I think deployment is always unexpected, ya know.
Some, sometimes you know it's coming,
but particularly the first time my husband got deployed,
it kinda caught us off guard.
It was the night before Thanksgiving,
and you know the rumor had kinda been floatin' around
of whether they would go, whether they wouldn't,
and we finally got the call the night before Thanksgiving.
Which scared me to death, because I was six months pregnant at the time,
and I had a daughter that was nine.
And not knowing exactly what to do
or what was coming, ya know, I was scared to death,
but I- I was really proud too,
to be the wife of a soldier, and to be married to somebody
that would go and protect.. our country.
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I think sometimes being a military child can feel isolating.
I know as an adult it feels isolating sometimes.
Like you're the only one going through that.
And so, it's- it's great to have a place to come together
that everybody knows exactly what that feels like,
and knows what it feels like when dad might miss your birthday,
or, he might miss Christmas this year.
Um, but it- it's great to have a place to go.
That- that they can do that.
>> And it's kind of tough being in the military
because, especially at this age you have to move,
and you have to try to fit in with everyone else.
I find it really hard.
>> We've been stationed in Montana, Great Falls, Montana,
and in Texas, Nevada, New Mexico.
>> We've lived in Guam and Florida and Alaska.
>> I was born in California, and, we went to Virginia, then Ohio, then here.
>> Utah obviously, California.. and Florida.
>> Ohio for five years, and, Virgina for seven years.
>> So I was born in Florida, and then we lived in Norfolk, Virgina,
and we lived, then we lived in the D.C. area in Arlington.
Um, then we moved to Mississippi, and then we moved back to Arlington, Virginia,
and then we moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
My name's April Danyluk, and I'm the uh, 4-H military club coordinator
at, here at Hill Airforce Base.
And I'm also um, I'm a assistant coordinator
with the Operation Military Kids Program here in Utah.
And I grew up a military brat, my dad was in the Navy.
So I moved around my whole life.
>> Operation Military Kids helps kids keep connected to their, to their parents,
that, that may be overseas.
Um, we have the mobile technology lab
that we can use to, um, communicate with parents.
We can make cards, we make videos, we do all kinds of stuff
that can keep them connected with their parent that is serving.
Hero packs are another part of Operation Military Kids
that really gets the community involved
in recognizing military children for their service.
This is a hero pack.
This particular hero pack is for a younger child, like ages five to nine.
And um, these hero packs are kind of as a recognition
to the child for the sacrifices that they make while their parent serves.
Typically in a hero pack, it's um, they're sometimes done by eagle scouts,
um, we get school children involved, businesses,
but everyone kind of works together to create these.
In a, in a hero pack, um, they- they all differ.
Like each child is different,
but this particular hero pack we have a great group of, of people
up north called Angels in Action that are one of our state team partners
and they have created blankets.
They have made hand made blankets for each child that has a parent that's deployed.
Um, in a hero pack we'll, we'll typically have a Operation Military Kids journal,
that they can write down their thoughts and their feelings,
um, about, about the deployment process.
Um, this one, this is my favorite thing that I love to add
into the little kids' hero pack, is "The Kissing Hand" book.
It's a really sweet book that really ties into deployment and missing a parent.
Um, they have cameras, disposable cameras sometimes that they can take pictures.
Um, this particular hero pack has a letter writing kit
that comes complete with return address labels,
and, um, notebooks and envelopes,
and stickers and all of that to be able to write, write to their parent.
Um, probably one of the most important parts to a hero pack that I think is...
it comes in, this is a parent pouch
and this contains information for the parents
on resources that are available to them.
This one has information on the Operation Military Kids Program,
um, has information on Military OneSource, and little souvenirs.
But, this is my favorite part.
And, this, each hero pack contains a handwritten letter
thanking the child for their service and sacrific while their parents away.
So these are typically written by school children
or the- really these children's peers.
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[Santa]: [inaudible] are you ready for this?
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>> I- I think the Operation Military Kids is a great thing
because of course we wanna support the soldiers
and of course we wanna support the wives,
but, the kids kinda get lost in the shuffle.
I think this is a great way that, we support them,
and acknowledge the sacrifics that they make too, while their parents gone.
'Cause it's not, it's not easy to have, your parent gone, and to be missing them,
but, you know hope- hopefully this is a bright spot
in what can sometimes be a really hard time.
>> It helps my kids know that there are people out there
that, that do care and want them to feel special, and wanna say thank you,
because um, as we've come to find out, it's not just the dad
that's serving, or the parent, um, the spouse,
it's, it's the whole family that's at home waiting and supporting.
We're all serving.
And so to have special things like this that's planned for them
that people put time into it, it makes us, it makes them feel special.
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