Naval Station Everett Holds Children's Deployment Day Camp

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (NAC) Jason Beckjord, Fleet Public Affairs Center, Det. Northwest

EVERETT, Wash. (NNS) -- Children of service members from around the Puget Sound got a chance to experience a deployment through the eyes of their parents at the Children's Deployment Day Camp, in the Totem Recreation Hall, at the Naval Support Complex at Smokey Point, April 4.

This event, sponsored by the Naval Station (NAVSTA) Everett, Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC), is in recognition of April as the Month of the Military Child. The goal of the month is to serve as a positive outlet for military children who often experience a variety of emotions during a parent's deployment.

"I think that this will help some kids feel closer to their parents," said Amber Jackson, a civilian staff member of NAVSTA Everett. "We have some kids here whose parents are deployed, and doing the activities where they are actually making things to send to their parent definitely gives them a closeness to them, and a little bit more of an understanding."

The day began with the children taking the oath of the military child, led by Cmdr. Donald Leingang, NAVSTA Everett executive officer. Throughout the day, children made arts and crafts, ran in a fun run and wrote letters to deployed parents.

The deployment phase of the camp was the most exciting. Divided up into different "ships", children with Dixie cup hats and passports made their way to different "country stations," each with a different activity.

"They are traveling to different countries," said Stacie Bodenner, FFSC Staff, and director of the day camp. "One of our countries is 'how to use a fire extinguisher,' and we've given them little passports that they can stamp. The fire department brought their stickers, and they will get a stamp at each station, representing every country they visited on their deployment. We wanted to do something nice for our military kids."

Retired Chief Enginemen Heinz Hickethier, with the Game Wardens of Vietnam, and his crew of fellow Northwest chapter members, were at one stop of the deployment. They were dressed in camouflage and giving the kids a tour of a patrol boat, explaining the responsibilities and roles of each crew member's station, as well as the vital mission of this riverine craft.

"We just want to give the children a sense of what happened," said Hickethier. "It's so they have some idea of what their parents go through."

"[With this camp], they experience what we feel," said Army Sgt. Hank Tamen. "I am leaving in June for a two-year deployment, and they're having a hard time with it. It's going to give them a feeling of how we feel when we leave, and when we come back."

At the end of the day, to the great surprise of the children, parents and volunteers from all over the Puget Sound had decorated Totem Hall for a homecoming party for the children, complete with balloons, snacks, and their parents and siblings waving, yelling, and holding huge "Welcome Home" signs.

Military members and their families can rest assured that the next time they must leave, their children will be ready.