F-chat community helping Marines? Let's do it!

Our country is fairly divided over the issue of the war in Iraq. While many of us disagree with the reasons for going to war, and while many of us disagree on the handling of the war by the current administration, it seems clear that nearly everyone agrees that we should support the men and women who are in uniform.

In that light, I'd like to put together an event to give Marines and Sailors returning from Iraq a nice day of relaxation and morale boosting. Having served as a Marine for four years, I know that most Marines love cars, and most Marines love food. Therefore, I feel that the best way for us civilians to give Marines a day of fun would be to let them drool over F-cars and eat free burgers and hot dogs.

I'd like to see if I can get 15 - 20 (or more!) F-chatters with F-cars to commit to caravaning down to Camp Pendleton sometime in late October. In addition to bringing the cars, I would also like to see if each member planning to attend would also bring $20 or so to donate to a food fund, with which burgers, hot dogs, drinks, chips, etc etc, would be purchased for a free BBQ for the Marines and Sailors.

If we can get a good number of members to commit to doing something like this, I can contact some people I know on Camp Pendleton to see if they can help coordinate the event. We could pick a unit that has recently returned from Iraq, and more than likely use their parade deck to display the F-cars and cook the food.

Not only would this be a great thing to do for the Marines and Sailors, it would also provide a fun and relaxing F-car drive and meet for us F-chatters. The drive to Camp Pendleton would be a blast if we had a nice long caravan, and we could even enter the base via the San Onofre base gate, giving us a fantastic drive through the twisties of Basilone Road.

I truly hope that this proposal does not offend anyone opposed to the war. If it has, I apologize. If you feel you need to comment on this based on your opposition, please do so via a private PM to me and we can discuss it.

If interested, we can start by responding directly to this thread. If there is enough interest, we can switch over to email to get the dates and what-not cemented.

If you'd like to contact me, you can either email me at [email protected] or you can give me a ring at 909-262-5671.

Let's do this!

 

YOU'LL BE WITH US IN SPIRIT, BOTTLENOSE.

 

Ok - so far we've got $40 in donations, 20 of which are going to Dr. Strangelove.

Thanks for the offer guys. If we have enough interest in this, I'll be calling on you!

Infra - see if you can get Art to drive his new 360 down here. You can ride shotgun with him!

 

Here's an update:

I contacted the community affairs office on Camp Pendleton, and the office is going to select a unit that has returned recently from Afghanistan and Iraq. The tricky thing is finding a unit that has returned without the majority of the Marines in the unit off on leave.

I told the office that we'd like to do this sometime in late Oct/early Nov. I should hear something by early next week.

For those who cannot attend, but would like to donate some money for food: There are a few options that we can use to implement this. First, cash or check could be sent directly to me. I do not like this option too much. Second option is to possibly set up a PayPal account where money can be donated directly. I do not know how to set this up, however. If there is anyone here that knows how to do it, any information would be greatly appreciated.

I am open for any other options on how to collect donations. Any suggestions?

I will compile a list of F-chatter with F-cars who are planning to attend, and I will also compile a list of F-chatter who are planning to donate.

Thanks for all the interest! If this thing comes to life, it should be a fun event for everyone involved, especially the Marines.

Again, thanks for all the interest and willingness to help.

 

Thanks for the kind gestures, folks. I appreciate it.

Right now, I am kind of in limbo. I'm waiting to get word from Pendelton as to when we can do this and what unit we will be doing this for.

I'll keep everyone posted at things develop!