Making Deployments a Little Easier

by Eliza Ferree | More from this Blogger

16 Jan 2007 08:34 PM

There have been some great developments lately when it comes to deployments. While none of us are very fond of the time away, we do like to hear about things that'll make the transition a little bit easier. Have you ever gone through deployment? If you have then you know all too well what it means to have a loved one away and how crazy you feel during this time. You also know how the kids and any other close family feels.

Do you know of any tricks that can help those that have never gone through this? If you do please leave a comment or email me and let me know, I'd love to include them. For my family we did a weekly video email to daddy, this made the kids happy for more than one reason and daddy happy. Every week he got to see the kids on a video talking with him, so while he may have missed watching them grow during that time he also got to watch them. This is nothing like the real thing but it sure made him feel great every week when he'd check out his email and see we'd sent him another video. Is this something that you can do? If you are on a military base you can, check out the PX and find out if they have a Video Email area. This normally a few little stalls inside the store, each stall is seperated by a thin curtain for privacy. We would go every week after story hour, after our emails we would hit up the ice cream area and get a scoop of our favorite.

While we loved sending these to daddy, I know the kids would've loved to have seen one of him. But we couldn't do that, at least not during that time. Last week it was announced that they (the military) are able to send video emails back. This is great news for both the military member and the family, now everyone can join in on the fun and the kids can see what daddy really looks like. This would make transition a little more easier. During our time, I would always make sure to bring a picture of daddy and place it by the camera so that my youngest would feel she was really talking with him. Now, of course all we'd have to do is watch a video sent by daddy and then send him one back.

Thank you Military for making deployments just a little bit easier.

For more on making seperations a little easier.

Fun Crafts for Kids During Deployment

What a Care Package Means to a Military Family

Volunteering Can Mean Sending Care Packages

Learn more about Eliza Ferree

Eliza Ferree is a military wife and mother to three children and currently pregnant with #4. Growing up as a "Military Brat" and marrying into the Marine Corps she's known no other life.

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Katie-Anne Gustafsson (604) 17 Jan 2007 01:33 AM

Finally you tell me something positive that the military is doing to help the families of the personnel it takes on active duty! This is a great idea, especially for families like yours where daddy (or even mommy) is overseas and they have real little ones at home. How wonderful for those children to be able to see their parent talking and moving, not just a photo or words on a page/screen. The person who finally sanctioned this, plus the people who probably went half-crazy doing the lobbying to get it authorized, deserve a "military family" medal for this one!

Katie-Anne

Libby Pelham (12880) 17 Jan 2007 12:08 PM

I think Sesame Street did a DVD on deployment for kids (I need to look that info up - Randy may be leaving this summer!). If he does get deployed, I plan to send him cute little packages like I did when he was in Japan over Christmas (like a Christmas tree drawn on the top of a cardboard box with lights, etc.

Emiliana (55) 17 Jan 2007 02:15 PM

I wrote a little book for our son who was two at the time to try and explain where daddy would go. Also, my husband secured an account at streamload.com and uploaded videos for us when he could. Often these were "parenting" videos geared toward our son. One of our favorites was one of him in his tent singing happy birthday to our son and blowing out three candles on a cupcake. The greatest thing about that was that our son could pretend to blow out the candles with his dad. He also did fun things like ask the Iraqis to let him drive the trash tractor - or help with some other big machinery other than tanks which can be tough for a 2 year old to understand.

Eliza Ferree (725) 17 Jan 2007 07:09 PM

Actually the DVD can (Sesame Street one) can be ordered through 1 source online as well as many other pamphlets. I'll probably blog on that later this week.

Reach (5) 08 Jan 2008 07:58 PM

Finally!!! the base resale lot online. I have just located a great new free site for buying and selling vehicles within the miltary community. I know that there has been a great need for this site, and now it is finally here!!! Check it out, I am sure you will be just as pleased as I am. www.lemonlot.com