News & Newsletters

 

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Newsletters and Staff Meeting Notices

 

Articles for the Department Newsletters are due by February 15, May 15, August 15, November 15  of each year.

 

 

News

 

VOLUNTEERS STEP UP SO NO MARINE STANDS ALONE

Jennifer Iddins has spent the past five years making sure no Marine stands alone after the graduation ceremonies at Parris Island, the Marine Corps boot camp near Beaufort, S.C. Iddins personally packs bags of goodies for the Marines into what she calls Stand Alone Marines (SAM) bags. Iddins' mission is to hand these treats to Marines who have no family or friends at the graduation. The graduation on Friday, Jan. 13 was very emotional as it was Iddins' last day last day of handling out SAMs, as her husband has been ordered to Naval Station Great Lakes near Chicago. After hearing about her endeavor, nine to a dozen volunteers have stepped up to ensure that no Marine stands alone on graduation day.
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WOUNDED WARRIORS FIND THERAPY IN FLORIDA KEYS DOLPHINS

Thirty wounded military veterans participating in the three-day Soldier Ride cycling event in Florida experienced a different kind of therapy on Jan. 13. The service members had an interactive session with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center, swimming with the animals or learning training techniques. They traded flipper shakes and signaled the dolphins to perform a variety of behaviors. For 26 year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Michael DeLancey, the experience was rewarding. "I was a little nervous cause I wasn't knowing what I was getting into; touching it (the dolphin) and things like that, but they're very friendly, and within a minute that went out the door," said DeLancey, who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in Iraq in 2006. The Soldier Ride began in Miami on Jan. 12 and ended in Key West on Jan. 14. Soldier Ride, a Wounded Warrior Project initiative, takes place across the United States in support of veterans severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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NAVY SECRETARY LIKES SAN CLEMENTE'S PARK SEMPER FI

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus visited Park Semper Fi in San Clemente, Calif. on Jan. 16. At the park's center is the Marine Monument, which Mabus called "a wonderful tribute to the Marines by the city of San Clemente." Park Semper Fi was built with community donations in 2005 and overlooks the San Clemente Pier. Mabus commended the city for its support of neighboring Camp Pendleton. "The fact that the citizens of San Clemente raised the money, established this park honoring the Marines and particularly the fallen Marines means a whole lot to the Navy and Marine Corps family. It speaks volumes about the people of San Clemente," he said. While touring the park, he met with Jo Seitsinger, mother of Sgt. Danton Kyle Seitsinger, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. A bench in Park Semper Fi is dedicated to the Marine's memory. Mabus also attended a dedication ceremony Jan. 17 at Camp Pendleton for a new barracks named after Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan, a San Clemente Marine killed by a roadside bomb in 2009 in Afghanistan, and to present the Navy Cross to Hogan's parents.
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FAMILY OF FALLEN MARINE GIVEN NAVY CROSS

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said that 20 year-old Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan is "now part of Marine lore along with the great heroes of the Corps," as he presented the fallen hero's parents with the Navy Cross on Jan. 17. He said Hogan's actions placed him among the "bravest and finest" in the Marines. Mabus spoke in front of the new barracks at Camp Pendleton, Calif., which will be named after Hogan, who was from nearby San Clemente. The barracks will house more than 1,000 troops wounded in the war and those resting. Hogan was killed in 2009 in Helmand province in Afghanistan while on patrol. The rifleman had volunteered to wear a metal detector that day and help look for explosive devices. He spotted a kite string on the road go taut in Taliban territory, a sign that a roadside bomb was about to go off. He flew into action, hurling his body into a fellow Marine and then running to the road to yell a warning to the rest of his squad before the blast killed him. Hogan had wanted to join the Marine Corps since he was a young boy.
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Watch Video of Ceremony and Interviews with Lance Cpl. Hogan's parents

 

 

 

Last Update: January 29, 2012