All Those Secrets of the World

If you are looking for a holiday gift for a military toddler, this might be the perfect one. Jane Yolen’s ALL THOSE SECRETS OF THE WORLD, illustrated with soft, reassuring watercolors by Leslie Baker,  is based on the author’s earliest memories of her father’s deployment in World War II.  

Janie, the four-year-old in the story, doesn’t understand where or why her father is going, but she gets caught up in the excitement of going to the boat and getting an ice cream, although she notices her mother cries all the way home. 

Later, Janie is on the beach with her cousin, and when she asks about the tiny specks on the horizon and he tells her they are ships, she doesn’t believe him.  This is one of the secrets of the title, for he tells her that things that are far away look small.

When her father finally returns after two years, the first thing he tells her is how much bigger she is. "Now you are here, so I am big," Janie tells him. 

According to Book List, “This timely, nostalgic story is told with simple grace, and Janie's thoughts and experiences are believably childlike. Baker's ( The Third-Story Cat ) watercolors are poignant, evocative and contain just the right amount of sentimentality.”

This is a Reading Rainbow book choice.

"Making This War Visible"

Speaking recently before the World Congress on Disabilities in Dallas, Navy Admiral and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen discussed the challenges of health care, education and employment for veterans returning from America's wars. He is in the middle of a 'Conversation with the Country' tour across America, to discuss concerns and get ideas from people in communities large and small about how to strengthen military families, improve education opportunities and provide the best quality of life now and in the future for servicemembers, veterans, and their families.

Those veterans have sacrificed tremendously, and are on average 20 to 25 years old, Mullen is quoted as saying in an article by Karen Parrish of the American Forces Press Service. “They are wired to serve." If they can make a successful transition from the military to civilian life, he added, they will be an asset to the nation and the world for decades to come.”

Just giving veterans a slap on the back and wishing them luck in their new civilian life  is not acceptable anymore, Mullen said.  Many things have changed that make adjustment problems and our awareness of them more acute now. Mullen is stark about this. "I've got 40,000 physically wounded, I've got hundreds of thousands with [post-traumatic stress] ... and that model is the same model that generated a homeless level, post-Vietnam ... that we're still dealing with 50, 60 years later," 

There’s a great deal of support for servicemembers and veterans today, but  for many of us, they are not our friends and neighbors and its a bit fuzzy how to help. “You may live in a community and not have a clue who's there, as they return," Mullen points out. 

"We live in an extraordinary time of change," he said. "The wounds of these wars are different, and they have caused [the military] in many cases to look at things differently. We've changed – in medicine, we've changed how we handle people on the battlefield. Now, if you are brought to the right medical facility within an hour, almost ... without discrimination about the kind of wound, you have a 95 percent chance to survive."  Now, going on with life with often traumatic and seriously debilitating injuries is the challenge.

One of the most pressing new issues, as a result of the opposition’s tactics in these current wars, is mild to moderate brain injuries from blasts. We now know that immediate treatment of brain injuries can lessen their long-term consequences. "We're moving now, literally in our tenth year [of war], for better treatment of those kinds of injuries on the battlefield,” Mullen said. "We've since shifted dramatically on the battlefield, to pull people out of the fight in the case of any blast, and to evaluate them immediately." before transitioning them to longer term care.

A bigger concern for the general is PTSD and its effect not only on the servicemember but his or her family.  “Getting (servicemembers) to raise their hand and ask for help is truly difficult. We're starting to break through on that ... but in addition to members who have PTS, there are spouses and children who have PTS-like symptoms," he said. 

"If I am an 11- or 12-year-old right now, I have only known war, and I have seen my father or my mother less than half my life." Military children now going off to college may have spent junior high and high school seeing next to nothing of their deployed parent or parents. It’s hard to know what impact this will have on their future.

"Initially, it was deploy. Then it was get ready for the return from deployment, how do we prepare for that. Then it was get ready for the next deployment," Mullensaid. "And what we've found out is we have to start building resilience in every single one of us, from the first day of basic training." 

Mullen’s wife has been a help to him in understanding the pressures of military life on spouses and families. She has taught him that "we're in a time when we're just not going to be able to move people like we did ... it's education, it's kids in school, it's spouse careers. We're going to have to be based, I think, in places longer than we have in the past." 

"Particularly guardsmen and women, and [reservists], who live in every single corner of this country," he said. "They live in rural areas where medical care is not that great. They live in small communities where schools are small – and my ability to reach out to those teachers and touch them, and educate them about what a young boy or girl is going through, is still a challenge." 

All of that, he said, is "part of making this war visible, having leaders understand this, and then try to figure out local solutions." 

A Look at the Future on Thanksgiving Day

A Navy Seal, married with three children, posted this message on his door during his hospitalization for seven bullet wounds to the face received in Iraq. "If you're coming into this room with sorrow, or to feel sorry for my wounds, go elsewhere. The wounds I received I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting the freedom of a country I deeply love. 

"I'm incredibly tough and will make a full recovery. What is full? That is the absolute utmost physically my body has the ability to recover. Then I will push that about 20 percent further through sheer mental tenacity. This room you are about to enter is a room full of fun, optimism, and intense rapid regrowth. If you are not prepared for that, go elsewhere.”

If you need an image to hold before you to keep in mind our servicemembers, veterans and their families this Thanksgiving, that is a good one. If you need another, imagine a grim-faced man or woman contemplating a gun in an empty room, ready to end all that he or she cannot endure after serving our country. Suicides are at a record level in our military. Or a third: picture the last grizzled, homeless man sitting next to his  “Homeless Vietnam Vet” sign near a shopping mall, and then tell yourself that his generation will soon be gone, but another, larger one, suffering traumatic brain injury and PTSD at record levels, will be sitting in their places. 

Now think about the thousands of active duty servicemembers having Thanksgiving dinner at their bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Will we fail them when they come home needing us?  Will we work with them to merge their strength and battle-readiness for the new challenges of their lives with an equal national resolve of our own?

I am thankful to be spared these things, and I imagine you are too, but this Thanksgiving, let’s find time to remember that veterans who struggle have human stories too, and that they are often marked indelibly, and tragically, with the scars of serving so we don’t have to. Let's make sure our gratitude extends to genuine compassion for them.

Ready, Sweat, Go!

Jacksonville Jaguars football head coach Jack Del Rio has found a personal way to help military children. Earlier in the year, Del Rio learned that the military children attending public schools in the Jacksonville area ranked near the bottom in the nation in physical fitness as measured by the President’s Challenge Physical Fitness Test. Alarmed by the implications to the health of the many military children in the area, the Jack Del Rio Foundation created the “Ready, Sweat, Go!” program, aimed at promoting a healthy, active lifestyle.

On Oct. 5, Jaguars players Leger Douzable, William Middleton and Zach Potter launched the program by coming to teach participants the proper way to do the activities in the Physical Fitness Test, such as sit-ups, push-ups, and jump rope.  The goal is to pass the fitness test in March 2011.

Seven weeks later, many of the children who spent their after-school time in the Naval Station Mayport fitness center were making great progress and it was time for a reward. Nearly 100 children were recognized at Mayport’s Youth Activity Center for their participation in Del Rio’s program.

Jacksonville Jaguars football players Brock Bolen and Kevin Haslam came to the youth center to give autographs, handed out prizes and talk with the children.  Every participant received a certificate but some went home with great prizes, such as autographed footballs and tickets to a Jaguars game. 

“We’re very fortunate to have the Jack Del Rio Foundation because it promotes a healthy lifestyle to these kids,” said Capt. Doug Cochrane, commanding officer, Naval Station Mayport. “This program involves physical activity, nutrition and success. The kids really look up to these guys and it has an impact on them. They also portray these players as role models at the same time!”

 “Everyone did their best and I’m very proud of every one of you,” Del Rio said at the awards ceremony.. “It’s important to be active and this is something to get you together and encourage each other, but also to have fun.” 

(source: Jacob Sippel, “Mayport Kids Recognized for Hard Work”)

Operation Hero

The Langley Airman and Family Readiness Center has a great idea to help children understand their servicemember parents’ military life. Now in its eighth year, Operation Hero gives Air Force children an opportunity to simulate the deployment experience in a way that is fun and reassuring. 

Children received a situation briefing, outlining their mission of recovering the fictitious Lt. Col. Mock's puppy, Buster, from terrorist captivity in an area amusement park. 

 They receive their orders, get fitted in protective gear, get some hands-on gear training,   learn about self- and buddy aid, don concealment face paint, and of course get a "mobility kit” full of snacks to keep them from starving while they complete their mission.  

Exhibits and demonstrations allow the children to learn about aspects of service they might find most interesting or exciting--touring military vehicles, seeing military working dogs in action, and watching weapons demonstrations. 

"This experience teaches children what their parents do at work and during deployments," said Tech. Sgt. Letrecia Williams, AFRC program coordinator, in an article by Airman 1st Class Jason J. Brown, 633d Air Base Wing Public Affairs.

"It's a fantastic venue for children to understand what their parents do to defend our country," said Chief Master Sgt. Charles Anderson, 633d Air Base Wing command chief.

No Money, No Relief

We’ve probably all been hurt in some way, or at least frightened by the economic downturn, but as we are often reminded, it’s often those who are already disadvantaged who are hurt first, and hardest. USA Today’s story, Donor's millions for military causes drying up tells of how one of the best programs for military children, Operation Purple Camp, is threatened with extinction, along with dozens of other compassionate and effective services for limitary children. Operation Purple camps provide children of deployed or wounded servicemembers, and military families struggling to rebuild their relationships after deployment, a chance (as one military wife and mother put it)  "to have fun and smile and not worry all the time."

Between 2005 and 2009, Californian David Gelbaum gave $275 million to charities supporting servicemembers,veterans and their families through an organization he called the Iraq and Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund. It was the largest individual donation ever made for this purpose. The money is now running out. Gelbaum invested hundreds of millions of dollars in green-technology start-ups that have not yet, or may never, return the investment. Ninety percent of his fortune has now gone to charity or taxes, Gelbaum estimates, and he lacks the means to continue his fund.  His contributions supported more than 50 non-profit organizations, which are all now facing drastic reductions or closure.

The National Military Family Association says 7,500 fewer children will go to Operation Purple camps next year unless other funding is found. Air Compassion for Veterans, which provides convalescing troops with airline tickets to travel home for the holidays has turned down over 100 requests in the last few weeks for lack of funds. It also buys commercial air tickets or air ambulance services for servicemembers who need to fly to medical appointments or for families reuniting with wounded loved ones Since the money dried up last June,they have filled only 18 percent of requests. The Pathway Home, a residential and day treatment center for servicemembers and veterans with mental health and brain injury problems has cut bed capacity from 46 to 28, and is running now on dwindling funds. Swords to Plowshares provides free legal assistance to about 440 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans fighting denial of  benefits. Losing funding dramatically reduces their opportunity for the legal representation they need to be able to get on with their lives. 

The end of Gelbaum’s funding, coupled with the uncertainty of federal funds, means that half the 10,000 grants provided to children of deployed National Guard and reserve troops for tutoring, sports and fine arts programs each year, according to  Linda Davidson, executive director of Our Military Kids.With the end of Gelbaum’s funding,  Homes for Our Troops lost 30% of its revenue. Since 2004, the non-profit program has built or is building 100 specially adapted houses for severely wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The Coming Home Project sponsored a number of retreats to train health providers who care for veterans. Only one retreat is set for next year, and that has yet to be funded by another means. 

In this week of giving thanks, perhaps you can take a minute to think about giving a little to one of these charities or to another benefiting military families.  The need is great, and our obligation is obvious.

Toy Soldiers

Yesterday I wrote my one-hundredth post on this blog.  I started in August with the idea of using it to learn about military children and share that information with others, like me, who are among the 98 percent of Americans who do not serve.  Since then I have blogged every day on many different things--profiles of people making a difference, book reviews, special events and programs--but mostly on the serious issues affecting the present quality of life and the futures of military children and their parents.

What I have learned worries me deeply.  It’s clear now that the all-volunteer army worked far better in peace than it does in war.  We’ve gone to war with a volunteer army in the past because patriotism, a clear vision of victory, and a belief in the war’s necessity brought sufficient numbers to enlistment centers.  We’ve gone to war with draftees too, but either way, we had the troops we needed and the means to spread the sacrifice more widely across the population (the inequities in the draft are a subject for another time). 

If the atrocities and the perceived pointlessness of the VIetnam War were the spark, the draft was the fuse in the explosion of discontent and protest that rocked the country and shut down support for the war. Everyone had a stake in the Vietnam War, and everyone had an opinion.  Everyone felt entitled to be heard.  Many felt entitled to be exceptions to the draft, but I remember clearly what a cloud it was over everyone’s life.

Now, with an all-volunteer military, that cloud is gone.  Service is someone else’s problem.  Ninety-eight percent of us serve our country only by the taxes we pay.  Imagine the howls of protest if George Bush had invaded Iraq and simultaneously announced a widespread call-up of young civilians and told them to be ready to serve in ninety days. Need I say that the support for the war would not have been there?  Need I say that we would have risen up claiming our right to be consulted, to understand, and to approve?  Our representatives did the consulting, understanding, and approving for us, but they are part of the problem, because almost all of them are among the 98 percent insulated from familial sacrifice by today’s volunteer military.

What we had just after 9/11 was a military of toy soldiers, taken out of the box because their owner decided to be a war president.  Like toy soldiers, our enlisted men had no voice.  Like a rainy day game played in a child’s bedroom, there was no one from the outside watching, no one to influence the direction of the game, or suggest another.

Now, a decade later, we have a real crisis within our country, because we are developing a separate military class poorly integrated into the society as a whole. We have two unpopular and controversial wars that few want to risk their lives for, and no one is required to. Lack of an adequate number of recruits and the need for the skills servicemembers have developed results in pressure (and enticement) to re-enlist. Thus the same people go off to war again and again--some now leaving on their fifth long deployment in ten years.  Most of us are aware of their existence only when we see the faces of the dead on the news. They’re not from our neighborhood, for the most part. For many of us, it’s rare to see anyone from our town or even our state. They serve so we don’t have to, and we don’t know them at all.

 We have a military made up largely of young people, many of them parents. Their families suffer enormous stress as a result of nearly continuous deployment.  Mental health problems are growing among children whose father or mother are chronically absent under frightening and dangerous conditions. Parenting deteriorates with chronic stress, and children are more likely to be neglected or abused. Children fall behind or are poorly integrated into schools when they attend one or more different schools a year. When deployed parents return they are often not the same person who left as a result of physical or psychological injuries, and even in the best of situations, reentry into marriage and family is stressful and often destabilizing. Many returning servicemembers will not seek help if they need it for PTSD or other mental problems, and they may self-treat with drugs, vent through acts of domestic violence, or withdraw from their loved ones.  Many children will live out the remainder of their years at home in these stressful situations.

 The military is a steady job with benefits in a time of frightening unemployment and shrinking educational options. Many servicemembers join for this reason, and once in, many re-enlist because the bonus looks good and their prospects on the outside do not. Indeed the military has been and will continue to be the best option for many young men and women. Some will decide on military careers, and others will count the days from the moment they first don their uniform. It’s always been that way. 

 It takes effort to remain in compassionate, caring community with people we do not know, and military families will remain resilient whether or not we demonstrate our concern.  The question is if we want to be a nation that feels invested in our military--and each one of its members--as a force that serves our common good, even when we don’t agree about what that is.  Or do we prefer to have a separate and invisible class who goes to war when they are told to, by a government confident we won’t feel sufficiently impacted to raise much of a fuss?