Kids experience deployment with KUDOS

  • Published
  • By Airman Stacy Garcia
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
From mommy or daddy's uniform to jelly bean vaccinations and fake orders, the children at Edwards will get to experience and understand deployment operations during "Operation KUDOS", August 19, at the Stripes Lounge.

Operation KUDOS -- Kids Understanding Deployment Operations -- is designed for children ages five to 18 to help give them an understanding of their parent's deployment operation.

Operation KUDOS will be held twice with the first chalk starting at 8 a.m. and the second chalk starting at 9:45 a.m.

The program allows kids to understand the deployment process and what their parents will be going through when they deploy, said Patty Thurgood, Airman and Family Readiness Center community readiness consultant.

The kids will meet at Stripes Lounge with their parents and in-process like they would before a deployment. There they will receive dog tags and go through an entire mobility line. The kids will also receive a checklist that must be signed by medical, the chaplain's office and finance.

"They are going to go through just about every person their mother or father would have to speak to before getting deployed," Ms. Thurgood said.

On the parents' side, they will be receiving a checklist as well to explain to their child what it's like if they were to deploy.

After in-processing the families will be transported on a bus to "Raven Air Base," which is Camp Corum, and will see mock tents and water purification systems. The 95th Security Forces Squadron will display their weapons; Explosive Ordinance Division will showcase a robot demonstration, and the 95th Medical Group will teach self aid buddy care to the children on cots. The kids will also be provided with Meals Ready to Eat to get a taste of what their parents will be eating in a deployed environment.

"This is going to be very exciting for the children to get to experience what their parents will be going through while they are away," Ms. Thurgood said.

While trying to give kids a realistic perspective of deployment, Operation KUDOS has incorporated deployment with family oriented fun.

"We want to make this age appropriate for everyone," said Chris Marble, Airman and Family Readiness Center team leader. "As parents we know what the real world deployment process is like, but what we are trying to show the kids is more the process no so much the in-country experience"

Once the kids have come back from "Raven Air Base," the children will be sent back to Stripes Lounge for a debriefing as well as a welcome home lunch for the families.

"We encourage everyone to attend," Ms. Thurgood said. "We have opened up this event to all base personnel, since there is always that possibility of a family member being deployed."