Camp Gives Kids Taste Of Deployment
(October 6, 2009) | 
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| FORT BENNING, Ga. (Oct. 1, 2009) -- It was no ordinary day
at Sledgehammer Field on Kelley Hill as platoons performed
physical fitness and practiced marching Sept. 19.
The training was for the children of 3rd Heavy Brigade
Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Soldiers to learn what
their parents might encounter while deployed to Iraq. |
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| Col. Peter Jones, commander, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, practices push-ups with children of 3rd HBCT Soldiers during a Kid's Deployment Camp on Kelley Hill, Fort Benning, Ga., Sept. 19, 2009. |
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The day started with drill and ceremony then moved to Essenbagger Field,
also on Kelley Hill, to get up-close-and-personal with Army gear.
"I think it's really realistic," said Lincoln E. Jones, son of 3rd Heavy
Brigade Combat Team commander Col. Peter Jones. "I like this camp for the
experience it provides for the future."
Kids got to check out an M1-A1 Abrams tank, a Bradley fighting vehicle, a
Stryker medical vehicle and other transports used by Soldiers of the 3rd
HBCT.
"They like shooting guns, they like the (camouflage) paint, and they were
very excited about the vehicles," said Andrea Young, 3rd HBCT Family
Readiness Support Assistant.
Besides vehicles, Soldiers were on hand to teach the kids about field
medicine procedures, chemical detection equipment, and the various weapons
used by the Army.
Day two, the kids trained on Forward Operating Base Voyager, located near
Uchee Creek just outside Fort Benning's gates.
At Forward Operating Base Voyager, camp participants learned about Arabic
customs and cultures from Dr. Magued Habib, the brigade's language
instructor.
The two-day camp was capped with a "homecoming" on Kelley Hill, where
parents stood ready to welcome their children home from their deployment.
The event was designed to help ease the transition for the children of
deploying 3rd HBCT Soldiers.
"When Mom and Dad call home, it gives the kids a way to relate to what is
going on," said Young.
For the kids, it was much more than two days as a Soldier.
"I'm a little sad when they're gone," said Jones. "But this helps me
understand." | |
Article and photo by Army Pfc. Erik Anderson
3rd HBCT, 3rd ID Public Affairs
Copyright 2009
Reprinted from
Army News Service
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