Article Index
East County Military Family and Friends
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
All Pages

I am on a mission to bring together people and resources in support of our fighting men...

and women who are serving the cause of freedom in our foreign wars. Whatever opinion you might hold concerning whether or not the conflicts are necessary or appropriate, we are all under a moral obligation to care for the needs of these people who have put themselves in danger to support us.

 

About 20 residents of East County are core members of our East County Military Family and Friends (ECMFF) group, including a board of directors, with about 250 other people on our roster. The core group is composed of people like Melissa Mastrangelo, who has always been a sparkplug for the group; Patti Rivard was a military brat who knows military sacrifice first-hand; Matthew Allendorph is a veteran of two tours in Iraq. I wish there was sufficient space to do a bio for everyone in the core group; each of them is special and deserving of recognition.

All of us in ECMFF are drawn together by cords woven from strands of love, pride, compassion, and grief. We’re committing time, energy, and resources to support the members of the military from East County who are serving in battle, and are committed to supporting them in any way we can, including assisting the families they leave behind when they are on a tour of duty. We especially provide support for family members and loved ones left behind forever because their heroes have fallen in battle.

MY STORY

The work of ECMFF is very personal for me because I sent my own son, Joey, off to war in 2004 as a member of the First Wave of Marines at the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq. My son was always full of sand and vinegar. He joined the Marines because he wanted to serve his country, with the additional motivation that he imagined his Marine Corps training would provide a good background for his ultimate goal of becoming a police officer.