My new Project!

So those who know me best know that I have to have a project and when I go through anything remotely like losing my precious Jessica and now my baby boy I tend to throw myself into a project. With Jessica I started research on the Canton, NC papermill that I am still convinced caused her cancer. With losing my baby boy, Chad, I've decided I am going to throw myself into working on a charity to help these young men and women not have to pay for airline tickets to come home before and after deployments to see their families. I don't know how I'm going to get this started or the name of it yet, but this is what I will be really focused on (yes, my baseboards will thank me) until I see it grow to the point that our babies never have to pay out of their pockets to say bye to their famililes or hug them when they return home when they go off to war ever again!!! This is a much needed leave for these soldiers and it's as much for the soldier as it is the families and the last thing they should have to worry about is paying for these sometimes very expensive tickets. I believe there are a lot of people out there that believe they get everything issued to them and the military/government takes care of them while they are enlisted. Let me shed some light on that (only from a Marine Corps perspective of course). They are issued very little. They get very little pay and they get rent taken out of their check each month even when they live on base if they are not in a barrak. That being said, there is a misconception that they soldiers have all this money and they don't. They even have to pay to do their laundry (even on base) so life in the military is far from easy financially not to mention physically and emotionally. I'm clearly speaking from the experience of my son and his band of brothers in his company so other branches may do a better job of this, but this has been our experience. I will say, Chad was fortunate enough to have family and even a total stranger that helped us out when he nor we could pay for a ticket from time to time and we were able to get him home whenever he needed/wanted to come home or we flew out there. I know for sure there are at least 2 guys that are very close to Chad that don't have that privilege and that breaks my heart. I never want another soldier to have to not see their families because they can't afford a plane ticket. Don't be fooled about the airlines giving these men and women discounts. The discounts we have found are not enough to make a difference and more times than not even with the "discounts" we found tickets cheaper ourselves without the "military discounts". You know, actually if I owned an airline and I had any active military personnel traveling home before/after deployment there would be NO charge to them at all and their meals and drinks would be FREE! I mean really? Isn't that what they are over there fighting for (even though they volunteered) so we could be FREE? This is a very strong passion of mine and Tebo's and we intend to do our part and all we can to make sure this changes or we have a fund that will allow tickets to be paid for so they don't take this money out of their pockets anymore. Okay, I think I'm done with my soap box (for now). Love, Proud Marine Mom!