BLUE GRASS, Iowa - Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony Bryant, U.S. Army Sustainment Command, and 16 others from the area volunteered for Military Day at Military Kids Camp (MKC), which was hosted and run by YMCA Camp Abe Lincoln, July 2.
Military Day, the youth's third day at the camp, was designed to help military kids better understand some of what their parents experience as military members. Youth learned from military volunteers, rotating through various stations focusing on things like marching, running tactical drills and camouflage face painting.
"This offers them an opportunity to go through some of the training that their parents have to go through," said Shirley Dilworth, a contractor with the Illinois Army National Guard who headed the coordination of the day's event. "It's one thing to hear it, and it's another thing to live it.
"It's fun for them, we make it fun. And, of course… nobody is forced to do it," she later said.
Every year, the YMCA camp hosts the MKC, a week dedicated to the children of military parents in order to give youth ages 8 to 17 an opportunity to foster positive relationships with peers.
Bryant, the highest non-commissioned officer in ASC, who was the guest speaker for the kids at the event, said he really believes in showing military kids appreciation, who often have to adjust to unpredictable home situations.
"They have to endure constant moves, constant deployments, and stuff like that. So I want to thank the kids, so they can understand that there's a bigger picture for what their parents are doing," Bryant said.
Sgt. Derris Henderson, ASC, spent the day teaching campers how to apply camouflage face paint. He said kids help him to find purpose in his decision to join the Army.
"Kids help remind me of why I put on this uniform and serve," he said. "To make a better world for them."
Dilworth said that she was very pleased with the ASC volunteers.
"I think it's great, I think they've done a really great job. I was impressed."
ASC-RIA had three other volunteers helping out with the event: Capt. Paul Speering, Staff Sgt. Julio Negron and Staff Sgt. Alodia Miranda.
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