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Sandra Brands

Some of those troops could be the parents of the children and teenagers, ages 8 through 17, who attended Operation Purple the week of Aug. 1 through 6.

 

According to David Riddell, Assistant Director of Camp Casowasco and Operation Purple Camp Director, 80 percent of the over 200 children at the camp have parents who are either currently overseas, have just returned or are about to be deployed. Many of them have served or will serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Major Kelvin Tomlinson of the 10th Sustainment Brigade is an example of that reality. Last year, Tomlinson was in Iraq when his pre-teen son and daughter attended Operation Purple at Aldersgate for the first time. This year, he was part of the brigade demonstrating the truck and equipment operated by the 10th Mountain Sustainment Brigade to the campers, including his children, who had returned for their second Operation Purple.

 

“They really enjoy being here,” Major Tomlinson said. “When I was deployed, it really helped them meet others whose parents were also overseas. It gave them a chance to talk to others, and to be with kids their own age, experiencing the things they experience.”

 

It’s the Rev. Dale Austin’s secondyear at Aldersgate’s Operation Purple camp. Pastor at the Freeville United Methodist Church and Homer Avenue United Methodist Church in Cortland, NY, Austin said he serves as chaplain for the camp because “it’s a good chance to just touch base with the kids. A lot of them are having trouble with their parent’s deployment, though they won’t admit it. Some don’t have a built in support system, so the camp is good for them because they meet other kids from military families going through the same experience.

 

“It’s good to see them lighten up,” he said.

 

Operation Purple is not Austin’s first experience as a military chaplain. He served 12 years as a chaplain, four of those years with a reserve unit near Binghamton.

 

“We often forget the families serve, too,” he said.

 

 

They call themselves the Fresh Princesses of Aldersgate and it’s obvious talking to the four young women who share a cabin that it is the relationships they build while at Operation Purple that are the best part of camp. All but one of the girls of the Fresh Princesses unit shared a cabin last year, but newcomer Cydney Rippel, 15, said she felt like she was instantly accepted.

 

“You meet kids who are like you,” she said. “You can keep in touch with them and they know what you’re going through.”

 

Hannah Santini, 16, Erica Misso, 17, and Bri Harris, 16, agreed.

 

“We all get these great friendships and they last,” Hannah said, adding that they have kept in constant contact through the year via texting and social media.

 

The foursome had spent the morning with other teenagers at a high ropes course at the nearby Mennonite camp, Beaver Camp. The course is designed as a team-building exercise, something the girls know is essential in the military.

 

“You really come out of your comfort zone,” Bri said of the high ropes course. “We really cheered each other on.”

 

Hannah agreed. “We had to learn to trust each other.”

 

“You learn to respect each other and to have patience,” Erica added.

 

“We learn about what [our parents are doing],” said Bri, whose mother is in the Air Force and will be headed for training in Mississippi soon. “And we’re learning how to communicate about difficult subjects. It helps.”

 

Cydney said her experience at Operation Purple has helped her set a goal to get along better with her mother, particularly while her father is overseas, and “to be more supportive and helpful.”

The camp, she added, “is a chance for kids to get away because …”

 

She paused. Then all four girls together shouted, “Because kids serve, too.”

 

 

“Kids serve, too” is the motto of Operation Purple camp. The camp is free and offers children with a parent or parents serving in the military a week of traditional summer camp activities such as crafts, hiking and swimming. But counselors and camping staff also pay special attention to the emotional needs of these children.

 

“A lot of kids take on parental role, even the younger ones, when a parent is deployed,” Riddell said. Special speakers and Military Family Life Coordinators (MFLCs) spend time teaching campers communications skills so they can talk to a parent being deployed or returning from overseas.

 

“Many of the campers are dealing with issues specific to military life,” said Joan Newlon, Executive Assistant to the Upper New York Camp and Retreat Ministries. “MFLCs are assigned to be a support to the kids and the staff at the camp. They’re there to support the kids and staff, and help them figure out ways to communicate with their parents, siblings and other kids in the military.”

 

For CH (Lt. Col.) Gordon Furbay, an Army Chaplain serving at Fort Drum, Operation Purple exists to give kids “an opportunity to build stronger relationships with other kids in the community and it’s a way to decompress the kids for a while. It also lets them know there are people who are concerned for them, who understand they’re as much a part of deployment as Mom or Dad.”

 

During the week, he said, the campers have a chance to talk about their parent’s deployment and redeployment, to have their questions answered and to see photos of what it looks like in Iraq.

Furbay said it is harder for the spouses, children and other family members who remain behind when a soldier is deployed then on the soldier. “I know where I am every minute of the day,” he said. “They’re dealing with wondering where I am. It’s a high anxiety situation.”

 

 

Aldersgate is a Christian camp, but for the week of Operation Purple, the religious emphasis is toned down. The NMFA asks the camp to be mindful of the fact that campers are coming from different religious backgrounds.

 

“The parents know it’s a Christian camp site,” Riddell said. “We still do blessings before dinner, we have moments of silence for prayer or reflection, and we sing some of the fun grace songs like the Superman Grace. But the spiritual aspect of the camp is not dominant.”

 

The Leadership Team for Aldersgate took that request into account when deciding to apply for the Operation Purple camp grant, Newlon said. “Our job is to show Christian hospitality to everyone who comes on site. Jesus didn’t stay in the temple. He went where He needed to go to minister to people. We’re reaching out to kids and families who have a need and showing them the love of God.

 

“We conduct the camp a little differently from our normal summer curriculum, but we don’t deny who we are either. When we’re asked, we can say why we’re here and what we’re doing,” she said.

 

“It’s a great program, and it’s important to support these children who are missing a parent for a very long time,” she said. “These are children who need support, whose parent, sometimes both parents are away – it’s a necessary program. A lot of the kids that have come to Operation Purple also sign up the next year for our regular summer camp programs, and in that way, we do get to minister to the kids.”