Operation Purple Camp

Every year the National Military Family Association holds camps for children of deployed military personal at no cost to the family. This year the camp for children in 7th through 12th grade was held at the Jim Creek Naval Radio Station Recreation area and The NW Chapter of Gamewardens of Vietnam was asked to be at the camp with our PBR.

The kid were assigned to a "Cabin". About 10 were assigned to each group which had one Shepard to take care of his/her "sheep" and coordinate their activities. Each Cabin created their own banner and gave their group a name.

Being a sailor I was a bit confused, when it went to see the Cabin area it looked like the kids were in tents to me.

Food was prepared by the staff. Clean up and serving  was done by a different cabin at each meal. The food was very good and the entire experience was well planned. Many of the kids found the food so good that they wanted seconds.

Entertainment at meals was provide by each cabin they would sing, call cadence and do any manner of things to prove that their group was the best.

The kids had all kinds of activities like Hiking, Bike Ridding, White Water Rafting, Crafts. They also participated in games and team building activities. One night they slep under the stars and ate MRE's as if they were on deployment. The 4H also provided computers so that the kids could email their deployed parent.

A nurse and a counselor was available to the kids at all times.

Each morning and evening they had free time to visit our PBR, play Video Games and play Basket Ball. We would have regular visits by small groups of kids during every free time and a final group shot on Friday.

The camp was held from Sunday morning on 23rd to Saturday morning the 29th.

 

Sara, a Shepard from Tennessee and I. She is working on a Veterans memorial back in Tennessee.

Cute little baby Swallows in their nest. The navy put the Pepsi can over the sprinkler to keep the Swallows from building a nest this year. They only succeeded in giving them a more stable platform.

Why Swallows!!!

After Purple Camp we moved the boat to the vehicle shed which is full of Swallows. Guess what we will have to clean from our boat next time we have a working party. They look like flight training will start soon.

 I must give special thanks to Tom Restemayer who moved the boat to the display area and assisted me in displaying the boat. On Friday Ryan, manager of Jim Creek moved our boat back to the Public Works area.