WILL YOU SEND CARE PACKAGES TO:

Hello everyone ---

I am in communication with 1/2 Chaplain Michael Tomlinson. 1st Battalion 2nd Marine Regiment deployed to Iraq 2 weeks ago. Included among the Marines serving with 1/2 is our nephew Sam.

At this time we are looking for people willing to send care packages to Chaplain Tomlinson for distribution to 1/2 Marines and Sailors. I have a message in to Chaplain Tomlinson confirming his FPO address. If you wish to send care packages his way, school supplies and/or toys for the Iraqi children please let me know. I will then send his FPO address to you. You can volunteer to send packages throughout the deployment, to gather and send new school supplies and/or toys, or to send a one time package. I would encourage anyone sending care packages to include letter(s) to individual Marines and Sailors. You might want to enclose a pre-addressed envelope in which a Marine or Sailor can place a return letter to you. No stamps are required on the envelope coming back to you. Do enclose paper and pens in your care package as well.

We will help you with a list of items you may want to send, instructions re packing the boxes and completing customs forms.

I have been unable to participate in the last few 1/2 chats on marineparents.com. If any of you have participated in the chats and have ideas for care packages please share them with me. If you wish to share an FPO address for a 1/2 Marine or Sailor feel free to do that as well.

Chaplain Tomlinson's wife had this input for us: Apparently, at the moment, they are craving salty snacks -- popcorn, planters peanuts and cashews, pretzels (if bagged must be packed to protect them). He also reminded me to bag items separately -- they got some bubblegum-flavored tootsie rolls, so he reminded me that strongly flavored items such as bubblegum, mints, etc., should definitely be separated from other items.

And I received this from Chaplain Tomlinson: if you know of someone wanting to donate school supplies or toys we could use them to build bridges of friendship with the Iraqis. The war is moving into a new phase as our success produces greater stability and its paramount we succeed in a war where the kinetic response is not always the best response.

As for Marine care packages individual portion things are a real plus. For hygiene reasons we’re reluctant to dip our hands in say a big can of nuts after one another.

We have had a wonderful response to our request to send packages to 2/7 (Sgt. Nathan Guite) in Afghanistan. I hope we will have an equally wonderful response to our request on behalf of the 1/2. Again, let me know if you wish to send packages and I will give you Chaplain Tomlinson's address, care package ideas and mailing instructions. Thank to those of you who are sending packages to LCpl. Daniel Hodges and Sgt. Mike Sicard. We may have other individual Marine's addresses for you in the near future so stay tuned.

THANK YOU!!

Karen

PS -- 1/2 will be in Iraq for Christmas. 2/7 should be, better be, home in time for Christmas.

BIG FAVOR

I have a big favor to ask, if you know or have an email address of anyone serving in Iraq I'd really appreciate your getting it to me.

I am trying to get a program off the ground to where we can communicate and support them.

Also, please check out my new Forum

Semper Fi
Robert (Gunny) Hiles
Please visit "The Gunny Shack"

Navy Seals shoot out in IRAQ

A team of U.S. Navy SEALs fires on insurgents from a rooftop Friday, April 21, 2006 in Ramadi 115 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq. U.S. soldiers patrolling in Ramadi say that enemy contact is so regular, they can make accurate estimates of how long it will take to be shot at after the start of their patrols. Estimates range from 45 minutes for one company to just 8 minutes for another

Video

Iraqi Freedom Veteran treated like second class citizen at local VFW

To whom it may concern,

My name is Joseph G. VanDyck and I am a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Reserve and a member of VFW Post 2031 in Statesville North Carolina. I have served 2 back to back tours in Iraq, to include a 3 month extension last fall. I am currently here in Pennsylvania working my civilian job. One of my coworkers who is a Vietnam Veteran and a member of the Fred Barley VFW Post 5667 told me about the great PrimeRib dinners, the cold beer, and the friendly members and staff at the VFW post. I went there last night to have dinner. Everything went great until they found out I wasn't a member of their post. I was then rudely moved to the back banquet room out of view of everyone. I was also told that I could not order anything else sinceI wasn't a member. I produced my current VFW membership card and my military id card. They really didn't care about this.

This is the first time I have ever felt like a second class citizen for having been away from my family and done 2 back to back tours of Iraq. This is to include being medevacced from theater during my first tour for injuries received. If this is how the local VFW Post treats out of town combat veterans, I never want to return to this area again. I travel quite frequently for my career and have been to many VFW Posts with out being made to feel like this. I am writing a formal complaint letter to Post 5667's Commander, my Post's Commander, and the National Commander of the VFW in Kansas City.

I just wanted to let the people of Elizabethtown and Hershey know how a veteran from out of state is treated at a local VFW Post. Thank you for letting me express my point of view.

V/r,

Joseph G. VanDyck

I’ve known Joe VanDyck since November 2006 when he along with his (NPTT) National Police Transition Team arrived from the states to conduct a (RIP-TOA) relief in place-transfer of authority with an Army (SPTT-NPTT) Special Police Transition Team-National Police Transition Team (Commandos) that I was attached to as a civilian police adviser.

I had three Army teams and one Marine SPTT, pronounced (Spit’s) teams. I spent twenty years in the Marine Corps, (16) in Reconnaissance before retiring and becoming a High Point Police Officer. I am currently a police officer with Guilford Technical Community College . We trained, advised and ran missions with the Iraqi’s on a daily basis. This was very dangerous work and long before the “Surge”.

I spent 18 months straight in Iraq and left in January 2007. I have included four pictures of myself and Joe who is in each of these. I’m the guy in (Mar-Pat) Marine-Pattern digital camouflage. Joe is to my left in three of the four photos. Also there is one photo that he sent me while he was in Iraq after I went home. Yes, that is General Petraeus reenlisting Joe in Baghdad . I looked quickly for these photos and I’m sure there are many more that I haven’t located as of this e-mail. In-fact, I don’t think Joe has ever seen these pictures that were taken of us.

I have been in contact with Joe often over the last 20 months and am saddened to hear from him about this incident that recently happened to him and another VFW member. I have been a VFW member since I returned from Vietnam many, many years ago and I have never received this kind of treatment from any VFW post I ever visited or attended. I have absolutely no reason not to believe what Joe wrote in this e-mail.

We are veterans and have served this great country in war. We above all others know what service means! This must never happen to one of our own. Please take the time to read Joe’s e-mail and then pass it on to other VFW members and for that matter any other veteran across this country. If we don’t look out for each other, then who will?


Johnny M. Russo
VFW Post 9899
High Point , NC

For the troops ...please help out

Totally free for us, just a thing to give stuff to the troops from HBO

In honor of the Marines in the HBO mini series "Generation Kill"you can pick an item for HBO to ship in their care packages.

Please pass this link to anyone and everyone you want. The more we get to participate the more our troops will receive. http://www.hbo.com/generationkill/

Left click on Support Troops on the right

THANK USA

THE SURGE WORKED

Would only send this to those I know would love this picture and the caption from the military! HOORAH or in this Marines case OORAH!! (sorry about the F word - his not mine)
Enjoy - from Melanie Morgan's website today - check her out
http://www.melaniemorgan.com/

PatDollard.com - Surging to Success

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

BashMan, my main dude, has a rather succinct look at the metrics on the ground in Iraq. And a fabulous "Bleep You" to the moonbats on the Left who predicted it would never work.

It's Official: The Surge Is Over and It Worked

July 16th, 2008 Posted By Bash.

The last of the "Surge" troops will be going home next week.

Salute.

Good job.

Yo, Liberal Democrats, Surrender Monkeys & Lefty Loons: Fuck you.

The U.S. military said on Wednesday the last of five extra combat brigades sent to Iraq in 2007 would finish withdrawing next week. That will bring the so-called "surge" to an end, while leaving 140,000 U.S. troops in the country.

President George W. Bush ordered the deployment to stop Iraq sliding into sectarian civil war. The troop build-up helped cut violence to a four-year low, the military says. (AP)

PS: That picture of those Iraqis carrying that Marine is one of my favorites.

What is it about you Marines?

Thanks to Captain Gerry Porthier, USMC, (retired) for this gem!

How many times have we been asked, "What is it about you Marines?"

This may help explain what we share that is so special and what we have lived that makes us remember. To understand, you have to live our experience, share what we have all shared, and feel what we have all felt. It is about Corps values, and honor. It is about character. It is about a shared experience that changed our lives.

The common experience starts with DISORIENTATION. The Corps creates a vacuum in your life. It takes away your hair, clothes, and friends, and fills it with a drill instructor. He says things like get off MY bus ... do it NOW and as you stand *** to belly-button on the yellow footprints, your identity disappears. The D.I. gives you a short lesson on the UCMJ, and you learn that rights belong to the institution, not to the individual. You will live in a squad bay and you will march everywhere. He speaks to you in the future imperative ... he says. YOU WILL ... and you do! He gives you a new language ... deck, hatch, head. It is a language that is steeped in a tradition you don't understand yet. He takes away your right to speak in the first person, and he takes away your first name. Your platoon number is what's important now.

Before your first meal you get 20 seconds to stow your gear, and you learn that the only way to get it done within the time limit is to help one another... The TRANSFORMATION begins. This is the culture of the Group, and its members are anonymous. Although you don't know it, your drill instructor will become the most important person you will ever meet, and your weeks of boot camp will become t he defining cultural experience of your life. For the first time in your life you encounter absolute standards of right and wrong, success and failure. When you screw up, everyone stops, and they penalize you, immediately, so you won*t forget. Disorientation and Transformation are followed by TRAINING.

The rules are simple:

A. Tell the truth

B. Always do your best no matter how trivial the task

C. Choose the difficult right over the easy wrong

D. Don*t whine or make excuses

E. Judge others by their actions

And above all, look out for the group, before you look out for yourself. During your training you are pushed beyond your limits, and you achieve. You learn to make excellence a habit. The common denominator among you and your fellow recruits is pride and accomplishment. Through your training you develop spirit, and you develop self-discipline. You learn the ingredients of CHARACTER: Integrity, Selflessness, and Moral Courage. And you learn the Corps Values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.

These are your roots. The Corps is a rigid code that will stay with you forever. It will define your character, and it will guide you for the rest of your life. This is why there are no EX-Marines. Once you can appreciate what you are about to become, you learn about those who have gone before you. You study our history, and learn the lessons of countless heroes who acted, not for self, but for comrade, Corps, and Country. Marines are about taking care of each other, always have been, always will. It is our culture and it holds us together. As you learn the history, you become part of the tradition. You have a new appreciation of your God, your Country, and your Corps. One final element completes your training - you become a rifleman. The magnitude of what you have accomplished becomes apparent to you at graduation, when you finally earn your title and are called Marine. What you know then, in your heart, but what you can't put into words, is that there is something very special about this organization that is unlike any other organization you ever have been a part of. What you can't put into words, but what you know in your heart is that the essence of the Marine Corps resides with the lowest in rank; The Marine is the Corps, and the Corps is the Marine. ... Your uniform says it all. When someone looks at you they don't see the name of your ship, a unit patch, or a branch insignia ... what they see is a MARINE. That's all that counts! You are a Marine! It is what matters to you, and it is what matters to every other Marine. You know that you may never feel this important again, and you will spend the rest of our life living the code, and holding on to the feeling that every Marine is a rifleman and that's the essence.

But there is more to our story than our boot camp experience. There is our experience of sacrifice and our participation in the history & tradition of the Corps. We share stories and tell of the humor that got us through the tough times, but we also have stories we keep to ourselves, hiding the painful memories too personal to share.

Shared experience and personal sacrifice are reasons the Marine Corps is a Band of Brothers. It is the reason we celebrate today. The feeling you have when you become a Marine lasts a lifetime. Whether you serve 3years, or 30, your experiences will never be forgotten. You will never work as closely, or depend on others more, than you did in the Corps. The Corps is your family, you can never leave, and you are always welcome back. You are EXPECTED to come back!

This shared experience, and personal sacrifice is our common bond. It is why we love each other and our country so much, and why we cling to our traditions. Our celebration preserves and honors the memory of all who have gone before us and it is an example, and a standard, for all who follow. In a time when there are so few proud and good examples to follow, when so little seems to count, our views, our beliefs, our PRACTICE of our tradition is, by others standards, EXTREME. We are perhaps all our country has left to guarantee that the principles upon which this nation was founded will survive.

Many presidents, and congressmen, have tried to do away with the Marine Corps, but we are still here. Why? The answer is simple - America doesn't need a Marine Corps, America WANTS one! Marine, you are the reason she feels that way. Remember that, and feel good about it. "It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."

Free Signs!

If you go to this website www.buildasign.com/troops you can order a free 3x6 banner for your soldier. You pay shipping. They are giving away 10,000 of them! You can customize it and everything. You enter the words SOLDIERSIGN at the promo code at checkout.

Honors memorialize RJ and Gentian

Marine Cpl. Gentian Marku was a former Warren Police Explorer, who dreamed of becoming a Warren Police Officer.

Gentian was killed in combat in Iraq on Thanksgiving, 2004.

Click Here for His Story

Click Here for More Details

GENERATION KILL

GENERATION KILL

http://www.hbo.com/generationkill/

ABC BANS FLAG LAPEL PINS

I just Snoped this and it is true !

Unbelievable! My question is:

Why haven't I heard of this before? -----

This is hard to believe. ABC News Bans Flag Lapel Pins Yesterday, the brass at ABC News issued orders forbidding reporters to wear lapel pin American flags or other patriotic insignia. Their reasoning was that ABC should remain neutral about "causes". Since when is support for preventing our death and destruction some sort of a cause? Since when is patriotism to be discouraged.I urge you to boycott ABC and its sponsors and affiliates.Please forward this to as many as you can, put ABC in the Garbage Can!!!!

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/noflags.asp

Well as the saying goes

Here's another Pinhead running another Main Stream News Media - what a fine piece of work the owner of this station must be. I have no idea why a flag lapel pin would "offend" anyone or make anyone angry that the station is showing its patriotism in any way?

I guess some Pinheads dont get it. They think like someone else that we will remain namless that if you wear a flag lapel pin you are showing some form of false patriotism? Who knows but this is very sad.

I was listening to one of the many radio shows I tune into in a day when I'm working on a project and on one of them there was a caller who said his daughter was in Iraq.
One day she contacted her family back home to tell them that she would be on ABC news. A reporter visiting Iraq asked 60 soldiers which candidate they were going to vote for.

She was one of them so naturally she thought what a perfect opportunity for her family to be able to see her. In advance of the airing on TV she told them that 55 of the soldiers said they would vote for McCain, 3 said they were going to vote for Obama, and 2 for Clinton (must have happened before Clinton dropped out). This is what her family saw on ABC. The reporter only showed those 5 soldiers who said they were voting for Obama and Clinton and not one of the 55 who said McCain. Now I can't substantiate this father's story but if true it goes to show how biased the media is, manipulating the truth until it slants their way. I don't waste my time watching ABC or CBS & NBC news, I get most of it from the radio or FOX.

When I hear things like this is makes me shutter to think of the news we're missing because the liberal media wants to manipulate our minds....not unlike what you get living under a dictatorship.

Just wanted you all to see this email in response to the ABC banning flag lapel pins.
I watched this news story this email talks about and in fact wrote to ABC that of all the military men and women I know I could name 3 dozen right off the bat that are NOT for Obama's plans in any way and that it was amazing that they could only find Obama supporters - This story just proves what I've known all along - they searched out only those that would vote for Obama to put on the news. Just another Leftist Looney station - Its one thing to be fair - its another to be so biased that you distort the truth to the American public in hopes that they will "follow" along, and I can now see over and over again that main stream media distorts the truth on a daily basis to suit their whims.

(senders name to me taken off for their privacy)