They are endearingly known as Army brats, widely due to living within the Army culture and their constant relocating when their Soldier-parents have to pack up and move about every three to four years.
It was also their parents who traditionally received the accolades of a hero's welcome when returning from a year's deployment in a hostile zone. Anxiety, tears and family embraces before deploying are practically mirror images when families are reunited as the children beam with overwhelming bliss.
Since April 2007, military children are now woven within that honored tradition, seen as tomorrow's heroes when celebrating the Month of the Military Child each year. It is the time to nationally remember and support the sacrifices of military children.
With a steady line-up of activities scheduled this month for children here, Fort Hamilton will play its part in recognizing hundreds of children. Alvin O. Morales is one of them.
Morales, an eighth-grader who celebrated his 14th birthday April 11, has been at Fort Hamilton for only a couple of years, coming from Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, where he spent most of his childhood. To hear him, you would never guess he barely spoke English when he arrived with his dad, Sgt. 1st Class Eric Ramos, a station commander with the New York City Recruiting Battalion. He said the help of the many friends he met here at I.S. 104 in Brooklyn may have had a lot to do with that.
"I had a lot of friends when I was in Puerto Rico. I grew up with them, and I miss them a lot," he said. "I only spoke Spanish there and when I came here, no one really understood me when I spoke. But I'm making new friends here and just hanging out with them really helped my English a lot." He said he still keeps in contact with his friends in Puerto Rico through Facebook and texting.
"He's a great kid," said Ramos. "One of his best traits is that he is very respectful, and I always praise him for that. Now when it comes to house chores, like a regular teen, he slacks just a little, but he is coming around. He has become very popular with his friends, and they all seem to be really close with him."
Though he's making many new friends, when he thinks about the life he had in Puerto Rico, he's not only saddened by the memory of his friends there, but also the time when his dad deployed to Iraq. The teen became teary-eyed when he recalled his dad leaving.
"He left when I was five-years-old," he said. "It was around my birthday and he bought me Tekken, a fighting video game. I wanted him to play with me, but he couldn't because he had to leave. I used to call him a lot to ask when he was coming home to play. I was really happy when he came back. We went to McDonalds and caught up on playing a lot of Tekken."
Aside from video games, Alvin enjoys watching and playing basketball and pool with his friends. He has two younger siblings, looks to become a psychiatrist when he grows up and vows to work hard to ensure he does.
Alex Campos, 9, is a veteran of Fort Hamilton with about four years under his young belt. He was born in Fort Carson, Colo., but doesn't really remember much of the time he spent there.
Three weeks after he was born, his father, Staff Sgt. Alejandron Campos, currently a recruiter with the New York City Recruiting Battalion, deployed to Iraq then again a year later after he returned.
"Even with those obstacles in his life, Alex has grown to be an intelligent young man," said Alejandro.
"I remember having a big back yard and having a lot of rooms upstairs in my house," Alex said. "I remember when my dad broke his arm when he fell down the stairs."
Ironically, Alex recently broke his arm falling down the stairs while visiting his grandmother. And, like his father, he wants to be either a Soldier or play his favorite sport, baseball, when he's older.
"He's been playing baseball with Parkville Baseball league for the pass three summers," Ramos said. "All he knows is the great activities the Child and Youth Center has to offer during the summer time."
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