Military families catch up with soldiers, Marines

Patriotic spirits ran high at the Ray's Food Place Community Room for a monthly meeting of The Military Parents of Sisters, held Wednesday afternoon.

The group, founded by Carla Merrell in 2007, provides support and education for those with family in the military. There are currently over 200 sons or daughters from Central Oregon actively deployed around the world.

Merrell moderated the meeting and began by thanking people for the success of their first "pack-out" to the troops, sending over 150 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies overseas. Everyone around the room then took turns providing updates and recent communications with their families.

Lance Trowbridge attended, representing the American Legion, and stressed better cooperation between his organization and The Military Parents of Sisters.

Val Anderson's boy, Thad, is currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan and had not been heard from in the last three weeks. She hoped he was doing well and expected to talk with him soon. Ron and Joanne Roberts' son, John, is doing service at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq, and said he couldn't talk much about "work" but that he was in great health.

His father remarked, "Our boy is now a man."

Betsy Johnson, the Central Oregon Military Family Association director, announced that the governor has declared Friday, May 8 "Military Family Appreciation Day."

An event will be held at Riverfront Plaza in Bend. Ceremonies begin at 6 p.m. and rather than have a sit -down meal, they will serve an All-American favorite, apple pie and ice cream. Proclamations are to be read and a Douglas fir tree planted in honor of the day. Anyone wishing to participate and assist with the event's planning to give it a "Sisters flavor" can contact her at 932-5666.

The goal is to include Central Oregon military families, both non-generational and all branches of the service, in a symbolic dedication to the pride and support Oregon carries like a blazing torch.

Marsha Marr just returned from her son, Josh's, graduation ceremony at Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego. She recalled the thrill of seeing the entire graduating class jog past the observation platform during their "Moto-Run," designed to pump up the crowd.

"All those green shorts and white legs," she laughed.

Four-hundred-seventy-nine Marines graduated that day, and every neck craned to try and find their son from the mass of newly minted leathernecks,

"He was the last one," Marr said. "He was the shortest one."

Applause erupted around the room.

"Congratulations and welcome to the Motherhood of Marines," Merrell announced.

Josh Marr stopped by in uniform to answer questions about his basic training, the merits of Marine food, and his forthcoming trip to Camp Pendelton to attend Combat Engineering school. He'll spend two months learning the intricacies and dangers of military demolitions and explosives. He remembered asking recruiters what "Combat Engineering" entailed, and they explained, "you get to blow things up."

Josh smiled and said, "That's the job for me!"

Marr also hosted a homecoming event for Josh at Pine Meadow Ranch Clubhouse on Saturday, where community members stopped by to offer their good wishes.

Merrell reminded everyone about the group's upcoming "Recruit Sendoff - An Occasion of Farewell" on July 4. The next meeting of The Military Parents of Sisters will be May 13 at 4 p.m., at Ray's Community Room.