Welcome Marine Corps families, parents, spouses, friends and Marines! We're thrilled to bring you the 3rd Annual Marine Parents conference and excited to be bringing top speakers and sessions to you three years in a row.
The 3rd Annual Marine Parents conference will be held in the Washington, DC area, April 18-20, 2008 at the beautiful Doubletree Hotel, located across from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The pre-conference will be held April 17-18, 2008.
The Marine Corps is rich in history, and our Nation's Capital is an extraordinary place to celebrate that history. The Pre-Conference All-Day Tour on Friday will take you through years of the Marine Corps, from the amazing National Museum of the Marine Corps, to the famous 8th & I Marine Corps Barracks, Iwo Jima, and an exhibition of our own Marines making history today: the Silent Drill Platoon.
Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, the lead investigator into the looting of Baghdad’s Iraq Museum in 2003, will open a new window of historical perspective for you during the richly illustrated keynote at Saturday's Benefit Dinner. Colonel Bogdanos is a spit-and-polish Marine, a competitive boxer, a classics scholar, and an assistant DA in Manhattan. It is truly an honor to host Colonel Bogdanos as our keynote speaker this year.
General Session topics and speakers on Saturday will include Veterans' Ombudsman Pat Rowe Kerr delivering the morning general session on Veteran's Benefits. Immediately following will be a panel led by Colonel Bryan P. McCoy for the combat deployment session. That afternoon, Dr. Bridget Cantrell will present a discussion panel on Traumatic Stress Injury and Warrior Transitioning.
There will be plenty of opportunities for networking with one another and meeting guests, authors, speakers, Marines and other Marine Corps family members. The Authors' Hall on Saturday will give you an opportunity to purchase* books and have the authors personally sign your copy.
We hope you'll join us for what is sure to be a memorable conference and an incredible visit to Washington, DC.
*Proceeds from the sale of speakers' books will go to support the following:
- Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, Thieves of Baghdad : Baghdad Museum
- Colonel Bryan P. McCoy, The Passion of Command : Semper Fi Fund
- Dr. Bridget Cantrell, Once a Warrior: Wired for Life : Hearts Toward Home Foundation
