Hero Stories for deployment

I heard from Marshall today. He's doing very well. Despite the heat and constant stress of a hostile environment, he still has a good attitude and is confident that he made the right decision about joining the Marines. For security reasons, he's unable to discuss anything about what he's doing in the sandbox, so he likes to discuss what he wants to do when he returns to the states and when he gets out of the Marine Corps. We bought Marshall a 1982 Chevy Silverado Pickup for Christmas when he ...

We love getting notes from HeroBracelet wearers. Here is a picture of me wearing my bracelet. I have worn it in hornor of SPC. John Sullivan and his family for one and a half years faithfully without ever removing it! As a mother of a soldier serving in the Army National Guard we are all Family, and I wear it with pride as if John was my own son. John, and his family are in my heart. I think of them with love, honor, and pride. Always, Leah Sullivent</blockquo

We're very happy to post this ongoing series from Melody Pigg about her experience of being a Marine Mom and watching her son, Marshall, in his deployment in Iraq. I heard from Marshall a little over a week ago. For security reasons, he's really not able to talk about what they're doing in the sandbox. He sounds very good and still positive about his decision to become a Marine. At least we're not hearing him questioning, "What have I done?" Here I am complaining because of the nightmares and...

We heard from Susan Sides Hawkins recently. Her son is stationed with the 606th Air Control Squadron in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She mentioned that the guys there would love something to read. They're working hard, but when they have a little time off, they'd love to relax with a good book. It may not seem like a huge thing to send these guys some books, but put yourself in their place for a minute. You're in a hostle land, working long shifts and you find that a total stranger back home took t...

We've asked Melody Pigg to stay in touch with us and write more about her experiences watching her son, Marshall prepare to ship off to Iraq. She has done a wonderful job of telling her story, a story that hundreds of thousands of parents have experienced. We are happy to provide this forum for her. "In my little bit of idle time that I have to think, I've come to the conclusion that some of the issues that I'm dealing with about Marshall leaving for Iraq are normal issues that the majority o...

We've been seeing a pretty interesting tradition come to life over the last year. When a Soldier or Marine gets deployment orders to the Middle East, his or her whole extended family and friends get custom Deployed HeroBracelets made to wear while they are overseas. We even heard from one family that is going to make a chain from all the HeroBracelets when their Marine comes home. One such family that we recently heard from is the Abernathy family from Texas City, Texas. Keith Abernathy Sr. o...

We just heard from a HeroBracelet wearer named Joan Barnhardt. She had ordered Deployed HeroBracelets on several occasions and we asked her if she'd share what she was doing. We were all pretty amazed at what she's done for a group of local Marines from Red Bank, NJ. Here is her story. "I am so thrilled to have my Deployed HeroBracelets. I wear two for my friends, Col Bob Danko and GySgt Gerald Graham, both Marines deployed in Iraq. Here's how I got to know them. I lost my Mom to Alzheimer's ...

I came across a pretty amazing Web site yesterday. A gentleman named William Thompson had recently returned from Iraq to work teaching photojournalism. While he was in Iraq, he took probably thousands of photos of his work in and around Baghdad. His team was responsible for restoring basic civil services to one of nine central districts of the city. You can see his photos on his Web site, www.doghousephoto.com. There are many more at www.photojournalismstock.com and www.iraqphotopost.com I th...