Operation: Military Kids Kicks off in New Hampshire

When a dad, mom, brother or sister serving in the National Guard or Army Reserve deploys to Iraq , Afghanistan or elsewhere, a child’s life turns upside down. Though the families left behind still live in civilian neighborhoods, they find themselves “suddenly military.” Their civilian support networks may no longer serve their needs and they lack the support networks available to regular military families living on or near military bases. A single parent’s deployment may require children to move to a new town and school. Plus children live with the chronic anxiety of having a loved one in harm’s way, an anxiety intensified by graphic battlefield images on the nightly news.

Operation: Military Kids

According to estimates provided by the New Hampshire National Guard Family Program and the Family Readiness Program of the Regional Readiness Command of the Army Reserve, between 1,400 and 1,600 New Hampshire children currently have a parent or immediate family member deployed in the war zones of Iraq or Afghanistan.

To help support the special needs of these children and their families, UNH Cooperative Extension has joined Extension organizations in 15 other states in a national initiative called Operation: Military Kids (OMK).

To show support for this effort, Gov. Craig Benson recently signed a proclamation declaring State Operation Military Kids Week and Military Family Support Week. Participating in the signing were representatives from UNH Cooperative Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Program, the National Guard, and NH Dept. of Education.

“Nationwide and here in New Hampshire, the military selected Cooperative Extension as their partner in Operation: Military Kids because of our extensive network of youth and family programs in every county,” said Wendy Brock, 4-H Youth Development program leader for UNH Cooperative Extension. “We’ve worked closely over the past several months with the N.H. Army and Air National Guard to lay the foundations for the support network here,” Brock said.

New Hampshire OMK team training

“A seven-person team that included 4-H Youth Development staff and a New Hampshire 4-H youth who’s also a military kid himself, as well as representatives from the Army and Air National Guard and the state Department of Education, spent a week in Kansas City last fall involved in a special training that included understanding the history, roles, demographics and culture of the National Guard and Reserve forces; the issues military families and children face; and actions communities can take to support young relatives of deployed family members,” said Brock. “Since returning from training, the team has presented a “Suddenly Military” program sharing what they learned with the 4-H Youth Development and Family & Consumer Resources staffs and a statewide meeting of guidance counselors,” Brock said.

OMK programs in New Hampshire

Brock foresees the New Hampshire Cooperative Extension staff inviting military kids and their families to participate in existing Extension programs in their own area of the state. These include 4-H clubs, camps and other programs for kids, as well as workshops on parenting and family finances, and volunteer activities such as the Master Gardener program.

“In some cases, when the Guard arranges family get-togethers, we might get involved in special programming. For instance, we’ve bought several printers, digital cameras, and laminators, so we can run programs that promote family communications by having kids take pictures of themselves to send to their deployed family members. We’d run the program like one of our 4-H Youth Development ‘learn-by-doing’ educational programs—in this case, teaching kids photography. Then each child would make a card, attach the picture, and laminate it. The military handles mailing the cards.”

 
For more information about Operation: Military Kids

Contact Wendy Brock, UNH Cooperative Extension Program Leader 4-H Youth Development,
603-862-2187.

• National OMK Web site
• N.H. National Guard Family Program