Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2006

Heroes at Home

A youth at the Ag Expo OMK table writes a letter of support to a suddenly military youth. The letter will be part of a hero pack.

Michelle Lavra

Imagine yourself as a young person with a parent or older brother or sister in the National Guard or Army Reserve who has suddenly been deployed to someplace far away from your home — maybe someplace not very safe. That’s what 12-year-old Paul tried to do when he sat down to write a letter to a stranger. As he tried to put himself in the shoes of a “suddenly military” youth, he wrote, “However much you think you are lost, you are not. Your parent will always be with you.”

One of many pieces assembled into “hero packs,” his letter was a highly personal touch among the stuffed animals, books, hat, writing paper, and other items stuffed into a backpack and awaiting distribution to a kid missing her deployed dad or mom. Paul, a 4-H member in Macomb County, not only wrote letters to include in hero packs but also helped assemble them in February 2006 at a 4-H event in Clinton Township. “Kids need our help,” Paul said, “and we should help make sure they don’t get lonely.”

Hero packs are the most visible part of a new Michigan 4-H initiative called Operation: Military Kids (OMK). Funded by a grant from the U.S. Army Child and Youth Services, OMK looks for ways to get a “suddenly military” youth — a young person whose civilian life has been drastically changed because of military deployment in the family — involved in recreational and social activities, such as those he or she might enjoy as a member of a 4-H club. The program also offers emotional support to military kids coping with the knowledge that their deployed family member may be in danger; makes schools and community organizations aware of the unique needs of youth from suddenly military families; and educates the public on what community members can do.

“Regardless of how people may feel about U.S. military activity, when it comes to these kids, there is no controversy,” said Tina Fleming, state 4-H military liaison. “They often live in communities where theirs may be the only family with a deployed soldier, and they often have no support, no one who knows how they feel and nowhere to go for help. OMK’s biggest job is making sure those kids get that support, that people in their schools do know how they feel, and that there are places in their communities to go for help.”

4-H’s presence in every county in the country and its youth development mission made it a natural choice as the lead agency for the OMK grant. But 4-H has some powerful OMK partners in Michigan, including the Michigan National Guard, the Michigan Army Reserve, the American Legion Department of Michigan and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Speaking at the OMK kick-off event in February 2006, Thomas L. Bock, national commander of the American Legion, told the crowd that the makeup of the deployed U.S. forces is much different today than it was when he served during Vietnam.
“There is a much higher proportion of National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers on active duty today than just a few decades ago,” Bock said.

“That’s why OMK is so important to Michigan’s National Guard families,” said state Sen. Valde Garcia. Speaking at the kick-off in his role as colonel in the National Guard, Garcia explained that these families are often geographically isolated and lack the support of a traditional military installation.

Operation: Military Kids is just the latest in a series of youth-oriented programs resulting from an 11-year partnership with U.S. Army Child and Youth Services and Air Force Family Member Programs. That partnership has been so successful that the national 4-H Youth Development Program was recently awarded a Department of Defense Certificate of Commendation personally signed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

“We value and appreciate the work of 4-H staff and volunteers in supporting our military youth throughout the world,” said M. A. Lucas, director of U.S. Army Child and Youth Services. “[4‑H’s] efforts are a stress reliever for our families. 4-H programs provide a sense of continuity and consistency in their lives at a time when many of their usual support systems are not available or unpredictable.”

“Heroes come in all ages,” Fleming said. “Operation: Military Kids helps these kids see the hero inside themselves.”