GOD BLESS OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE MILITARY

[frawin]

This is a great story about the young men who who protect this nation.

This is little-known story from the Pentagon on 09/11/2001:


During a visit with a fellow chaplain, who happened to
be assigned  to the Pentagon, I had a chance to hear a first-hand
account of an incident that happened right after Flight 77 hit the
Pentagon. The chaplain told me what happened at a daycare center
near where the impact occurred.

This daycare had many children, including infants who were in heavy
  cribs. The daycare supervisor, looking at all the children they
  needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do. There
  were many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants that
  would need to be taken out with the cribs. There was no time to
  try to bundle them into carriers and strollers. Just then a young
  Marine came running into the center and asked what they needed.
  After hearing what the center director was trying to do, he ran
  back out into the hallway and disappeared. The director thought,
  'well, there we are on our own.'

  About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 other Marines
  in tow. Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest
started gathering up toddlers. The director and her  staff then
  helped them take all the children out of the center and down toward
  the park near the Potomac and the Pentagon. Once they got about
  3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped in the park,
and then did a fabulous thing - they formed a circle  with the  cribs,
which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered  wagons 
in the Old West. Inside this circle of cribs, they put  the  toddlers,
to keep them from wandering off. Outside this circle  were the 40
Marines, forming a perimeter around the children and  waiting for
instructions. There they remained until the parents could be notified
and come get their children..

  The chaplain then said, "I don't think any of us saw nor heard of
  this on any of the news stories of the day. It was an  incredible
  story of our men there. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. The
  thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast they
  reacted; could we expect any less from them? It was  one of the
  most touching stories from the Pentagon.

  Remember Ronald Reagan's great compliment:"Most of  us wonder if our
  lives made any difference. Marines don't have that problem."

[srkruzich]

I have two Marines of whom i am very proud of, and both of them would place themselves in the path of any danger to a child in a split second without thinking about it.  I have found and i am not disrespecting any other servicemember who is not a marine, that the Marines of our nation have this very special place in their hearts for kids.  We see it in how they take care of children all over the world, their toys for tots program and BTW if you want to do something awesome, donate a toy to the Marine Corps toys for tots this year for christmas!

But They not only made a perimeter around the kids here in this story, they also guard the walls around our nation.  Just as if each and everyone of us are one of those toddlers, and infants, they keep the dangers at bay giving us a safe place to live, play and work. 
The army goes into the wilderness to scout out the dangers that lurk, the airforce watches the skys, and the navy watches the waters but The marines are the foundation of our defense,

[debid]

I will try to remember this as I wait for word about when my daughter will deploy again.  Sometimes I think she knows and is just trying to save my heart for a little while longer.   

[frawin]

We will keep your daughter in our prayers as we keep all of the brave men and women serving this great nation in our prayers.

[Diane Amberg]

Please understand this in the way it's meant....no disrespect of any kind is intended. Those day care givers must be goofy or the story is wrong. They all have evacuation training for fire safety and emergency evacuations do to gas, haz mat, fire, explosion, an unstable building and more.The kids who walk have fire drills and there are easy ways to bundle infants out.There are papoose carriers that fit over the caregivers head that will carry several infants in the front and back of it. If a crib must be used, as many infants as will fit are put in one or possibly two and pushed out. You don't clog up the halls with a bunch of cribs any more than we would with wheel chairs during an emergency, especially if the building has been damaged. This is all just standard stuff. They should have already had primary, secondary and bad weather meeting places arranged. One of the things they should have been trained to expect are called secondary targets and there are places you just don't go during an explosion or attack because of the secondary potential. Hopefully they knew about all that. It's all preplanned, it's never left to chance.

[Ms Bear]

Any place that has children or adults that are being cared for have to be prepared for emergencies and evacuating fast but safely is part of the training.

[Jane]

I am sure you are proud of your daughter as I am of my daughter, Sgt. Rachael Vinette that did her 15 month of duty in Iraq and has volunteered to return.
I will pray for your daughters safe return and hold you in my heart as I know how hard it will be on you. 
Jane