Operation Purple honors nation’s youngest heroes Published Aug. 7, 2009 By Senior Airman Melissa Copeland Air University Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Sixty-two military children from Alabama and outlying areas attended the first Operation Purple camp experience held July 26-31 at the YMCA's Camp Chandler on Lake Jordan, Ala. To demonstrate their support for the military children, Maxwell officials traveled to the camp July 30. While there, the 42nd Air Base Wing Commander, Col. Kris D. Beasley, Chief Master Sgt. Mark Repp, the 42nd ABW command chief and Col. Chris Bargery, 42nd Mission Support Group commander shared personal deployment experiences of being away from their spouses and children. The 42nd Security Forces Squadron dog detection unit entertained camp attendees with a Military Working Dog demonstration. The summer camp is sponsored by the National Military Family Association, or NMFA, an organization designed to serve military families through education, information and advocacy, and is funded by the Sierra Club through the Sierra Club Foundation, a long-standing environmental advocacy organization. After the NMFA recognized a need for an increase in support resources for military children, the Kids Serve Too Operation Purple camps were, "created as a way to help military children struggling with the stresses of war," the NMFA Website states. The free, weeklong experience is targeted to youth ages 7 to 14 and "aims to help military kids experience carefree fun while also learning coping skills to deal with deployment-related stress and fostering relationships with other children who know what they are going through," according to the Website. More than 20,000 military children have attended the camp since the program's inception in 2004. According to the 'Courage to Care' Fact Sheet for Providers, "The role of the military child during a deployment can be a tough one, but it is also a real job. Children can feel as much a contributor to a successful deployment as anyone else." Operation Purple camp addresses this by allowing, "... kids to gain confidence by learning to be stewards of the community and the environment," the Website states. This year the NMFA has scheduled to host approximately 90 camps, in 62 locations across the U.S. and U.S. territories, according to www.nmfa.org. For more information on the NMFA and Operation Purple programs, visit www.nmfa.org or call (703) 931-6632.