July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Marine mom shares feelings
Editor's Mailbag
By To the editor:-
I have never written the editor of a paper before, but for some time now I have felt a need to do this. I feel it is important to share some of my feelings and beliefs as a parent of a U.S. Marine and a Marine recruit.
You see, I am a very proud Marine Mom. My oldest son is a Lance Corporal currently stationed in Okinowa and at present participating in Operation Cobra Gold in Thailand. My youngest son is a senior in high school. He will graduate May 21 and leave for MRCD (boot camp) in San Diego on June 14. Both of my sons are intelligent, caring, strong men who are willing to do a difficult job with low pay and little if any recognition for their efforts to strengthen and better our nation.
They believe strongly in protecting the freedoms we have rather than hiding behind them. These are rights we have because a small group of Americans put their lives on the line to give us those freedoms. Should our sons and daughters serving in the armed forces be considered “less successful” than their friends that chose a different path? Absolutely not. I can’t think of any success greater than living one’s life to protect others. That is what our servicemen and women do 24-7, 365.
Is the average citizen aware that on average my son brings home less than $13,500 a year — much less than a single shopping spree for many celebrities. While some celebrities pose for cameras spouting 1960s rhetoric, my 21-year-old son is driving a seven ton truck with a load of grunts out in the field training to go to the sandbox.
As the Dixie Chicks used their fame to publicly denounce President Bush, my son was at MCRD, training on how to defend that great freedom of speech. While the public is so wound up in the Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson court cases, my Motor T son will be underneath a truck scrambling to fix another oil leak so his grunts can continue their training to hunt down Iraqi insurgents.
While Rosie O’Donnell whines about persecution, our marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen are away from their families bringing justice to those who know firsthand what real persecution does to the human spirit.
While America watched Paris Hilton go around in designer skirts that barely cover what God gave her, my sons’ cammies are covered in sand, oil, smoke, sweat and blood.
Talent, passion and resources on both sides, put to very different uses.
If I sound angry, you’re right. We military families deal with reality every hour. We have given our own in this fight against terrorism. We’ve raised our children to be strong with a sense of responsibility and patriotism and a deep desire to make the world a better place. I will never forget the day the recruiter came and picked up my son to leave for boot camp; hugging him good-bye and seeing him walk down that sidewalk to begin his chosen way to protect our home and country. Many military parents have experienced this and we “suck it up” and back our children 100 percent. Our children have gone voluntarily showing a commitment to their nation that most young Americans refuse to consider.
Being a Marine mom has been my most difficult yet most rewarding task I have had as a parent. Marine parents are a different breed, like our Marines. I talk with other Marine Moms everyday, from all over our nation, and we all feel the same way. We speak in Marine Corps lingo, using military time, have links on our computer that give the location of our Marines’ nearest PX (post exchange), or the current temperature in Baghdad.
Our homes are shrines to our sons and daughters who serve. Our POV (privately owned vehicles) are plastered with Marine Corps stickers. As mothers, we love our children and have hopes and dreams for them just as civilian moms do. But we ride a daily roller coaster unlike anything they will every know. We never leave our homes without calls forwarded to our cell phones. We hold our breath when we see a government car driving slowly down our street.
Our children fight fueled by MREs (meals ready-to-eat) that a picky civilian wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. We hope their Kevlar vests have all their plates and that their Humvee doors are armored. We have life insurance beneficiary forms made out to us and POA (power of attorney) on file to deal with our Marines’ affairs “just in case he ...” We never finish that thought. We can’t tear ourselves away from the news. When we hear of another chopper going down, another uprising of Islamic militants and another suicide bomber that takes 10 people with him, we stop and pray because we know it could be our son or daughter or the child of someone we know. Either way, the loss belongs to and is felt by all of us, and someone’s baby won’t ever be coming home alive.
We prioritize differently. It is very difficult for us to understand outside worries. We don’t want to hear another mother whining about her son flunking out of college, going to too many parties or wrecking another new car. We don’t really care if her daughter makes sorority rush cut. We want to be ill when we hear that her baby is “five whole hours away” or calls only when he needs money. Well just how can she stand it?
For those who can’t understand why we are at war, let me share with you — we need to protect our citizens and all that we have as a free society. It’s our job to protect the world’s people that can’t protect themselves. We military families don’t want war, but sometimes it is necessary.
Look to your history books to confirm the establishment of America and all the rights you so casually demand. Look at the abolishment of slavery as the result of the Civil War. Remember the Holocaust in Hitler’s Germany, the genocide of his own people by Saddam Hussein. If you have a conscience, use it.
Don’t tell me the 9/11 murderers and the terrorists shooting at our sons are not the same people. Terrorism is not a Republican catch-phrase. It’s a living, breathing evil whose only aims are to cause chaos, murder and destruction. Sept. 11, 2001 showed us what we are dealing with. Don’t forget it. We can’t stand by and allow mass murder, regardless of the price to ourselves, no matter where it occurs. We’d be as guilty of the bloodshed as the monsters who caused it.
Do you really believe we can reason with people whose sole purpose is to wipe us from the face of the earth to gain admittance to heaven? You can’t sit down with terrorists and impress them with talks of peace. They don’t care about being reasonable. We are their Antichrist. We all are their targets. Not just my sons, not just me, not just the corporations, or President Bush or our economy. YOU. Yes, you, and your friends, your teacher, your grocer, editor, manicurist, mother, baby and wife. Everyone you know and hold dear. Get your finger on that pulse.
Reality versus fantasy. Need instead of greed. Responsibility versus privilege. Giving back rather than taking. Others before self. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Guarding freedom, bleeding for freedom — instead of using it as an excuse and a crutch.
Courage is not defined by dealing with Donald Trump, using stardom to tear apart our unity in time of crisis. Nor is it rapping about hunger and pain while wearing enough diamonds to feed a neighborhood for a year, or saving endangered turtles and birds from stress. Do you want to see real courage? I see real courage every day from our sons and daughters who offer their lives for every citizen, regardless of belief, income, spirituality, sexual preference, career choice, or political stance.
Would our celebrity star heroes give up their million dollar endorsements and contracts to insure our freedom? They are a part of a group of self-absorbed Americans who hide behind the flag rather than wrap themselves around it. There is no honor, sacrifice, or bravery in what they say or do. Heroes? My heroes are my sons, and their brothers and sisters in the military. I owe everything to them, nothing to celebrity journalists, divas and professional athletes.
Open your eyes, America. See who the real heroes are. For your sake and theirs, be grateful to them. Give them your respect, they’ve earned it. Don’t begrudge them their tiny pay raises. Don’t gripe about your tax dollars being used to give them the training, equipment and supplies they need to do their job. Give their leaders the support and respect they deserve. Live your lives being worthy of their sacrifices. Our continued freedom and our very lives depend on them.
I know what a hero is. I gave birth to two of them.
A very proud Marine Mom,
Kathy Snyder
Bryant[[In-content Ad]]
You see, I am a very proud Marine Mom. My oldest son is a Lance Corporal currently stationed in Okinowa and at present participating in Operation Cobra Gold in Thailand. My youngest son is a senior in high school. He will graduate May 21 and leave for MRCD (boot camp) in San Diego on June 14. Both of my sons are intelligent, caring, strong men who are willing to do a difficult job with low pay and little if any recognition for their efforts to strengthen and better our nation.
They believe strongly in protecting the freedoms we have rather than hiding behind them. These are rights we have because a small group of Americans put their lives on the line to give us those freedoms. Should our sons and daughters serving in the armed forces be considered “less successful” than their friends that chose a different path? Absolutely not. I can’t think of any success greater than living one’s life to protect others. That is what our servicemen and women do 24-7, 365.
Is the average citizen aware that on average my son brings home less than $13,500 a year — much less than a single shopping spree for many celebrities. While some celebrities pose for cameras spouting 1960s rhetoric, my 21-year-old son is driving a seven ton truck with a load of grunts out in the field training to go to the sandbox.
As the Dixie Chicks used their fame to publicly denounce President Bush, my son was at MCRD, training on how to defend that great freedom of speech. While the public is so wound up in the Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson court cases, my Motor T son will be underneath a truck scrambling to fix another oil leak so his grunts can continue their training to hunt down Iraqi insurgents.
While Rosie O’Donnell whines about persecution, our marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen are away from their families bringing justice to those who know firsthand what real persecution does to the human spirit.
While America watched Paris Hilton go around in designer skirts that barely cover what God gave her, my sons’ cammies are covered in sand, oil, smoke, sweat and blood.
Talent, passion and resources on both sides, put to very different uses.
If I sound angry, you’re right. We military families deal with reality every hour. We have given our own in this fight against terrorism. We’ve raised our children to be strong with a sense of responsibility and patriotism and a deep desire to make the world a better place. I will never forget the day the recruiter came and picked up my son to leave for boot camp; hugging him good-bye and seeing him walk down that sidewalk to begin his chosen way to protect our home and country. Many military parents have experienced this and we “suck it up” and back our children 100 percent. Our children have gone voluntarily showing a commitment to their nation that most young Americans refuse to consider.
Being a Marine mom has been my most difficult yet most rewarding task I have had as a parent. Marine parents are a different breed, like our Marines. I talk with other Marine Moms everyday, from all over our nation, and we all feel the same way. We speak in Marine Corps lingo, using military time, have links on our computer that give the location of our Marines’ nearest PX (post exchange), or the current temperature in Baghdad.
Our homes are shrines to our sons and daughters who serve. Our POV (privately owned vehicles) are plastered with Marine Corps stickers. As mothers, we love our children and have hopes and dreams for them just as civilian moms do. But we ride a daily roller coaster unlike anything they will every know. We never leave our homes without calls forwarded to our cell phones. We hold our breath when we see a government car driving slowly down our street.
Our children fight fueled by MREs (meals ready-to-eat) that a picky civilian wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. We hope their Kevlar vests have all their plates and that their Humvee doors are armored. We have life insurance beneficiary forms made out to us and POA (power of attorney) on file to deal with our Marines’ affairs “just in case he ...” We never finish that thought. We can’t tear ourselves away from the news. When we hear of another chopper going down, another uprising of Islamic militants and another suicide bomber that takes 10 people with him, we stop and pray because we know it could be our son or daughter or the child of someone we know. Either way, the loss belongs to and is felt by all of us, and someone’s baby won’t ever be coming home alive.
We prioritize differently. It is very difficult for us to understand outside worries. We don’t want to hear another mother whining about her son flunking out of college, going to too many parties or wrecking another new car. We don’t really care if her daughter makes sorority rush cut. We want to be ill when we hear that her baby is “five whole hours away” or calls only when he needs money. Well just how can she stand it?
For those who can’t understand why we are at war, let me share with you — we need to protect our citizens and all that we have as a free society. It’s our job to protect the world’s people that can’t protect themselves. We military families don’t want war, but sometimes it is necessary.
Look to your history books to confirm the establishment of America and all the rights you so casually demand. Look at the abolishment of slavery as the result of the Civil War. Remember the Holocaust in Hitler’s Germany, the genocide of his own people by Saddam Hussein. If you have a conscience, use it.
Don’t tell me the 9/11 murderers and the terrorists shooting at our sons are not the same people. Terrorism is not a Republican catch-phrase. It’s a living, breathing evil whose only aims are to cause chaos, murder and destruction. Sept. 11, 2001 showed us what we are dealing with. Don’t forget it. We can’t stand by and allow mass murder, regardless of the price to ourselves, no matter where it occurs. We’d be as guilty of the bloodshed as the monsters who caused it.
Do you really believe we can reason with people whose sole purpose is to wipe us from the face of the earth to gain admittance to heaven? You can’t sit down with terrorists and impress them with talks of peace. They don’t care about being reasonable. We are their Antichrist. We all are their targets. Not just my sons, not just me, not just the corporations, or President Bush or our economy. YOU. Yes, you, and your friends, your teacher, your grocer, editor, manicurist, mother, baby and wife. Everyone you know and hold dear. Get your finger on that pulse.
Reality versus fantasy. Need instead of greed. Responsibility versus privilege. Giving back rather than taking. Others before self. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Guarding freedom, bleeding for freedom — instead of using it as an excuse and a crutch.
Courage is not defined by dealing with Donald Trump, using stardom to tear apart our unity in time of crisis. Nor is it rapping about hunger and pain while wearing enough diamonds to feed a neighborhood for a year, or saving endangered turtles and birds from stress. Do you want to see real courage? I see real courage every day from our sons and daughters who offer their lives for every citizen, regardless of belief, income, spirituality, sexual preference, career choice, or political stance.
Would our celebrity star heroes give up their million dollar endorsements and contracts to insure our freedom? They are a part of a group of self-absorbed Americans who hide behind the flag rather than wrap themselves around it. There is no honor, sacrifice, or bravery in what they say or do. Heroes? My heroes are my sons, and their brothers and sisters in the military. I owe everything to them, nothing to celebrity journalists, divas and professional athletes.
Open your eyes, America. See who the real heroes are. For your sake and theirs, be grateful to them. Give them your respect, they’ve earned it. Don’t begrudge them their tiny pay raises. Don’t gripe about your tax dollars being used to give them the training, equipment and supplies they need to do their job. Give their leaders the support and respect they deserve. Live your lives being worthy of their sacrifices. Our continued freedom and our very lives depend on them.
I know what a hero is. I gave birth to two of them.
A very proud Marine Mom,
Kathy Snyder
Bryant[[In-content Ad]]
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