MCRD Christmas Visit 2005

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2005 Report:

This was my family's fourth year to visit MCRD in San Diego on Christmas morning (fifth year total for the project) - and it was an awesome visit! (This type of visit was also happening at the Marine Corps' other Recruit Depot in Parris Island, SC.)

Marine Moms Online sponsors this project every year. There's a Yahoo group made up of wonderful folks who help make it happen. The purpose of the project is two-fold:

  1. To encourage sick and injured Marine recruits in boot camp with letters, goodies, conversation - just to be loved on.
  2. To take photos of the recruits to post on the Web so that family and friends can see they're really okay.

The awesome subscribers of Mikey's Funnies helped this year's project by generating well over 6,000 letters to the recruits! We had a total of 9,000 letters from around the country, which means each recruit got over a dozen letters. Thanks to you all! We can't say just how much this meant to these men, who have volunteered to protect our country.

This year's visit was different in many ways - only 200 sick and injured recruits. There have been as many as 400 before. But it meant we had more time to connect with each of them. Also, most of the recruits were injured; very few were sick (I'm sure due to the dry fall/winter we've had here). This means we didn't go home with the usual film of yuck on our clothes - just part of the job, but not this time.

Many of us noticed that we got many more expressions of appreciation than usual. (Marines are typically shy (really!) and find it hard to express their emotions.) They were so overwhelmed with the visit. Many of them told me, "You just don't know how much this motivates us." Some (more than usual) were visibly overcome with emotion.

One of my fellow elves, Becky, said: "It's odd you mentioned how emotional some of the guys got. Larny and I made the same observation. There did seem to be quite a few more who were overtaken by emotion this time. I had a few that just sobbed uncontrollably in my arms this year. They were calmed down by the time we left and 'good to go.' I guess the Lord knew we'd need extra time with some of those guys, didn't He?"

One very cool aspect of this year's visit: After our visit last year, I was contacted by Neil, a subscriber to Mikey's Funnies. His son, Eddie, was one of the recruits we visited with! His son recovered and graduated a couple months later. Neil and I stayed in contact throughout the year and he kept me updated on Eddie's adventures. Last summer Eddie was sent to Iraq and had quite an eventful experience, returning in the fall.

A couple weeks before Christmas this year, Neil emailed me and told me that Eddie would be home for Christmas and they wanted to be part of the visit to MCRD! One of my highlights for me was the honor of introducing Eddie to each platoon as a former injured recruit who went on to serve our country with bravery in Iraq. You just can't imagine the motivation this provided the guys. Thanks Eddie and Neil!

Now here's some more from Becky: "Each and every one of the recruits were so appreciative of our visit, what we brought them and the TONS of homemade cookies and fudge Toni brought. What a treat.

"As always the letters were the big hit, especially from the littlest supporters. Many started writing back immediately. My Marine Ryan had his iPod with him and was passing it around for the guys to listen to music. Music is what he missed most during boot camp.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to be able to share with these guys. The Special Training Company is no place they want to be, especially on Christmas, but by and large they were all anxious to heal and get on with the business of becoming Marines."

Amen, Becky!

Thanks to all who helped make this happen!
Mikey

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