A WORD ABOUT MARINES
Our armed forces are filled with young men and women who joined the service after 9/11, most of them 19, 20 and 21 years old. Each of them knew they would be trading any sense of comfort of their teenage lives for the battlefield.
They have willingly left their lives and loved ones behind to advance freedom and safety for those who remain at home. For many, the milestone of their 21st birthday has been spent at war, in the heat of the desert, without comforts or conveniences, thousands of miles from those who love them. They sacrifice daily. They face terrorist, IEDs, bullets and bombs. They often sleep in the sand, go without clean clothes, bathrooms or showers. For weeks at a time they may only eat MREs but they don't complain. They do it without thinking twice. For some, their sacrifice will be greater. There are few who can fill the job of United States Marine. To those, past, present and future, we say thank you with heartfelt gratitude that words cannot fully express.
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."
President Ronald Reagan
A WORD ABOUT MARINE FAMILIES
Marine families are a unique breed as well. For parents, we nurture and raise our children. We watch them grow year to year, getting bigger, advancing in school, playing baseball, getting a drivers license and graduating high school. The memories are endless. Then, the day comes when they leave for bootcamp. The life we've known is now the past.
Our sons are no longer ours. They have traded in Mom and Dad for a drill instructor who will take them forcefully through the process of becoming a Marine. The pride a Marine parent feels is indescribable.
On deployment day, as our sons board the white bus that will take them to war, our pride is stronger than ever. But the emotions that come with the separation and apprehension of war are ever present.
Parents live their own type of deployment. Although we have the comforts of home and do not face an enemy, every waking moment is spent at war with our Marines. Life is not always easy with a son or daughter at war, it is, however, an honor to serve our country as Marine Moms and Dads.
We offer a very special thank you to spouses and children who must endure deployment without the ones they love. Their sacrifice is enormous and we thank them for it.