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July 03, 2004

New addition to a field first aid kit

The Marine Moms in Houston are an amazing group. They have sent off hundreds of care packages and letters to Marines in the middle east. Given the scope of their effort, a few glitches are to be expected. Here's an e-mail sent by one of those moms:

To top off my son�s email he was able to call yesterday!!! I've just been in absolutely the BEST mood. Not only did he call, but we were able to talk for a long time and it was so wonderful. He shared so many stories and had my laughing so hard. He wanted me to thank all his "Moms" and to let ya'll know that he and his fire team received their care packages and they were a wonderful morale booster. He said all of them had the Channel 11 footballs in their care package and they were out in the open area throwing the footballs around and other Marines were asking, "Hey where did ya'll get the footballs?" My son said at first they would all respond, "The Houston Marine Moms!". He said after awhile they were all laughing and they would just say "Our Moms".

He said they call the footballs their WMD's. I asked why and he said that when the lights go out at night they all throw them really hard at each other and just have the best time. He was laughing so hard sharing these stories with me. He had me rolling.

He told me how wonderful the care packages were and wanted me to tell everyone thank you. He said that one guy we�ll call �Marine X� did get a girl care package and everyone was giving him a hard time. My son said, "Marine X got some really nice smelling lotion and everyone really likes it, so everytime he goes to sleep they steal it from him." I told my son I was really sorry about the mistake, and if he wanted I would send Marine X another package. He told me not to worry about Marine X because everytime I send something to him Marine X thinks it's for him too. He said when my husband and I sent the last care package Marine X came over to his cot picked up the box, started fishing through it, and said, "What'd we get this time?" )

My son said they had the most fun with Marine X�s package. He said he wasn't sure who we were sending the pack to, but the panties were size 20, and he said one of the guys got on top of the humvee and jumped off with the panties over his head and yelled, "Look at me, I'm an Airborne Ranger!!!!". He said one of the guys attached the panties to an antenna and it blew in the wind like a windsock. He said it entertained them for quite awhile.

Then of course, they had the tampons. When he brought this up my imagination was just running wild, but I let him continue. My son said they had to go on a mission and Marine X wanted the chapstick and lotion for the trip. He grabbed a bunch of the items out of his care package and got in the humvee. As luck would have it he grabbed the tampons, and My son said everyone was teasing him about "not forgetting his feminine hygiene products". My son said things were going well, and then the convoy was ambushed. He said a Marine in the convoy was shot. He said the wound was pretty clean, but it was deep. He said they were administering first aid but couldn't get the bleeding to slow down, and someone said, "Hey use Marine X�s tampons". My son said they put the tampon in the wound. At this point my son profoundly told me, "Mom did you know that tampons expand?" ) "Well, yeah!". They successfully slowed the bleeding and got the guy medical attention. When they went to check on him later the surgeon told them, "You guys saved his life". If you hadn't stopped that bleeding he would have bled to death. My son said, "Mom, the tampons sent by the Marine Moms by mistake saved a Marines life." At this point I asked him, "Well what did you do with the rest of the tampons?" He said, "Oh, we divided them up and we all have them in our flak jackets, and I kept two for our first aid kit".

I am absolutely amazed by the ingenuity of our Marines, and can't believe that something that started out as a mistake ended up saving someone's life. My sister said she doesn't believe in mistakes. She said that God had a plan all along. She believes that female care package was sent to Marine X to save our Marine. Either way ladies our efforts have boosted the morale of many Marines, provided much needed items for our troops, AND saved the lives of a Marine! God bless each of you for your efforts and hard work, and God bless our Marines!

To read more about the Houston area Marine Moms, check out this story.

Posted by Deb at July 3, 2004 09:20 AM

Comments

Gotta luv feminine hygeine products! "Mom did you know tampons expand?" he-he!

I used Kotex pads for years to soak up oil, grit, and grime in drip pans under marine diesels. You should've seen the funny looks I got when going through the checkout line with cases of Kotex pads! :-o

My Bride got a kick out of this story! You really have to admire the ingenuity of the average Grunt! :-)

Posted by: JarheadDad at July 3, 2004 06:47 PM

Please let me know how I can help send packages or anything else needed for our Marines. My son, Cpl. Floyd, was there last year at the beginning, I really want to help and support our people. Please email me and let me know how I can donate or help, I was unable to get to the locations this weekend. Thank you sooooo much. God Bless and HOORAH! Proud Marine Mom

Posted by: Joye Griffith at July 5, 2004 05:49 AM

Hi there,

Please let me know how I can help out....my son is in his 8th year as a Marine and will deploy in September, for the 2nd time; four weeks after his wedding.

His first deployment brought him back with a bullet wound, but his drive to "get it done" has given him the fuel he needs to go back there. He's my only child and I want to be as involved as I can.

Sincerely,

Gina Kirby
Mother of Sgt. Jonathan D. Wuneburger

Posted by: Gina Kirby at July 12, 2004 07:10 AM

I'm in the process of providing BLSS kits to upgrade existing helmets for our Marine Corps Grandson and his unit(CSSB1 C Co) in Camp Fallujah. For info about the kits, go to www.Oregonaero.com and enter BLSS into the search bar.Have sent 80 kits to date, grandson tells me he gets 10-20 requests a day for more upgrade kits from other Marine units. Will be on Channel 13 news, 4 O'clock Monday Oct 3rd to ask for more help providing them. New Marine helmets (LWH) will be available in a year or so, but for now, we're upgrading existing squash protectors for our troops. We've gotten a special price from OregonAero, $104.14 shipped to FPO. Contact me if you want more info. Bob Meaders, CAPT, MEDCORPS, USN-Retired. 936-449-9706, bmeaders@consolidated.net

Posted by: Bob Meaders at October 3, 2004 11:15 AM

Viet-Era Marine would like to help with Houston Marine Moms program or any opportunity to help our men and women in Iraq/Afghanistan.

Posted by: Dave Watson at November 11, 2004 12:06 PM