Month recognizes military children's sacrifices

  • Published
  • By Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremy Vought
  • Air Force News Agency
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFNEWS) --  April has been the month for celebrating military children for 21 years, which recognizes the important sacrifices they make for the military family. 

Month of the Military Child is a well-deserved accolade, said Kathy Hartwell, the Pacific Air Forces Services Family Member Programs branch chief.

"The purpose of that designation is to really spotlight the challenges and sacrifices that military children have to undergo as part of the military family," Ms. Hartwell said. 

"I think it helps the children feel what their parents are doing is certainly valuable and worthwhile, and that they have a role in supporting what their parents do," she said. "If the children weren't able to make those adjustments and to be flexible, the parents couldn't do their very important job." 

That flexibility can very often consist of attending numerous schools while growing up and being away from close family members like grandparents. 

"They also have to deal with deployments -- usually of one of their parents at some time or another -- so not only are they far from home, but then sometimes mom or dad is gone as well," Ms. Hartwell said. "Military children have a tough life and the point of Month of the Military Child is to highlight all the sacrifices they make to support their active-duty military parents and to give them some recognition for those sacrifices." 

Programs like the Air Force's child development, youth, school age, and family childcare programs are essential to support today's Airmen at home and abroad, said Ms. Hartwell.

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