Temecula Valley Young Marines are Named

2006-2007 National Unit of the year

and for the 6th Division

The Young Marines is a youth education and service program for boys and girls, ages 8 through completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members. The program focuses on character building, leadership, and promotes a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines is the focal point for the U.S. Marine Corps' youth Drug Demand Reduction efforts.

Each year an outstanding Young Marine unit is selected as the Unit of the Year. This unit exemplifies the ideals of the Marine Corps’ core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment as well as the Young Marines’ core values of Discipline, Leadership, and Teamwork. Young Marine units are community-based programs. The Unit of the Year not only participates in their own communities, but they also reach out to other communities across the nation and internationally. The unit of the year excels in educating their youth in Drug-Demand Reduction and embodies the mission, “Teaching today’s youth, to be tomorrow’s leaders.”

On Saturday, May 19 th, 2007 the Temecula Valley Young Marines of California were recognized for all their hard work by National Director Mike Kessler at the Young Marine Adult Leader’s Conference in San Antonio, Texas. The Temecula Valley Young Marines were awarded the 6 th Division’s Unit of the Year.

There are six divisions in the Young Marines. The 6 th Division is made up of approximately 4,000 Young Marines in 64 units in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Arizona. The Temecula Valley Young Marines were also the recipients of the National Unit of the Year. Nationally the Young Marines have approximately 11,000 Young Marines in over 300 units nationwide, including international units and affiliates in Okinawa, Japan, Germany and Australia.

The Temecula Valley Young Marines are a distinguished unit. These Young Marines receive at least 2 hours of training a month in Drug Demand Reduction, the required training is 3 hours a quarter. The average Recruit Training is 26 hours; the recruits of the Temecula Valley Young Marines receive 9 weeks with two overnights, a total of 144 hours of training. They learn about military courtesies and etiquette, Marine Corps and US history, leadership traits, mountaineering, land navigation, survival, first aid, discipline, and teamwork, to name a few. As a unit they have deployed to Washington DC (2003, 2004, and 2005) and Hawaii (2006) to participate in Veteran’s Appreciation Week. They have had numerous encampments, survival trainings, and outings at Vail Lake Resort, the USS Midway in San Diego, Sea World, and Roy Roger’s Riders events in Corona.

In their local community of Temecula Valley (Temecula, Murrieta, Anza, San Jacinto, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, and Menifee) they have assisted the city of Murrieta the last few years with their Birthday Bash, Fireman’s BBQ, and Father’s Day Car Show, and United We Stand Parades, and presenting the colors at the grand opening of city sports park, senior center, and city hall meetings. In Temecula they have participated in the Holiday Light Parade and July 4 th Parade. They have teamed up with the American Cancer Society at the local Relays for Life in Murrieta and Temecula. They have sponsored blood drives for the American Red Cross. Rancho Damacitas, a local group home for children, has had the Temecula Valley Young Marines’ support in collecting school supplies, Christmas gifts, and working at their big fundraiser concerts. The Young Marines have also worked at Vail Lake Resort in Environmental projects and three weeks of Halloween activities. The Temecula Valley Young Marines’ Color Guard has presented colors at numerous events for the different cities at parks, events, and meetings.

The Temecula Valley Young Marines’ have reached outside their local community as well. The last deployment for Veterans Appreciation Week was Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. These Young Marines once again stepped forward and took the time to interview our veterans for the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project. Incredible stories of courage and commitment. The Temecula Valley Young Marines had the opportunity and interviewed Korean War Veterans of the “Chosin Few.”

This past winter the Young Marines collected 10,000 books and on February 1 st they delivered all 10,000 books in “Operation Pages” to the Miramar airfield where the books were loaded on to pallets for a plane to Iraq and Afghanistan for all of our Marines, soldiers, and sailors. In March they organized over 2,000 DVDs for “Operation DVD” sponsored by AMVETS for our military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Temecula Valley Young Marines’ reach is far. They have honor, courage, and commitment. They have discipline, leadership, and Teamwork. The Temecula Valley Young Marines are 2006-2007 National Young Marine Unit of the Year.