I hung out with some amazing folks for a couple hours to see what drives them, after so much sacrifice, to support the mission. Watch out for the story of a run-in with Al Franken, in particular.
Also, you may recognize soldier Tim Boggs as T.F. Boggs from the milblogosphere.
And, after that, please read the story of 1st Lt. Travis Manion. The young Marine died in April in Iraq, but not before inspiring family, friends, fellow marines, and Iraqis to continue the fight in his absence. His parents, who are coming to D.C. to run the Marine Corps Marathon in his honor, will be reading comments, so please leave any thoughts in the comments at the link or consider giving to his scholarship fund.
Update: FYI, You Tube has been muddying up my encoding somehow, so I apologize for the bad resolution. I'm working to figure out what the problem is.