Photo By Senior Airman Rebecca Van Syoc | More than 300 Dyess children of all ages participated in a mock deployment known as...... read more read more
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The event took place at the Dyess Youth Center which consisted of a fun version of a military deployment processing line where the kids could get dog tags, their special-duty pay (a voucher for lunch) and vaccinations (a pen shaped like a syringe). It also included other events such as a demo of the military working dogs, tasting Meals Ready to Eat and a chemical gear obstacle course. The children and their parents were then treated to cake and other treats to ‘welcome them back’ after their mock deployment.
"With the mission of the 7th Bomb Wing and the 317th Airlift Wing, multiple deployments means that kids have to say goodbye to their parents a lot, often without understanding what’s going on," said Master Sgt. Christine Brown, 7th Force Support Squadron readiness NCO in charge. “This event gives them a better idea of what a deployment is in a way they can understand while having some fun at the same time."
During the event, several units from around Dyess had displays to show the children different career fields in the Air Force, such as explosive ordnance disposal, military working dog handlers and firefighters.
According to the Air Force Personnel Center, families with deploying military members should keep a checklist to ensure that their family is taken care of and knows what resources are available to them. Some of these checklist items include recognizing and understanding the emotions that the deploying military member as well as their family members are going through. This includes the children of those deploying, who often may not understand or know how to communicate their questions and worry.
The concept of deployment can be confusing and scary, but ODK helps to bridge the gap so that kids can understand what happens before, during and after their parents return from a deployment.
“We want the kids to understand that the Air Force is taking care of their parents,” said Brown, who among other volunteered encouraged the kids to ask questions if they didn’t understand anything during the event.
To learn more about how to create a deployment family checklist, please click the link below:
https://www.afpc.af.mil/Benefits-and-Entitlements/Airman-and-Family-Readiness/
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2018 10:20 |
| Story ID: | 297548 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ODK teaches children about deployment, by SrA Rebecca Van Syoc, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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