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thedrifter
11-13-06, 01:34 PM
Passing the hat for helmet safety

By CHRISTOPHER RUVO
The Intelligencer

Marie Farley's shirt says “Marine Mom.” She takes the title seriously.

So while her son Michael, a Marine corporal based in Iraq, endures attacks from insurgents and the scorching heat of the desert, the Nockamixon woman is trying to help him half a world away.

She and her husband, Mike, have teamed up with the Quakertown Moose and some local American Legion groups to buy shock-absorbent helmet lining for her son and the 53 Marines in his unit as part of a national effort called Operation Helmet.

“This is one way we can thank them for the incredible sacrifices they have made,” she said.

The inserts, which cost close to $100, make helmets fit more comfortably and protect against head injury when soldiers are slammed to the ground by the force of explosions. Many servicemen and women have to pay for the inserts personally.

“I was very upset” to learn that, Farley said.

Operation Helmet was founded by Dr. Robert Meaders in 2004, after his Marine grandson requested upgrade kits to make his company's helmets safer in Iraq. They have sent out more than 27,000 helmet upgrade kits to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

A press release on the group's Web site, www.operation-helmet.org, states, “The majority of today's helmets worn by most Marines and Airmen are designed to protect troops from gunfire and flying debris — not blasts — which have accounted for 65 percent of U.S. military deaths in Iraq, according to

figures compiled by the Associated Press.”

A helmet upgrade kit consists of shock-absorbing pads and a new strap system. Adding the pads to combat helmets can reduce fatal impact forces to a survivable level.

“We get e-mails every day from young troopers with families who can't afford to buy their own helmet kits,” Meaders

states on his Web site. “We need ongoing donations right now from the American people to keep this effort alive!”

As the Farleys speak in their tidy home in rural Upper Bucks, the TV is on in the background. It broadcasts images of troops patrolling dusty roads among bombed-out buildings in Iraq.


“It's tough,” said Dina Koehler, the Farleys' daughter, as she looks at the screen. “You want to watch, but you don't want to watch.”

Michael, a 2001 Palisades High School grad, is stationed in the volatile Anbar province, home to the onetime insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. Mike Farley, an ex-Marine and Vietnam vet, said his son's base is routinely mortared.

“When the locals disappear, they know it's coming,” he said.

It was from TV that the Farleys learned of Operation Helmet when they saw Cher promoting the nonprofit organization on a talk show. “I got excited,” Marie said. “I knew right away this was something we could do to help out.”

The Farleys went to Rod Van Pelt at the Quakertown Moose, where they're members, and asked if the lodge would assist them in fundraising.

“We had to get involved,” said Van Pelt. “We know somebody over there personally, and hopefully, we can help save somebody's life. Whether you believe in the war or not, you have to support the people who are over there.”

For the past two months, the Moose has collected donations and publicized the campaign. Donors' names are written on little paper helmets displayed at the lodge. The Riegelsville and Quakertown American Legions have helped raise funds too. And the Trumbauersville Lions have donated $500.

Van Pelt says close to $2,000 for the helmet lining has been raised so far. The Farleys say they'll keep raising money for Operation Helmet even after their son's unit is outfitted.

“They're all family to us,” Marie says of the Marines. “We want them all to come home safe.”

Christopher Ruvo can be reached at (215) 538-6371 or cruvo@phillyburbs.com.

Ellie