Minnesota National Guard recently deployed and brought home 3,000 service members over the past year. While soldiers are well prepared and supported during deployment, the National Guard also prioritizes supporting families and children of service members before, during, and after deployment.
In Minnesota, there is over 20,000 military-connected youth who have been affected by the deployment of a loved one. One essential component to supporting children is ensuring that even in times of crisis, they have the opportunity for personal growth, companionship, and fun. National Guard youth camps provide an outlet for military-connected youth to process the impact of deployments.
What does camp have to do with the experience of military kids?
At its core, these camps are fun. However, camp also offers a terrific opportunity for youth to process the deployment cycle at their own pace and also connects military kids with an extensive peer network. While resilient, youth often experience anxiety, stress, confusion, and relationship strain during the deployment cycle. Military kids often report that their peers simply don’t understand the unique experience of being separated from a loved one engaged in military service. Military youth camps provide an opportunity to connect with other military kids, learn new activities, and come to understand what their parents go through while serving in the United States military.
While resilient, youth often experience anxiety, stress, confusion, and relationship strain during the deployment cycle. Military kids often report that their peers simply don’t understand the unique experience of being separated from a loved one engaged in military service.
The twist? The camping opportunities that are offered to military-connected youth through Operation Purple Camp are typical summer camps with a twist, including a Military Day. A Unit is tasked to provide a Military Day at camp. Soldiers set up stations for the kids and teach cadence calls, how to march in formation, do physical training, try on the gear, climb inside an armored tank, and even try a MRE (meals ready to eat). The youth get to have a firsthand experience of what their parent goes through, but on a much smaller scale. Often a child will ask if the soldier conducting the camp knows their deployed parent. During the Military Day the campers get to identify with the soldiers who provided a shared experience in a safe environment.
The National Guard Youth Camp has offered camp for over 20 years at Camp Ripley. The camp board is comprised of volunteers who plan, organize, and implement the experience. There are two weeks of youth and teen camp. The youth camp is for ages 10 to 12 and the teen camp is for ages 13 to 15. Many of the campers return as counselors in training once they have aged out of camp. At Camp Ripley, youth get to participate in canoeing, overnight camping, archery, hiking, geo-caching, obstacle course training, repelling, rock climbing, and other activities. The National Guard Youth and Teen Camp offer unique experiences for youth who have a parent in the military. When their parent has to go to annual training for two weeks at Camp Ripley, their child has a visual of where their parent is going and what they might be doing while at training.
Resources
A variety of camps to serve military families in three different phases of military life: deployment, reintegration, and coming together after an injury. Go to operationpurple.org for more information.
Information on Minnesota National Guard Youth and Teen Camp can be found at mngyc.org. For other opportunities, visit beyondtheyellowribbon.org.
