October 19, 2010...12:00pm

Hello!  I wanted to create a blog for all of you to keep up with my life and I also wanted to let you in on my thoughts and ideas for USMC Sisters!  First of all, I think I need to explain why I started all of this...

It all started on May 08, 2010.
I was so nervous to be getting off of the train in California.  I had only been out there for his boot camp graduation and had driven back to Missouri that night.  I had people with me then, too.  This time, I was alone.  I knew nobody in California and was worried when I tried to call my husband, but he didn't have his phone on.  I knew he had been having trouble with it staying charged...  So, I got off the train in a place where I knew nobody and had no idea where I was going.  You would think it would be easy to find a US Marine, though... And it was.  Much too easy.  They were everywhere, and with the haircut they keep when they are in SOI, they all look the same.  So, I spotted someone else getting off the train with a "war bag" and he helped me find my husband.  He could have been anybody.  He could have been one of the bad ones.  He could have led me anywhere and done anything he wanted to me.  I would never have been able to overpower him if I had to...  Luckily, he wasn't one of the bad ones you hear about.  He had me stay with our bags and went off, into the crowd.  He came back, 10 minutes later, with my husband.  I don't know how he found the right man, but he did!  That was when I decided that something had to change.  There is a great need for a group of ladies that will look out for each other.  A group that is willing to be the shoulder that we all need, from time to time, in this lifestyle.  A group that will go out of their way to help one another and the rest of the world.  We needed a group that is loving and caring.  We had to make a group that would love each other through all of life's mistakes and failures and celebrate each other through the times of triumph and accomplishment.  We needed a sisterhood of wives, fiancées and girlfriends that would be each other's backbone when we are too weak to stand tall. I had thought about all of this for a while, once I got back to Missouri.  On May 19, 1020, I decided that it needed a name.... What was the one thing we all had in common?  A love/hate relationship with the USMC.... Okay... a sisterhood.... Sisters....  That was the day that USMC Sisters was founded.

Now, five months later, to the day... We have 17 chapters in the contiguous United States and one in Hawaii and one in Japan!  We now have a Board of Directors with a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Events Team, Marketing Team, Fundraising Team, New Member Administrator, Trustees and a Public Relations Representative!

How blessed I have been to be able to see this grow so fast that it makes me cry sometimes, that my dream has become a reality!

I am thankful, everyday, to these girls, the ones I am proud to call my Sisters.

Semper Fi,
Jessica Starwalt, Founder/President - USMC Sisters