1st Marine Logistics Group

Produced by Sgt. Jennifer Brofer

Produced by Sgt. Jennifer Brofer

Sgt. Jennifer Brofer

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Volunteers are needed for a toy drive benefiting the Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego, and the goal is to collect at least 1,000 toys by Oct. 16.

Six to ten Marines are needed to help collect, catalog and deliver the donated toys, according to Gunnery Sgt. Kyle Shoemaker, Systems Planning and Engineering chief for G-6, 1st Marine Logistics Group.

Star 94.1 initiated the toy drive, but Shoemaker wants to help.

“It shows that we’re engaging with the local community,” said Shoemaker, who has been involved with toy donation drives for the past six years.

Donated toys should be new and unwrapped; used video games are also acceptable. Stuffed animals are highly encouraged because doctors can use them to illustrate to sick children the different types of operations they will undergo. 

There will be several toy drop-off locations around the base, such as near the PX on Mainside, Del Mar and other locations, to be determined. Some locations will need Marine volunteers to man the collection points, but Dress Blues won’t be required.

“Depending on which units want to get involved, there could be locations in their areas,” said Shoemaker.

With only a week to collect toys, it’s crucial that volunteers step forward to help.

“Any unit can collect toys, put them in a van and drive them over here, or just go to a location and drop them off,” said Shoemaker.

To volunteer to collect toys, or to find out how your unit can get involved, call 760-763-1590 or 760-547-3637.

Produced by Sgt. Jennifer Brofer, 1st Marine Logistics Group Public Affairs Office

Check out the latest Marine Corps commercial.

By, Douglas Allen, NCHP PAO
 
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - "This flu season is not the same as years past,"
said Jennifer Holden, RN, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton immunizations
project manager. "There are two types of influenza that we need to get
immunized against-the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu. We will first give
vaccinations for the seasonal flu, then give the H1N1 vaccine later when we
receive it."
    Active duty members will receive their flu vaccines at their Regimental or
Battalion Aid Stations. For everyone else, the Naval Hospital will be
offering the seasonal flu vaccine to all TRICARE beneficiaries from Oct. 3
thru Oct. 9, 2009 at various locations around base.
"Everyone should get the influenza vaccine as it is the first and best
defense against getting the flu," said Holden. "And it is especially
important that those at high risk of flu related complications receive the
vaccine."
    Those at high risk are:
All children from 6 months up to 18 years of age.
Parents/guardians and care givers of children from 6 months to 5 years of
age.
Women who will be pregnant during influenza season.
Anyone with long-term health problems.
Anyone with a weakened immune system.
Residents of nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities.
Health care workers. 
People six months old and older can receive the flu vaccine. A military ID
card will be required to receive the flu vaccine. Anyone unable to attend
these clinics may receive the vaccination for their primary care clinic
immunization office starting the week of Oct. 12 unless you are in one of
the high risk categories then you may contact you primary care clinic
immediately.
    Vaccinations will be given at the following locations on the listed
days:
.    Oct. 3, 2009 thru Oct. 9, 2009 at the Pharmacy Entrance of the Naval
Hospital Camp Pendleton from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
.    Oct. 6, 2009 at the 31 Area Branch Medical Clinic from    8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m.
.    Oct. 7, 2009 at the 52 Area Branch Medical Clinic from    8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m.
.    Oct. 9, 2009 at the Family Medicine Oceanside Clinic from 9:00 a.m. to
6:00 p.m.
    For more information about flu vaccinations please call your primary
care provider or the Naval Hospital's medical information line at (760)
725-HELP, option four. For more information about the seasonal and H1N1 flu
please visit the Navy's flu information website at
https://www.cnic.navy.mil/CNIC_HQ_Site/OperationPrepare/FluInformation/index
.htm.

Sgt. Jennifer Brofer

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. – Sweltering temperatures of 90-plus degrees weren’t enough to keep 400 Camp Pendleton-based Marines and sailors from 1st Maintenance Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group from volunteering to build homes for Habitat for Humanity Aug. 31-Sept. 3.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that builds homes for families in need through volunteer labor and donations.  The Marines and sailors volunteered to dig ditches for irrigation and sewer lines, frame walls, install windows and plant grass, flowers and trees in a neighborhood park.

“I enjoy doing manual labor, which I don’t get to do enough of because I work in an office,” said Lance Cpl. Dan Atizol, Motor Transport operator with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Maintenance Bn., 1st MLG. 

“I love manual labor with a passion, actually,” added Atizol without a drop of sarcasm. “It’s fun, plus I get to help out the community,” said Atizol, 23, from Niantic, Conn.

While digging ditches and hauling wheelbarrows full of foul-smelling top soil may constitute as “fun” to some, other long-time volunteers with Habitat for Humanity were just appreciative of the Marines for doing some of the back-breaking dirty work.

“It’s great to have young people out here who can dig,” said Scott Bainbridge, site superintendent with Habitat for Humanity’s San Juan Capistrano project. Bainbridge added that plumbing and electrical work, which requires a lot of digging, always slows down many of the older volunteers.

“These guys work!” exclaimed Dave Solt, 62, chair of the Housing Commission for San Juan Capistrano, and crew leader for Habitat for Humanity’s San Juan Capistrano project.  “This soil is extremely hard … but you take these 20-something Marines with a pick-axe in their hand, and they can do what we can’t, and they can do it in a quarter of the time.”   

Contrary to popular belief, Habitat for Humanity doesn’t simply “give away” homes to people in need. Eligible families must be “credit-worthy” and agree to partner with Habitat for Humanity and complete up to 500 “sweaty-equity” hours, and homes are mortgaged for anywhere between $230,000-$250,000, said Jaymie Fisher, volunteer services manager with Habitat for Humanity of Orange County.

“Our motto is ‘It’s a hand-up, not a hand out,’ and it truly is,” said Fisher, 37, from Irvine, Calif. “It gives them a chance to get into a home. Their mortgage payment stays the same – it never goes up – and it’s thirty percent of their income.  It’s affordable, so it allows them to save money at the same time.”

Many of the homes the Marines and sailors are helping to build – at least 14 out of the 27 – are going to disabled veterans and spouses of veterans killed in action, according to Fisher.

A sign posted on the wall showed a picture of one of the recipients of a Habitat for Humanity home. A Marine staff sergeant wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom with a 5-year-old son will be able to move into his new home by January 2010, said Fisher.

Knowing they were not only helping out the community, but fellow service members, gave extra motivation to the volunteers.

“It’s a really good feeling. It really means a lot to me to be able to come out and help out, even if it is just for a little bit,” said Staff Sgt. Kate Cobb, communications chief for Headquarters and Service Co., 1^st Maintenance Bn., 1^st MLG.

Cobb, who volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in high school, helped lay PVC pipe for the water lines. And to her, every little bit of volunteer effort helps.

“Every little bit makes a difference, and it’s only a couple hours a day,” said Cobb, 26, from Mackinaw, Ill. “It really will help improve the lifestyle of some of these veterans.”

To learn more about Habitat for Humanity, or to volunteer, visit www.habitat.org.

I try not to judge a book by it’s cover, but this one is pretty hard not to judge. Looking at the cover of the book, “Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage and Recovery,” the reader sees Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch, a salty-looking Marine with a half-smoked cigar in his hand as he sits atop a tank with the faded image of a Saddam Hussein statue hovering in the background. Although he is in the middle of a war zone, the “Cigar Marine” smiles and laughs. This is a Marine who looks like he has one helluva story to tell. And he does.

In his 288-page memoir, “Gunny Pop” tells his story about the fateful day in April 2004 in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom 2, a year after the infamous “Cigar Marine” photograph was taken, when an Iraqi insurgent fires the rocket-propelled grenade that changes his life forever.

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Reading the book, I can almost see the white flash of light that Popaditch sees as the RPG explodes inches from his face, causing him to nearly go blind after doctors later remove his right eye, barely saving the other. And this is just Chapter One. What follows is a moving story of the Docs who save his life, then struggle to save his sight, and the effects his injuries have on him and his family.

Popaditch, from East Chicago, Indiana, co-wrote his memoir with Mike Steere, and takes the reader on a journey starting from just moments before the RPG explodes, to the hospital where he calls his beloved wife, April, which just happens to be the same day as their wedding anniversary. In the many hospitals where Popaditch recovers, he shares camaraderie with the Marines who are also combat wounded, and they motivate each other through humor and stories, never letting each other feel sorry for themselves, because they are Marines.

Even after losing an eye, Gunny Pop never seems to lose his fighting spirit, or his sense of humor. Talking on the phone with his young son after being flown to a hospital, his son asks him what he looks like after his injuries, fearing the worst. The Gunny nonchalantly tells his son “to think back to that scene in The Terminator, one of his favorite movies, where the robot cuts his own eye out.”

After doctors remove Gunny Pop’s damaged right eye, he later replaces it with a glass one, bearing the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, which, among his other prosthetic eyes, he considers his “favorite.”

Throughout the book, Gunny Pop not only fights to recover from his combat wounds, but fights to remain the “Gunny” he was before his injury, never allowing himself to appear weak in front of other Marines, never complaining about the unfortunate situation he is in. He’s still a Gunny, and damnit if he’s going to appear otherwise.

When Popaditch first wrote his story, it was more of an “after action” type report that he passed along to a Marine major, who suggested he turn it into a book, said Popaditch in a phone interview. One of the reasons he wrote the book, he said, was to say “thank you” to the people who helped him along the way – the Marines who pulled him from the burning tank, the corpsman who gave up his own body armor to shield the wounded Gunny, the doctors who gave him hope, his wife and children who stayed by his side through everything, and the countless others who made his recovery possible.

In addition to giving thanks, Popaditch said writing the book also proved to be “therapeutic,” having to relive experiences that many people in his situation might try to forget.

Reading the book proved to be therapeutic, too. I’d be lying if I said I breezed through all 288 pages in one sitting. But whenever I did crack open the book, it was as if I was stepping into the shoes of Gunny Pop, hearing the voice of the salty Gunny who so badly wants to get back on a tank and into the fight.

Whenever he receives bad news from doctors, my heart sinks. When his son Nick Jr. helps win the basketball championship, it’s as if I’m also there cheering him on. When Popaditch is told he might have to leave the Marine Corps if found “unfit for service” by the Physical Evaluation Board, I cross my fingers and hope for the best, but expect the worst.

But all the while, Gunny Pop never loses sight of his core values of honor, courage and commitment, which he says can be applied on and off the battlefield and will “always get you through adversity.”

This book should be read by not only by all Marines, but all Americans, to help them gain an understanding and appreciation of what injured service members have to go through, and the physical and mental wounds they are left with. The scars of war go deeper than just the surface, and this book is a powerful reminder of the sacrifices men and women on the battlefield are making every day.

“Once a Marine” can be found at the Mainside Library in Bldg. 1146, or purchased online at www.onceamarine.com.