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MarineParents.com Newsletter
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2013 Marine Corps Marathon
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Greetings!
If this is the first edition of the Marine Parents newsletter you have received, WELCOME! If you are a returning reader we are glad you have joined us and are thankful for your support. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Our first article recognizes one of our valued employees and the contributions she makes here at our corporate office. For years, veterans and advocates have claimed the VA was over-medicating service members. Our second article looks at a recent U.S. News and World Report investigation that backs up those claims. In 2008, a Marine aunt wanted to find a way to give back to the brave men and women serving our country to help her get through her nephew's deployment to Afghanistan. Our third article looks at the lengths she's gone to to improve the physical and spiritual well-being of deployed Marines in the years since. Today, October 23 marks the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Our fourth article looks back at the fateful day more than 200 Marines lost their lives in one of the deadliest attacks against our armed forces in the last half century. Finally, we take a look at this issue's Team Marine Parents Featured Participants. In honor of this weekend's 38th annual Marine Corps Marathon, we have decided to recognize the entire team for all of the hard work they've done this year, the most successful year in Team Marine Parents' history! God bless and Semper Fi!
 Tracy Della Vecchia Founder and Executive Director MarineParents.com, Inc.
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October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month
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Raising Awareness, Celebrating Contributions
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Mendy (L) receiving her National Presidential Volunteer Award from Marine Parents founder and executive director, Tracy Della Vecchia April 20, 2013.
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Since 1988, Congress has recognized October as "National Disability Employment Awareness Month" (from 1945-87 only the first week of the month was recognized), a "...national campaign that raises awareness about disability employment issues and celebrates the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities." In honor of "National Disability Employment Awareness Month", we would like to recognize Mendy, a disabled employee in our office, for all of the hard work she does. Every morning, rain or shine, Mendy comes in and attacks the day with gusto and laughter and on Thursdays, after she finishes working, she volunteers her time in our warehouse, helping prepare for pack days. Thank you Mendy, for your hard work and for being a valued member of the Marine Parents team. We greatly appreciate all that you do for our organization! To learn more about National Disability Employment Awareness Month, please click here...
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Is the VA Over-Medicating Veterans?
| | Family Members, New Study Suggest Yes
For years, veterans groups and advocates have claimed that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been over-medicating returning service members, a claim that the VA has vigorously denied. In September, for the first time ever, data came out that quantified the amount of medication that the VA has prescribed, and the results were nothing short of shocking.
According to the data, while the number of VA patients has risen by 29% over the last 11 years, the number of prescriptions for narcotics has increased by a staggering 259%. Perhaps even more disconcerting, recent internal investigations at VA medical centers around the country have shown that an increasing number of these prescriptions are being written by nurse practitioners who lack the necessary federal certification to do so.
To read more of U.S. News & World Report's article on the VA over-medicating veterans, please click here...
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Ephesians 6:15 Sock Ministry
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Marine Aunt Promotes Physical, Spiritual Well-Being for Deployed Marines
In 2008, Karen Del Tatto began searching for a safe and secure support group to help her get through her Marine son-in-law's deployment to Afghanistan. "I looked into 501(c) Charities and found the MarineParents.com board," she says. "It was a network that allowed me to relate and help, and it gave me some reassurance while Garrett was deployed."
During a phone conversation with Garrett while he was in Afghanistan, he informed Karen that having new, clean socks was a much-desired luxury in a combat zone. Upon learning this, Karen did some research and discovered Covert Threads, a company co-founded by a Marine Corps veteran that specializes in producing comfortable, durable military socks (their motto is "A sock for every clime and place!").
After ordering a pair of socks from Covert Threads, Karen sent them to Garrett in Afghanistan, a simple act but one that resulted in a phone call and profuse thanks from the Marine. Upon learning how appreciative Garrett was, Karen decided to take action and made it her mission to send pairs of new, military-specific socks to deployed Marines to raise morale. To do this, Karen and her husband, Michael, founded the "Ephesians 6:15 Sock Ministry" in 2011. In addition, Karen decided to team up with Marine Parents' Care Package Project.
Click here to read more about Karen Del Tatto's "Ephesians 6:15" Sock Ministry...
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30th Anniversary of Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing
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 | | The Marine barracks building in Beirut, Lebanon, prior to the bombing.(Photo Courtesy of II MEF) |
Today, October 23, 2013, marks the 30th anniversary of the single deadliest day for the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima in World War II. However, the chain of events that led up to this tragic event began more than a year prior, in June of 1982. On June 6, 1982, the Israeli Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon in response to an assassination attempt on Israel's ambassador to the UK by Palestinian terrorists, in an attempt to create a buffer zone between Israel and a joint Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Syrian force stationed in Lebanon. After two and a half months of fighting, a 2,000 member multinational peacekeeping force, including 800 Marines from the 32d Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU), was deployed to Beirut to oversee the withdrawal of PLO guerillas on August 25.  | | The Beirut Memorial in the Lejeune Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville, NC memorializes the service members lost in the Oct. 23, 1983 Beirut bombing. The names of the service members are engraved next to the words, 'THEY CAME IN PEACE.' (Photo Courtesy of Cpl. John Suleski) |
Just over two weeks later, following the PLO's retreat, President Reagan ordered the Marines to withdraw from Beirut on September 10. However, following political and religious unrest, including assassinations and massacres on civilians, the 32d MAU was redeployed to Beirut before the end of the month, rejoining the multinational peacekeeping force that had by now grown to 2,200 French and Italian service members. At the end of October, the 32d MAU was relieved by the 24th MAU. In February, the 32d MAU redesignated as the 22d MAU and relieved the 24th MAU, before the 24th MAU returned the favor at the end of May. By the time October, 1983 rolled around, there were roughly 1,800 Marines stationed in Beirut, 300 of whom were living in a four-story building at the Beirut Airport. Click here to read this story in its entirety...
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Get to Know the Team
| | TMP's Best Year Ever! Good Luck in D.C.!
 Team Marine Parents™ 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. Currently, there are over 50 members of Team Marine Parents™ around the country.
Since 2004, dedicated Marine supporters such as yourselves have raised tens of thousands of dollars on behalf of Team Marine Parents, and this year was by far our best year yet. Thanks to your hard work, TMP members blew our old fundraising record out of the water this year, combining to raise more than $32,000 in 2013!
This coming Sunday, October 27, more than 30 team members will come together in Washington to participate in the 38th annual Marine Corps Marathon and other, related events. Months of hard work, training, and sore feet will culminate in what will surely be an emotionally charged running of "The Peoples' Marathon," given all the uncertainty in Washington as of late.
As an official charity partner, we will have a booth at the Health and Fitness Expo in the D.C. Armory. Our booth will be number 129 and we will be selling merchandise from the EGA Shop such as T-shirts, hats, and garden flags, as well as giving away TMP fans, wrist bands, and informational publications to spread awareness of our organization. The booth will be open on the following days at the following times:
- Thursday, October 24 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
- Friday, October 25 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
- Saturday, October 26 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
On Sunday, the booth will be closed and we'll be at the marathon, cheering on the Team Marine Parents runners (as well as the rest) as they put their months of training to the test.
We hope those of you who live in the Washington area, as well as those of you who will be in town for the race, take a moment to stop by the booth and say hi. We'd like to wish the best of luck to all the participants out there, and we look forward to seeing you in Washington!
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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.
Banner Photo--Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ - Marines with Animal Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, exit a UH-1Y Huey helicopter and provide security during a raid exercise here, Oct. 9, 2013. The Animal Co. Marines inserted into a training town by fast roping from the helicopters and engaged enemy role players while a designated team captured a suspected high-ranking insurgent. More than 20 Marines in the company were designated as enemy combatants and set up traps and obstacles throughout the town to challenge the assaulting Marines. (Photo By: Cpl. Joseph Scanlan)
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 have "a place to connect and share"® with one another during their Marine's career. Our free online services and connections have expanded to support and educate Marine moms and dads, spouses, families and friends. We've helped 400,000 Marine and recruit families during boot camp, training, active duty and deployments. We've shipped more than 34,000 care packages overseas to our Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, sent 60,000 prayers and letters to injured Marines and served thousands of meals to wounded heroes and their families on the East and West coasts. You've found "a place to connect and share."®
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