December Surf Club Meeting

Good Morning everyone,

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! We should have waves all week so get some.

I wanted to take the time to thank everyone that came out to our meeting and donated a toy for our “Toys For Tots” drive. The Toys ended up with 4th LAR Bn. here on Camp Pendleton.

The waves were not that great but there was enough swell for people to enjoy and catch some good ones.

Louie Comacho brought the breakfast and fed everyone, huge thanks to him for that!! Bacon eggs and Coffee. Marissa and Zachary brought the coffee for us to enjoy on a cool morning. Michael Cincis and the boys helped with the setup and teardown. Much thanks for the support.

Once again thank you all for the support, the enthusiasm, and the memories we made.
I wanted to share a story of something that occurred this past week. I was surfing churches on base this past Wednesday and Tuesday when I ran into a retired Coast Guardsman that I had met in the club in the early 2000’s. He asked me about two people that he had not seen in the water in a long time and the names reminded me of when I lived on base near churches. The people he spoke of were a father/son duo that surfed together at DMJ’s and at Churches. Both were/are good at surfing and longboarding, not to mention we were all neighbors and I even coached his daughter in soccer many years ago.

Well, I have not seen either of them in a very long time. Mike Brown, a club member, and retired Marine shows up Saturday with the son from my story and brought him to surf with us Saturday. I was able to watch this young man catch one of the waves of the day. He was so stoked and happy I could see it all over his face. This young man is also autistic, and he surfs like a champion. What is the timing that someone mentioned this young man and his father and then he shows up 4 days later at our club meeting????
The one person missing from this story is that of his father. I had learned that his father is in a treatment plan for 6 months in order to deal with his PTSD and other matters so that he can get back on track.
Why do I bring this up??? As I mentioned the other day in social media, there are people hurting or having difficulties everywhere. Whether it is caused from Covid, people having financial issues, marriage issues, sicknesses, or battling with the emotional and physical scars of combat, I am asking for all of us to lend a hand to acts of kindness. Reach out and help not with money, but your time and ears to listen, or help physically with people needing support. Grab them and bring them surfing, skating, riding bikes, hiking, spending time together, helping them get the resources that they may need or having trouble finding the right help. For those of us that are doing well, keep sharing that positive outlook with others so they can see there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
As I said yesterday, we as veterans and active-duty warriors can bring darkness upon our enemies when going to battle, I am asking us to look around and bring light to those that are struggling here at home. We as a club will continue to push forward with success in and out of the water, helping those that we can, and continue to create an environment of friends, family and fun.

Merry Christmas!!!

Mahalo

Eric Franklin
MSgt Retired
USMC
Club President