Quotes from Attendees: "I feel so blessed to have attended the conference. It was very emotional, inspirational, motivating and just plain wonderful! Everyone needs to start saving for next year. I am so proud to be a Marine mom and to be a part of this wonderful organization. It's going to take a while to absorb all the honor, courage and commitment I witnessed this weekend. God bless you all and GOD BLESS OUR MARINES!" "The best part about the conference was being with other Marine families - people who understand what it's like to have a family member in the Corps. My wife and I rarely encounter other military families so this was a great experience for us. Our thanks go to those who organized this year's event. We'll look forward to seeing you next year." “We felt completely at home with everyone, as if we had seen them every day of our lives; yet, most of them we had just met that Friday and Saturday. THIS IS TRULY FAMILY, FOLKS!" "It really has been an incredible weekend! The connection and bond of everyone at the Conference is phenomenal -- it can't be described. One Marine who attended dinner said he had no idea there was so much support out here."

If you attended the conference last year, the first thing you'll notice about this year's format is that we've got more informal group sessions and a little more breathing space between events. We've also built in some tours of Marine Corps specific sites in the Washington, DC area on Friday before the conference as well as time to get together with newly-met friends for some site seeing on Sunday after the conference.

We'll start the pre-conference out with an informal meet-and-greet on Thursday evening, then gather together for tours of The Marine Corps Museum, 8th & I, and our own private exhibit of the Silent Drill Platoon on Friday.

The conference will kick-off with a buffet dinner and opportunities to meet and talk with Marine Corps parents and family members on Friday evening. The Saturday sessions will be general sessions on the most popular topics from last year, including Pat Kerr's Veteran's Benefits, Colonel McCoy's Deployment Discussion Panel, and Dr. Bridget Cantrell's PTSD and Warrior Tranisitioning. For those who prefer a hands-on activity, Marine Corps Scrapbooking will be an available option during the second two sessions.

We've added a Benefit Dinner on Saturday evening to replace our formal dinner. Tickets to the Benefit Dinner are included in the conference registration fee. The dinner will be semi-formal (dress blues for Marines) and we'll be inviting guests and supporters from around the Washington, DC area to attend the benefit dinner with our conference attendees.

Our Team Marine Parents™ kickoff is scheduled for the weekend of the conference, Saturday morning, April 19. Team Marine Parents has been an extremely successful outreach project of Marine Parents and we're looking forward to involving folks at the conference this year as well.

We will have a few exibitors, book sales, authors' hall, MarineParents.com Displays, and Our Heroes' Exhibit on Saturday. The Silent Auction will take place during the Benefit Dinner on Saturday evening along with our keynot speaker, Colonel Matthew Bogdanos.

We look forward to seeing you in Washington, DC in April 2008! Be sure to make your hotel reservations now! The Cherry Blossom Days will be fast upon us and the hotels in the area will sell out!