FORT CARSON, Colo. -- More than 100 area service providers attended a Sept. 19 training session aimed at helping them work with children of military Families. It was sponsored by the Army and coordinated by Fort Carson Child, Youth and School Services' School Support Services.
The program was presented by the Military Child Education Coalition, an organization focused on ensuring quality education opportunities for all military children affected by mobility, Family separation and transition. The nonprofit performs research, develops resources, conducts professional institutes and conferences and develops and publishes resources for all constituencies. It also manages programs on military installations such as Parent to Parent and Student 2 Student. The September training focused on reintegration of a redeployed Family member.
Garrison Commander Col. Joel D. Hamilton opened the session by offering attendees his perspective.
"The chief of staff of the Army is often quoted as saying, 'The strength of our nation is its Army. The strength of our Army is its Soldiers. The strength of our Soldiers is its Families,'" he said. "I like to take it just a little bit … further and say your coalition strengthens Families. It strengthened my Family."
The colonel told attendees that Colorado is home to 23,000 students connected to the military.
"I've been told that the average military-connected child will change schools six to nine times in their mother or father's military career. Think about that," Hamilton said.
He said the mission of military installations along the Front Range is to sustain readiness, and that mission will entail training that will take Soldiers and Airmen away from their Families. That can create tumultuous times in military households, which is why the MCEC training is so important.
Participants in the session included military Family life consultants, school counselors, social workers, school liaison officers, Army Community Service personnel and representatives from Community Partnership for Child Development Head Start.
Tyneika Thomas, assistant director for youth sports, Fort Carson Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, said she was glad to be able to attend the reintegration training both because she works with many military children and because she is part of a military Family.
"As adults, we handle things differently," she said. "I wanted to be able to relate and understand the kids on their level."
Thomas said that while the trainers offered ideas about keeping deployed parents connected to their Families back home and ways to help with reintegration, just as important were the ideas offered by local service providers who deal with the issue regularly.
"This was my first (MCEC) training, but it won't be my last," Thomas said.
Stephanie Gillottee, Fort Carson school liaison officer, said the training went well.
"I think it helped the participants understand better what a child (and) Family (experience) after a deployment. The training identified what stressors there might be during reintegration and imparted strategies to help military-connected children become more resilient," she said.
Bill Lawson, a former teacher, school counselor and school administrator, was one of the MCEC trainers. He said more than 2 million children in the United States have a parent in the military. Three-quarters of those children are under age 12, and 1.3 million are school aged. He said MCEC's various training courses focus on the strengths of military children instead of labeling them as victims.
Lawson asked participants to list the strengths they see in military children. Their answer: tenacity, perseverance, connectedness, patience and acceptance.
"Kids have these strengths. Very often, they're not on the surface," Lawson said. "We need to help kids tap into them."
He said one challenge that service providers have to combat is perceptions about reintegration of a deployed parent.
"The public has a hard time understanding that reintegration is a process, not an event," Lawson said.
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