Family Retreat set for August Published July 30, 2010 Tinker Wingman Program TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Charlie's mom is preparing to deploy to the war zone. All Charlie knows is her mom is going to fight the bad guys and it is dangerous. Charlie's parents notice she is becoming emotionally withdrawn even to the point of being apathetic. Also, she seems to be regressing in many different areas. Then Charlie's mom is gone. Her dad notices she is sad, anxious and extremely clingy. The temper tantrums have come out of nowhere and occur all the time. However, halfway through her mom's deployment, Charlie is becoming more independent and taking on more responsibility. The family has hit a new groove and is doing well in their new regular routine. Now it is time for mom to come home. The first few days are wonderful. There is so much excitement and relief mom is home. In spite of the excitement of having mom home, there is emotional conflict as mom reintegrates back into the family. Charlie's temper tantrums start again. She is clingy and angry. Her parents aren't sure what to do. This is where the base community can step in and help. Tinker is planning to hold its very first Family Retreat. It is open to all families who have experienced or are going to experience a deployment within the last 15 months. This is a retreat for the entire family. Dad, mom, brother, sister and baby are welcome to attend this three-day, two-night getaway for free. The goal is to provide families a time to group or regroup due to a deployment. Research is just now being conducted on how the deployment cycles affect children of military families. What officials do know about this subject so far is: deployment is defined as a period of transition and potential stress for military families; however, there is limited understanding of the experience of children from military families. Since the start of the global war on terror, nearly 2 million children in United States military families have been affected by a servicemember being deployed. Of the 2.2 million U.S. service embers today, 58 percent have family responsibilities and 40 percent average two children per household. The total months deployed in the previous three years were significantly linked to a greater number of child difficulties during that deployment. Multiple and extended deployments and high operational pace of the current conflicts are unparalleled for the U.S. military's all-volunteer force. Youth from military families have been experiencing significant parental absence. In 2006, 1.89 million U.S. children had at least one parent in the military. Of those, 1.7 million had a parent in the active-duty component and the other 713,000 had parents in the reserve component. The numbers and statistics can be overwhelming and cause a sense of helplessness. The good news is 64 percent of parents surveyed felt supported by the military. Those using available military and community resources had fewer children score "high risk" and demonstrated less parenting stress. All families who experience wartime deployments should be offered resources and have them accessible if needed. It has been determined military, family and community supports help to mitigate family stress during periods of deployment. Tinker's first pre-deployment retreat is scheduled for Aug. 27-29. If you are interested and would like to sign up or find out more about this program, call Chaplain (Capt.) Kraig Smith or 2nd Lt. Leslie Craymer at 417-6869 or Charlie Lewis, Caring for People coordinator, at 734-6474.