Military children not forgotten

  • Published
  • By Airman Armando Schwier-Morales
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing public affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, KAN. --  With today's operations tempo, Airmen are often separated from their families while supporting the mission worldwide. Consequently, Airmen may miss important milestones in their children's life -- sacrifices that military children must come to terms with.

McConnell Airmen have more than 2,100 children and most of these children have experienced a separation while a parent was deployed or moved to a new location and had to find new friends. Sacrifices like these are just the tip of the iceberg.

To remember and show appreciation to military children, former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger designated April as the Month of the Military Child in 1986 as a way to say 'thank you' to the military's youngest supporters who, in their own way, serve alongside their parents or loved ones. The Air Force has designated April as the Month of the Military Child.

To celebrate military children at McConnell, the Airman and Family Readiness Center and the Child Development Center are sponsoring : a family movie night 6 to 9 p.m., April 10 and 24 at the base youth center and a "Family Festival of Fun" 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., April 17 at the Robert J. Dole Community Center. Festival activities will include pony rides, face painting, Humvee and fire truck rides, a free lunch and many other carnival events. The CDC is also scheduled to host a family movie day featuring the "Princess and the Frog" 2 to 4 p.m., April 25 at the community center ballroom.

"These events are a good way for the families to get together and spend some time to say 'we appreciate all the sacrifices all the kids have to make when parents are in the military,'" said Mary Reece, AFRC flight chief.

Though the events provide entertainment for the children, the main goal is to educate the children of the Airmen about what their parent's military service means.

"A lot of times military children don't understand their parent's jobs," Mrs. Reece said. "If you help the children understand your mission, it helps to make deployment and separation more tolerable."

Though showing a military child appreciation is a part of the Month of the Military Child, the trials of military children should be thought of more than once a year, according to Kimberly Heiner, AFRC director.

"These events provide a great setting for parents," she said. "But it's important to remember that military children, like all children, need to know their needs will be met, and that they will be loved and taken care of."

To find out more information about the events for Month of the Military Child at McConnell, call the AFRC at 759-6020. For more information about Month of the Military Child, visit www.monthofthemilitarychild.com.