thedrifter
01-24-06, 11:07 AM
'We're all here with you': Soldiers' families form Web community
By Lauren Klein
Special Correspondent
Stamford Advocate
January 24, 2006
STAMFORD -- Some East Coast parents are changing the meaning of an Internet network.
On a Web site accessible by invitation only, Ann Dacres of Stamford shares recipes and stories about home life and work, but mostly she discusses what she and the other 30 members of the site have in common -- family members fighting in Iraq.
"It's a great support network," Dacres said of The Clubby Board Web site, made up of Marine families from Tennessee, Ohio, Florida, Rhode Island, New York and Connecticut. "When my daughter was deployed, they posted back, 'We're all here with you.' "
Dacres, who wears a dog tag necklace with the image of her daughter on it, was invited to the Web site by a friend, Michelle Small of Stamford, who had a son in Iraq and got her invitation when the Web site started in 2004. Her son now is in Camp Lejeune, N.C., but will redeploy in late spring, Small said.
Small invited Ann Dacres to site after she learned that her daughter, Lance Cpl. Aimee Dacres, a 2003 Stamford High School graduate, was deployed in August to Camp Al-Asad, Iraq.
When Ann Dacres began posting information about herself, her daughter and family to strangers, she said she was tentative. But she said she realized the Web site is a place to share fears and joy with others who understand.
Most important, it's a place to ask questions, she said.
"The Marines are really big on terminology," Small said. "Everything is abbreviations. So you can post, 'What does such-and-such mean?' You'll always get some kind of answer because somebody's been through it before."
Dacres checks the Web site five or six times on weekends less often during a workday. She said she looks forward to the "photo of the day" sent from Marines overseas and updates from other members.
Members send care packages to each other's families, cards on birthdays and post updates as their children or spouses return or redeploy.
In one case, a member in North Carolina -- the wife of a Marine deployed to Iraq -- was diagnosed with leukemia. Other members went to her home to hold a Christmas celebration, Dacres said.
About that time, Dacres stood in line at the post office with 27 Christmas packages. Two were for her daughter and the rest were for the soldiers of the families she had met online.
"I've made a connection with these people," Dacres said. "It's a bit of a normal life in all this craziness. I really feel these people are a part of my extended family."
A founder of the Web site, Cindy Glass of Conover, N.C., used another U.S. Marine Corps site first but decided to start her own after some of her comments were deleted. Glass said she thinks the Web site leader didn't agree with what she wrote.
"This one is different from others. No posts are ever deleted. We cry together, pray together, laugh together, and, of course, rant and rave on occasions," Glass wrote in an e-mail. "We also can discuss politics, the war, etc. . . . and agree to disagree."
Dacres told members that her daughter was based in Camp Al-Asad, northwest of Baghdad and Fallujah, working in the mail room. If any of the soldiers were in the camp, they could seek her daughter out, Dacres wrote.
Member Jamie Young of Nashville, Tenn., told her son, Lance Cpl. Joshua Young, who is 20 -- about the same age as Dacres' daughter. After a failed attempt, the soldiers met.
They relayed the news of the meeting back to their parents, who posted it immediately.
"I so remember that day as I sat reading it, the tears streaming down my face," Glass wrote. "It doesn't get much better than that. That two of our heroes whose parents have become such good friends -- they're a world away, a world of war -- but yet they find one another. It's awesome."
Since then, the soldiers have met several times. Though their parents report no wartime romance, the two have become good friends. When the Marines return to Camp Lejeune in February, they plan to get together.
"I think they have a bond and will always be friends, just as Ann and I will," Young said. But the soldiers aren't the only ones meeting.
At a recent get-together in Mystic, Dacres met six members from New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Young attended a gathering in Tennessee, several in North Carolina and one in New York. She and her husband spent New Year's Eve with two other couples from the Web site.
The postings include conversations about movies, TV shows and food, but writing about daily stress, fear and worry about loved ones makes the site a respite, members said.
"My worst fear is pulling into my neighborhood and there being a strange car with two Marines sitting in my driveway waiting on me. Most people wouldn't understand that, but the other members of our site do," Young wrote in an e-mail. "Our site is where we can go and be among our own kind, meaning other Marine families dealing with the struggles of deployment and military life. We're a family, a Marine family. We understand each other like no one else can."
As Dacres eagerly awaits the return of her daughter, Glass' son, Lance Cpl. T.J. Glass, 21, who returned from Iraq last February, is scheduled to redeploy next month.
Glass dreads the days when her son will be gone, but knows she'll have a network of people to comfort her.
"It's like coming home after work, sitting down at the dinner table and reading about your loved one's day," Glass said. "I know I will have my bad days ahead, but I can find comfort in knowing that I have dear friends that will help me get through them."
Ellie
By Lauren Klein
Special Correspondent
Stamford Advocate
January 24, 2006
STAMFORD -- Some East Coast parents are changing the meaning of an Internet network.
On a Web site accessible by invitation only, Ann Dacres of Stamford shares recipes and stories about home life and work, but mostly she discusses what she and the other 30 members of the site have in common -- family members fighting in Iraq.
"It's a great support network," Dacres said of The Clubby Board Web site, made up of Marine families from Tennessee, Ohio, Florida, Rhode Island, New York and Connecticut. "When my daughter was deployed, they posted back, 'We're all here with you.' "
Dacres, who wears a dog tag necklace with the image of her daughter on it, was invited to the Web site by a friend, Michelle Small of Stamford, who had a son in Iraq and got her invitation when the Web site started in 2004. Her son now is in Camp Lejeune, N.C., but will redeploy in late spring, Small said.
Small invited Ann Dacres to site after she learned that her daughter, Lance Cpl. Aimee Dacres, a 2003 Stamford High School graduate, was deployed in August to Camp Al-Asad, Iraq.
When Ann Dacres began posting information about herself, her daughter and family to strangers, she said she was tentative. But she said she realized the Web site is a place to share fears and joy with others who understand.
Most important, it's a place to ask questions, she said.
"The Marines are really big on terminology," Small said. "Everything is abbreviations. So you can post, 'What does such-and-such mean?' You'll always get some kind of answer because somebody's been through it before."
Dacres checks the Web site five or six times on weekends less often during a workday. She said she looks forward to the "photo of the day" sent from Marines overseas and updates from other members.
Members send care packages to each other's families, cards on birthdays and post updates as their children or spouses return or redeploy.
In one case, a member in North Carolina -- the wife of a Marine deployed to Iraq -- was diagnosed with leukemia. Other members went to her home to hold a Christmas celebration, Dacres said.
About that time, Dacres stood in line at the post office with 27 Christmas packages. Two were for her daughter and the rest were for the soldiers of the families she had met online.
"I've made a connection with these people," Dacres said. "It's a bit of a normal life in all this craziness. I really feel these people are a part of my extended family."
A founder of the Web site, Cindy Glass of Conover, N.C., used another U.S. Marine Corps site first but decided to start her own after some of her comments were deleted. Glass said she thinks the Web site leader didn't agree with what she wrote.
"This one is different from others. No posts are ever deleted. We cry together, pray together, laugh together, and, of course, rant and rave on occasions," Glass wrote in an e-mail. "We also can discuss politics, the war, etc. . . . and agree to disagree."
Dacres told members that her daughter was based in Camp Al-Asad, northwest of Baghdad and Fallujah, working in the mail room. If any of the soldiers were in the camp, they could seek her daughter out, Dacres wrote.
Member Jamie Young of Nashville, Tenn., told her son, Lance Cpl. Joshua Young, who is 20 -- about the same age as Dacres' daughter. After a failed attempt, the soldiers met.
They relayed the news of the meeting back to their parents, who posted it immediately.
"I so remember that day as I sat reading it, the tears streaming down my face," Glass wrote. "It doesn't get much better than that. That two of our heroes whose parents have become such good friends -- they're a world away, a world of war -- but yet they find one another. It's awesome."
Since then, the soldiers have met several times. Though their parents report no wartime romance, the two have become good friends. When the Marines return to Camp Lejeune in February, they plan to get together.
"I think they have a bond and will always be friends, just as Ann and I will," Young said. But the soldiers aren't the only ones meeting.
At a recent get-together in Mystic, Dacres met six members from New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Young attended a gathering in Tennessee, several in North Carolina and one in New York. She and her husband spent New Year's Eve with two other couples from the Web site.
The postings include conversations about movies, TV shows and food, but writing about daily stress, fear and worry about loved ones makes the site a respite, members said.
"My worst fear is pulling into my neighborhood and there being a strange car with two Marines sitting in my driveway waiting on me. Most people wouldn't understand that, but the other members of our site do," Young wrote in an e-mail. "Our site is where we can go and be among our own kind, meaning other Marine families dealing with the struggles of deployment and military life. We're a family, a Marine family. We understand each other like no one else can."
As Dacres eagerly awaits the return of her daughter, Glass' son, Lance Cpl. T.J. Glass, 21, who returned from Iraq last February, is scheduled to redeploy next month.
Glass dreads the days when her son will be gone, but knows she'll have a network of people to comfort her.
"It's like coming home after work, sitting down at the dinner table and reading about your loved one's day," Glass said. "I know I will have my bad days ahead, but I can find comfort in knowing that I have dear friends that will help me get through them."
Ellie