May 26, 2016
Semper Fi Marine Corps Families!

Thank you for opening and reading this edition of our weekly newsletter. We've got great articles to share with you this week.

Monday is Memorial Day. We encourage our readers to take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices the men and women who have served our country over the years have made, and continue to make, on a daily basis.

To see what else is new with the organization or to learn more about the Marine Corps, check out the rest of our articles. We hope you enjoy! 

Thank you for your continued support of our brave men and women in uniform.

God Bless and Semper Fi!
Monday is Memorial Day

This coming Monday is Memorial Day--a day for reflection, remembrance, and the honoring of the men and women who have served our country over the years.

This is also a day on which service members, their families, and military supporters across the country come together to express their patriotism, both publicly and privately. While private celebrations are, by their very nature, private, we can help you publicly show off your love for America with a variety of patriotic items from our  EGA Shop such as American flags (made in the USA!), battle cross lapel pins, and patriotic garden flags!



#GoSilent This Memorial Day With IAVA

This Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery at 12:01 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

According to the IAVA's website, "[t]he #GoSilent campaign allows for a shared, nationwide experience, in which pledges can be made in honor of a fallen service member."

In addition to the wreath-laying ceremony, the IAVA will also be hosting a series of events across the country in honor of those who have served our nation and to raise awareness of the sacrifices our service members have made and continue to make on a daily basis on our behalf. 

Here at Marine Parents, we'd like to encourage our supporters to join IAVA in their #GoSilent campaign. Our service members sacrifice on our behalf every day. Join us in taking this opportunity to show them we appreciate all they do on our behalf!


*Image info:   Since June 15, 1864, Arlington National Cemetery has provided a final resting place for countless service members who have served our county.
(USMC photo by Lance Corporal Eric Keenan).
Warrior Support Team Spotlight: Bryan's Story

Bryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2004. In 2006, he went to fight for our country in Iraq. Luckily, that year, Bryan survived not one, but two improvised explosive device (IED) blasts.

Bryan, who was the driver of the Humvee during one of the explosions, suffered the worst injuries of the four Marines in the vehicle. He was knocked unconscious from the impact of the bomb and, while being treated in the field, a military doctor conducted an emergency tracheotomy and nicked one of Bryan's arteries. Bryan also had shattered his pelvis, which caused him to bleed internally. On the verge of death, Bryan underwent a 6 unit blood transfusion, and nobody thought he would make it out of his medically-induced coma alive.


*Image info: Bryan afer his accident (left) and today (right).
Volunteer Spotlight: Tiffney Tinney

Here at Marine Parents, nothing we do would be possible without our amazing volunteers across the country. Our volunteers truly are the backbone of our organization, and we'd like to take this opportunity to recognize the efforts of one individual in particular. 

This week's featured volunteer is a long-serving military supporter from Texas--Tiffney Tinney.

Tiffney has been an Official Marine Parents Facebook Group volunteer since 2015. In August of 2015, Tiffney began serving as the Company Leader for India Company and, since November of 2015, has served as the Company Leader for the Medical Rehabilitation Platoon.

When Tiffney's son announced that he was joining the Marine Corps, she thought "yea right." Then, one day while Tiffney was at work, her son called her asking all sorts of "weird" questions. Tiffney asked her son why he was asking these questions, to which he replied, "I'm signing my paperwork for the Marines."    

Click here to read more...

*Image info: Tiffney Tinney and her Marine son.
TMP Spotlight: Laura Schubert

Team Marine Parents™ (TMP) is a group of individuals, generally parents, family, and friends of Marines, who participate in athletic events nationwide to support our troops.  The mission is to raise funds and awareness of the organization's outreach programs.

This week's TMP featured participant is a proud Marine aunt--Laura Schubert.

Laura is a a 40 year old mother of two children who are both very active in sports. She has been married to her husband, Jay, for almost 16 years. 

Laura decided she wanted to complete a marathon this year to check it off her bucket list. Laura has done a couple of half marathons in the past but this will be her first full marathon.

When her sister, Michelle Foster, told Laura she was going to run the 2016 Marine Corps Marathon, Laura decided to join Michelle in running the marathon. Together, the two women run as "Team Ethan" in honor of Laura's Marine nephew and Michelle's Marine son, Ethan. 

So far, Team Ethan is still working on reaching its $1,000 fundraising goal, and we know that with your generosity and support, these proud sisters can reach that goal in no time! Thank you, Laura, for being a part of the team and for all that you do on our behalf! Good luck in October!

Click here to read more...

*Image info: TMP member Laura Schubert.
Angel Day Tribute

With Memorial Day just days away, we'd like to encourage our readers to take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices our men and women in uniform make for our country on a daily basis.

The thought of brave men and women giving their lives on behalf of our country brings many images to mind. The battlefield cross. A flag-draped casket. Family members, friends, and brothers and sisters in arms weeping at the loss of a loved one. But from tragedy comes hope, and determination—especially the determination that the sacrifices of these brave men and women will never be forgotten.

With that in mind, we have launched the "Angel Day Tribute" initiative. It's a way to honor our service members who made the ultimate sacrifice by remembering them each year on their Angel Day. It's also a way to recognize their family members, and to help create additional ways for those family members and comrades and friends of the fallen to connect and share with one another.

These men and women and their families have given so much on our behalf. Please join us in honoring and keeping alive the memories of these American heroes.

Click here to read more...
Marine Corps News: Marine Staff Sergeant Becomes First Combat Veteran to Summit Everest

Last Thursday, May 19, saw retired Staff Sergeant Charles Linville, of Boise, Idaho, a combat-injured Marine, become the first combat-veteran to reach the "top of the world" when the climbing party he was with summited Mount Everest.

Linville, 30, was wounded in Afghanistan in 2011 when an IED he was diffusing exploded, causing his to sustain a  traumatic brain injury, an amputated finger, and a severely injured foot. After more than a dozen unsuccessful surgeries, Linville decided to have his foot surgically amputated in 2013.

The expedition to reach the top of the mountain was sponsored by The Heroes Project and was Linville's third attempt to summit Everest after the 2014 and 2015 expeditions were forced to turn back early after natural disasters. In completing the climb, Linville became the first combat-veteran the achieve " The Seven Summits" by reaching the highest peak on each of the seven continents.   

Click here to read more...

*Image info: Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world at more than 29,000 feet.
(NASA image/released).
Marine Corps News: Crucible Section Renamed in Honor of Fallen Marine

An obstacle in the Crucible at Camp Pendleton, California was renamed last week in honor of a Marine Corporal who lost his life in Afghanistan in 2010. 

In a ceremony last Thursday, May 19, the obstacle in Camp Pendleton's Crucible that deals with improvised explosive devices was renamed in honor of Corporal Larry D. Harris Jr., who was posthumously awarded the Silver Star in 2011 for saving the life of a fellow Marine.

After his squad's machine gunner was shot in the leg July 1, 2010, Harris and fellow Marines left a covered position to reach the machine gunner and return him to safety despite being under heavy fire. Upon reaching the machine gunner, Harris picked him up and began carrying him toward an evacuation site. En route to the evacuation site, Harris stepped on an IED and was mortally wounded. The machine gunner survived.

Navy Corpsman Peter Gould, who sustained serious wounds to his face and neck while helping Harris carry the machine gunner to safety, also received a Silver Star in 2011. 

Click here to read more...

*Image info: Lieutenant Colonel Fridrik Fridriksson and Sergeant Major Scott Samuels present the Silver Star to Larry Harris' parents, Lora and Bruce Merriwether, during a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, California, February 4, 2011. (Photo by   Corporal Paul Basciano/released).
This Week in Marine Corps History: Marine Aviation Program Begins

One hundred and four years ago this week, on May 22, 1912,  First Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham became the first Marine officer to be assigned to "duty in connection with aviation" by Major General Commandant William P. Biddle after reporting for aviation training at the Naval Aviation Camp at Annapolis, Maryland. This marked the official beginning of the Marine aviation program.

Click here to learn more....

*Image info:  First Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham (released)
This Week in Marine Corps History: 
V-22 Osprey Makes its Debut

Twenty-eight years ago this week, on May 23, 1988 the V-22 Osprey,  the world's first production tilt-rotor aircraft, made its debut at Bell Helicopter Textron's Arlington, Texas, facility. More than 1,000 representatives from the military, the aviation industry, and the media gathered to hear various speakers, including then-Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Alfred Gray, praise the versatility of the aircraft.

Click here to learn more....

*Image info: USMC  MV-22B Ospreys aid in recovery efforts after a series of earthquakes struck the island of Kyushu, April, 2016. (USMC photo by Corporal Samantha Villarreal)
This Week in Marine Corps History: Operation Pipestone Canyon 

Forty-seven years ago this week, on May 26, 1969,  Operation Pipestone Canyon began when the 1st Battalion, 26th Marines and 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines began sweeps in the "Dodge City"/Go Noi areas southwest of Da Nang, Vietnam. 610 enemy troops, as well as 34 Marines, were killed during the operation, which ended approximately one month later, in late June

Click here to learn more....

*Image info: T ankers with the 1st Marine Division man .50 caliber machine guns and 90mm cannons as they sweep through the ‘Dodge City’ area in the heart of the ‘Rice Triangle,’ 12 miles southwest of Da Nang during the early stages of Operation Pipestone Canyon.
(USMC photo by Staff Sergeant A. J. Sharp).
Connect & Share: