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Military kids get support The global war on terrorism has created a new kind of military kid — children of Guard and Reserve soldiers. These kids’ lives have suddenly been turned upside down because of the high rates of military mobilization and deployment. Operation: Military Kids is a joint effort by the U.S. Army and Iowa State University Extension 4-H Youth Development to develop support systems for family members of deployed soldiers. ISU Extension received a $30,000 grant from USDA to be one of six states to pilot the program. In April, Iowa’s Understanding Military Culture training team met with other pilot state teams to learn about military culture and the impact deployment has on kids, families and communities. Team partners include representatives from the Iowa National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, the Iowa Association of School Boards and community volunteers. In June, this group conducted a statewide youth-worker workshop to provide information about children’s issues and creating support groups. “The usual support networks may not be sufficient to meet the military youths’ new needs and concerns, and neighbors and friends may not have any real understanding of what is happening to them and their families,” said Chris Gleason, 4-H program coordinator and state military liaison. “Iowa kids are particularly impacted because a large number of Guard and Reserve members have been called up, though there are no military installations in the state where the usual military family support networks are found. The Iowa National Guard has been hiring additional family program staff, but they are spread thin because of the high rate of deployment,” Gleason said. “What we’re trying to do is to make sure that, because the National Guard is so diverse, we don’t overlook the families in rural areas,” said Patrick Hoyt, an Iowa National Guard family program assistant based in Cedar Rapids. Because Extension has a presence in every county in the nation, “Operation: Military Kids makes sure we don’t leave children behind,” Hoyt said. Operation: Military Kids rolled out the Creating Memories curriculum at the Iowa National Guard Family Readiness Conference in April. In this project, 4-H’ers from Boone and Story counties shared photography tips with the military kids and helped them create laminated pocket-sized photos of themselves to send to their deployed military parents. This helped them address separation issues. “We had really good response with that activity. We had adults there who could discuss issues with them and the kids were able to vent some emotions,” Hoyt said. |
The Extension Connection is a quarterly publication of Iowa State University Extension. Laura Sternweis, editor, lsternwe@iastate.edu Nondiscrimination statement and information disclosures Last update: July 2004
* Iowa's
rural communities: * Biosafety Institute asks questions, finds answers * Peer groups offer a new way of neighboring * Iowa gardeners get 'in the zone' * Master Gardeners volunteer more than 80,000 hours |
As
part of Operation: Military Kids, 4-H’ers
share photography tips with children
whose military parents have been deployed . 