AMES, Iowa – Final exams, friendships, teaching younger siblings simple how-to’s, watching the news and staying involved in school activities may seem like everyday occurrences to most teenagers. But in the board game “Deployment: It’s Not a Game," these are key positives and negatives, and for military kids, events are more than a lucky or unlucky dice roll.

“When my father was deployed for the first time my grades dropped,” said Sarah Langer, a member of the teen group Speak Out for Military Kids (SOMK) that created the game in June. Now, thanks to a $3,785 donation from the American Legion Riders Post #731 (ALR) of Iowa, the game will be produced for fellow Operation: Military Kids (OMK) programs around the United States to use. After their National Romp in Marshalltown, Iowa, in August, the ALR presented OMK with the check from the event’s proceeds, and OMK program director Chris Gleason decided to use it for producing official copies of the game.

“I knew ALR was going to share the proceeds from the Romp with Operation: Military Kids, but I didn’t know it would be that much,” she said. “It was a delightful surprise.”

The idea for the board game began early last summer. SOMK is a group that meets one to two times per year to develop leadership, communication and community service skills. Currently, six of the teens in the group have experienced the deployment of a close family member while two others are currently going through it. Spending two days in June compiling ideas, they came up with the board game which was designed to educate other youth about a military kid’s experiences when their close family member is deployed.

“In the past we have done some programming, but generally, I at least, have stuck to giving presentations, and it’s usually to adults. We wanted to help kids understand,” said SOMK member Amanda Johanns. “It’s an incentive to learn. Who doesn’t want to play a game?”

To help players learn, the game takes them through a long, curvy trail from “deployment” to “homecoming” with varied directions along the way that are a result of the SOMK members’ experiences. Spaces like “Web cam became unavailable, move back two;” “family spent a day together, move ahead three;” and “friends are not supportive, move back two” are all found on the board.

“Many of us drew on our own experiences from when our parents were gone. From taking on extra responsibility at home to hating watching the news or simple things like doing horrible or well in a class affected us a lot. We wanted people to understand how simple things were big in everyday life,” Johanns said.

Once their game was created, the group held three workshops at the Iowa 4-H Conference and went to seven county fairs where they had participants play the game to teach them about the lives of military kids. Overall they received warm responses.

“Participants found this game to be a lot of fun,” Langer said. “While the game was being played, questions arose asking if these things actually happen and how we, military kids, felt when the ‘bad things’ would happen.” If nothing else, they felt the discussion generated was beneficial.

“I think the game is at least a good way to get conversations started. The cards start a train of thought,” Johanns said. For these reasons, Gleason and SOMK members hope the game will be taken into students’ classrooms and communities when it is produced.

“A military kid could give it to their counselor or teacher for the class to play so that non-military kids have a better understanding of what it is like,” Gleason said.  Additionally, some hope it will go beyond that by initiating support and action.

“I also hope this game will help the players create fun and new ways to help military families, especially the children,” Langer said.

Operation: Military Kids is a partnership between the U.S. Army Child and Youth Services and Iowa State University Extension/4-H Youth Development. Other national partners include the American Legion, Boys and Girls Club of America, Military Child Education Coalition, and the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.

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One high resolution photo is available for use with this story:

Randy Kessler, president of the ALR, presents the donation to Chris Gleason, OMK director.  Donation from ALR.jpg [800 KB]