to find help. At MarineParents.com, we offer an anonymous forum for you to ask your questions and get a reply from Dr. Bridget Cantrell, a PTSD specialist and author of Downrange to Iraq and Back
 
We encourage you to ask questions and seek help. For more information or to begin reading and using the anonymous message board, click this link.
 
*According to a 2005 VA study of 168,528 Iraqi veterans, 20 percent were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 1,641 with PTSD. A recent study showed that 18 percent of 45,880 veterans were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 183 with PTSD. Source: SFgate.com on page A - 11 of the San Francisco Chronicle, June 22, 2005.
Fundraising for MarineParents.com
A Letter from our Director of Development 
We would like to introduce you to Katie Wigington, Director of Development for MarineParents.com, Inc. We often receive requests from family and friends of our Marines asking how they can help to raise funds for the many outreach projects at MarineParents.com. 
 
MarineParents.com will provide you with a "getting started" outline, written materials (brochures), donation forms, and assist with flyers and press releases. If possible, one of our representatives will attend your event.
 
Permission to use our name or any event names must be received in advance of the event.
 
IRR: Individual Ready Reserves
IRR Individual Ready Reserves, USMC Photo"Order to Muster Duty" has been reinstated by the Marine Corps 
After several years, the Marine Corps has brought back the IRR Annual Administrative Screening Muster and Information Brief. As part of the contract when enlisting in the active-duty Marine Corps, the majority of marines enlist for a period of active duty, as well as a period of inactive duty, also known as IRR, or Individual Ready Reserves. Unlike enlisting into the Marine Corps Reserves, IRR duty is post-transition from the Marine Corps and does not include a weekend of reserve duty. Instead, IRR Marines are required to report at an annual muster.
 
With the call-back of Marines to active duty, an "Order to Muster Duty" has potential to strike a note of panic in families who may be unaware of how IRR works. We encourage you to read more about IRR using the link below.
 
Deployed Marines Filing Taxes
Deployed Marines can file 2006 taxes within 180 days of returning stateside
Your deployed Marine has 180 days (approximately 6 months) after returning stateside to complete his/her tax return. He/she will not pay a penalty if additional taxes are due as long as they file within 180 days.
 
Your Marine is also entitled to the "Combat Pay Exemption" which states that he/she will not pay taxes on income earned while deployed to a combat zone. Afghanistan and Iraq (including Kuwait or any other country if it is in direct support of Operations OIF and OEF) are considered combat zone.
 
Your Marine will be given an opportunity to have a military accountant on a military installation assist with taxes upon return stateside. In most instances there is no charge for this service. 
 
Unit Information Database
Marines. The Few. The Proud.Find Your Marine's Unit and talk with other families with Marines in the same unit 
Every Marine is assigned to a unit or battalion in the Marine Corps. Often, finding information about that particular unit can be challenging. Our database includes virtually every unit in the Marine Corps and includes base locations, current station, phone numbers, the unit FRO (Family Readiness Officer, a contact for family members), and links to the unit's message boards and chat night schedule.
 
2007 Conference Schedule
2007 Marine Parents Conference SpeakersColonel Bryan P. McCoy has been added to the 2007 Conference Schedule, Saturday Morning, April 21.
We're very pleased to announce that Colonel Bryan P. McCoy, active duty Marine and author of The Passion of Command, will be speaking to the entire conference assembly on Saturday morning, April 21, 2007.  His 45 minute presentation will be followed up with opportunities for questions and answers.
 
At the conference in Houston last year, Colonel McCoy's inspiration was incredible. He noted that the mothers of Marines are like the mothers of the ancient Spartans, in their courage and support of the Marines.  "Marine Parents.com, is a well to renew your fortitude". His parting comment to all of us last year encouraged us "to remember this place" (the conference) when we were back in our "fighting holes" out where it would not be so supportive.
 
Colonel McCoy commanded the 3/4 Marines during OIF 2003 and 2004. His Marines were in the square when the Saddam statue was pulled down on April 9, 2003. Colonel McCoy will be returning to Twentynine Palms to take command of the 7th Marine Regiment early this summer.
 
Don't miss this incredible opportunity to personally meet Colonel McCoy. He is a legend to Marine Corps families, but most importantly, a legend to the Marines who have had the honor of serving under his command.
 
The conference will be held April 20-22, 2007. Meet us in St. Louis, at the beautiful Adam's Mark Hotel at the foot of the Gateway Arch, for a weekend of Marine Corps bonding, education, meeting other Marine families, great food, fantastic exhibits, good fun, inspiration, and renewed fortitude!
 
 
 
2007 CONFERENCE CONTACT FORM
If you have questions about the conference, would like more information about attendance, registration, sponsorships, exhibiting,  or advertising, please use the form on the following link to contact us:  
Preparing for Homecoming
HomecomingTools and Resources to Help You and Your Marine 
We have several battalions preparing for retrograde, or homecoming, from combat zones. This section of the web site offers several tools for you to help prepare for your Marine's homecoming. Many family members have worries and concerns about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and COSR (Combat Operations Stress Reaction). This section of the web site offers information and resources to help understand these issues as well as a workbook to use in preparation for the emotions of homecoming.
 

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.

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're now offering the Annual National Conference in St. Louis, 2007. We've helped over 30,000 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 and sent thousands of prayers and letters to injured Marines. You've found a Place to Connect & Share™.

God Bless and Semper Fidelis,
 

Tracy Della Vecchia
Founder and Executive Director
MarineParents.com, Inc.
USMC New Designs and NEW Colors!NEW
Colors!
New colors and new designs for your favorite Marine Corps Spirit wear! We've added more designs to more colors and your selections are bigger than ever!  New brights and lights for women's wear as well as color long sleeve choices for both men and women. There are even a few new colored Ts for the men! Classic designs for any Marine Corps' fan! 
 
NOTE: All proceeds are used in support of MarineParents.com, Inc.
New Designs and New Colors! Check these out!
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