Marinefamilies.com supporting parents of Marines in Iraq

Houston Chronicle:

Steve Schulz knew where to find emotional support when he learned that a roadside bomb had driven shrapnel into his son's brain while on patrol with his Marine unit in Iraq.

Schulz, 52, a sales manager from Friendswood, went to MarineParents.com, a Web site created by a parent of another Marine whose son had gone to Iraq. On the message board, he sought prayers for Cpl. Steven K. Schulz, 21. And the responses flooded in.

His son has undergone 14 brain surgeries, but has survived.

Schulz was among nearly 200 parents of Marines who gathered this weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Houston for the MarineParents.com annual conference to offer the support that only military families can give each other.

Many of the parents had struck up relationships through message boards and e-mails on the site and were meeting each other for the first time.

Sue Castor, 51, of Grand Rapids, Mich., said her friends didn't understand what it meant to go three weeks without hearing from a son who was in Iraq.

One friend whose son was away at college said dismissively, "My son isn't going to make it home this week either."

Castor was incredulous that her friend could equate the two.

"The civilians just don't understand," she said.

"Nobody else knew what I was going through," said Terri Roberts, 51, of Weatherford, Texas.

When her 26-year-old son, Joseph, a Marine pilot, was flying missions from Khyrgistan, she came across the Web site.

"It was like the biggest weight lifted off me," she said.

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There is much more. Sites like this are keeping the morale of the home front up for those who are in harms way. As a former Marine, whose son is also a former Marine, I know what special people are in this group. Semper Fi.