The “Oorah Sisterhood”

“(Our children) enlisted, we were drafted.” Pat Krawec, Taunton, MA

From around the country they descended in Gulf County a few weeks ago.

There was a mother from Wewahitchka, one from Taunton, MA, another from Georgia, one from South Florida and another from Louisiana.

They had bonded online, in chat rooms and through e-mail, connected by the common thread of having a son or a daughter, maybe even a husband, enlisted in the Marines, at various stages of enlistment, from boot camp to deployment overseas.

They had decided to come together, to meet each other on neutral territory, to laugh, to cry, to console, to ask, to answer.

They came to leave, even for a brief weekend, the emotions churning inside them since they learned of their children’s choice to enter the military, the U.S. Marines in this case, to join the ranks of the armed forces at a time of war, not one, but two.

They call themselves the Semper Fi Sisters. They could also be considered the Oorah Sisterhood, a take on the Marine battle cry.

For a recent weekend, though, just leave it at sisters.

“We had a wonderful time,” Krawec said. “Your community was so warm and generous to all of us. It was incredible to see the patriotism and support for our troops you could see in Port St. Joe.

“In the community as a whole down there they support the military. I’d like to see that in other places, support like that.”

The community, of Port St. Joe, of Gulf County, reached out as few communities are willing.

When the call went out for donations of items, snacks, hygiene products, playing cards, whatever, they arrived at the business of the Semper Fi Sisters’ ringleader, Brenda Garth of Decorative Flooring.

When the call was issued for monetary donations for shipping those boxes to spots around the globe, from the boot camps of North Carolina to the war zones of Afghanistan or Iraq, pockets were emptied.

In the end, after the weekend was over, the “Sisters” mailed off some three dozen boxes. Some have already begun arriving at their destinations.

Seahorse Water Safaris provided a boat for a sunset cruise. Smiley’s Beach Rentals donated beach chairs and ensured those chairs were reserved for the “Sisters” by putting a sign on each one – reserved for the first of what Garth hopes will be many “Beach Blasts.”

“There was a lot of bonding that went on in those chairs under the moon,” Garth said, noting that nights generally ended at 4-5 a.m. “And everybody just loved the sunset cruise.”

And that was just the tip of the iceberg the Semper Fi Sisters received from a host of businesses and individuals to pack gift baskets for the ladies, provide items for the goodie boxes going to military sons and postage to mail those packages.

The “Beach Blast” idea was the brainchild of several of the women – most notably Garth – who have made the Marine mom chat rooms and online banter the place for emotional sustenance and bearings. These women’s friendships were forged during war time, on the home front, a place where control is missing, where they have turned their children over to Uncle Sam, as Krawec put it.

“A lot of us had been online talking through boot camp,” Garth said. “There have been moms coming behind us; there were moms who had experienced what we were experiencing. We kept saying over and over, we need to meet.

“I finally had enough. I’ve got the beach, I’ve got the sun, I’ve got the bay. So I invited them here.”

 More than two dozen women took Garth up on the invitation and began arriving on a Wednesday, staying through Sunday.

“Before we got together some of us met at boot camp,” said Paula Lowry of Riverdale, GA. “When your son or daughter slaps you in the face with this, you feel like you are on an island with all these emotions. You have this lonely feeling. We were baptized as sisters by fear, pain and this hopeless feeling.

“To be able to come down and laugh, enjoy the scenery and the wonderful strangers who treated us so wonderfully, it was incredible. We all come from different backgrounds and different financial circumstances and we were all just sisters. Being able to laugh and be silly, it helps so much, enjoying the camaraderie and letting everything go for awhile.”

There were special touches all the way.

Garth asked the recruiting office in Panama City if it would be possible to send a Marine in dress uniform to meet each plane at the Panama City International Airport.

She got all four – Gunnery Sgt. Michael Conley, Sgt. Paul Rogers, Sgt. Samuel Thomas and Sgt. Corey Powell – in the office, recruiters who had served overseas and whose job is now enlisting those who desire into the Marines.

The four would spend much of the weekend with the “Sisters.”

“I never saw the girls (when deplaning), I saw the uniforms and it turned my head around,” Krawec said. “They gave us a new perspective. When your child enlists, the recruiter is (growls) to you. But they really care about those kids. This is now their job. It was incredible how they motivate you and the kids.”

While waiting between planes, some of the ladies took in breakfast at The Waffle House in Panama City. Turned out the owner was a veteran. The meals were gratis and as the ladies were leaving, he handed Garth $100 to handle postage for the packages the group planned to assemble that weekend.

Once ensconced in the WindMark Beach home which would be headquarters for the weekend, the ladies were greeted by what Krawec called the “cardboard” children.

Garth, with a little poster board and photos of the “Sisters” children, some photo-shopping on the computer, large hangers and camouflage outfits provided the Port St. Joe High School NJROTC program, had created near life-sized replicas of nearly every mother’s son.

Mothers hugged them, put them to bed at night, carried them to the beach and propped them up in chairs. They spent considerable time just hanging around, on the walls, providing, as Krawec said, built in security.

“No one was going to break in seeing all those soldiers on the walls,” she said with a chuckle.

In a very strong way that most parents will never understand, their children enjoyed the weekend with the “Sisters.”

“It was almost better than having them there,” Lowry said. “They never talk back, they are always where you want them to be and they listen.

“Most of all, it was a bit of comic relief for us.”

And on a Saturday morning, a group of “poolees”, those who have enlisted but not yet undergone boot camp, came jaunting down the beach in cadence as part of a morning of exercises, providing a taste of military life to the mothers who turned their children over to that life.

The ladies, meanwhile, cooked and ate plenty, enjoyed an adult beverage or two and each other’s company and companionship.

“When one was down, another was really up,” Garth said. “It was more about pulling people up. It was a release, a chance to get out, a getaway. They chilled out and had so much fun. And remember these women didn’t know each other.

“It was so much better than I expected. I knew we’d have a good time. Getting to know the ladies was wonderful. For the ladies to get to know each other, I don’t have the words for that.”

“We could talk, there were no expectations,” Krawec said. “A lot of people laughed, a lot of people cried. We ate a lot and just had fun.”

Unfortunately, the weekend had to come to an end and it wasn’t easy.

“It really was hard leaving,” Lowry said.

Krawec added, “The sad part is we have to wait until next year.”

 But there is more ahead in what Garth describes as an “ongoing” sisterhood.

A small group of planners is scheduling a trip back to Gulf County soon to begin planning for next year’s Beach Blast, which, as Garth noted, would be a boost for the local economy.

The “Sisters” are also continuing to ask for and accept donations, whether items for goodie packages for their sons and their units or money for postage. They are now planning and packaging for the holidays as well as next year.

Anyone wishing to donate is asked to contact Garth at 899-7721 or at Decorative Flooring. Items can also be dropped off at the business on Williams Avenue and Third Street in Port St. Joe.

No retreat, no surrender for the Semper Fi Sisters.