Cmdr. Robert Bodvake stood on deck aboard the USS Momsen on Friday and barked his first order to the greenest group ever deployed.
“No running,” shouted Bodvake, the destroyer’s commanding officer.
Pointing to the ship’s massive forward gun, Bodvake then turned to a nearby sailor. “What’s the gun’s name?” he asked.
“The Beast,” answered Gunner’s Mate Clifton Rodriguez.
The crew of little newcomers was enthralled — although not quite ready for Navy duty.
“Excuse me, I get seasick,” said 9-year-old Xander Wilson, one of 38 children who participated Friday in a daylong Kids’ Camp Deployment at Naval Station Everett. “Good thing we’re not underway,” one sailor quipped as Xander climbed one of the Momsen’s many steep ladders.
In its second year, the event is a joint project of the base’s Fleet and Family Service Center and Child and Youth Programs. The aim is to help kids in military families understand their parents’ roles in serving their country, said Kate Larson, a civilian marketing official with Fleet and Family Readiness on the Everett base.
Capping the ship tour was a mock homecoming, complete with “Welcome Home” and “We Missed You” signs. Children lined the USS Momsen’s deck waving at parents who stood on the pier. One little girl looked worried when Rodriguez joked that the destroyer was about to head out to sea.
The kids’ up-close look at the Momsen’s weaponry, the ship bridge and navigation systems was just part of a day packed with activities. Their fun started at the base Commons.
Each child has either one or both parents in the military. Participants ranged from first- to sixth-graders, ages 6 through 12. They were split into three groups, called Cruisers, Destroyers and Frigates. The chilly morning started with a half-mile fun run, and some hardy kids kept running to complete a mile. Civilian members of the Fleet and Family Readiness staff served as leaders.
On a ball field near the Commons, military working dog handler Matthew Tarlton demonstrated the fierce prowess of Basco. The dog is a Belgian Malinois, a breed resembling a German shepherd. Basco was intentionally provoked by another sailor, Angel Oliveras, whose padded arm was repeatedly but painlessly bitten. Kids looked on in solemn silence.
Navy firefighters manned a learn-by-doing station. Children got to use an extinguisher to put out flames coming from a grill-like device.
The day had a serious purpose beyond getting kids together during spring break. It helped children whose parents are or may soon be deployed to see that they aren’t the only ones missing a father or mother.
“This is so wonderful, what they’re doing for children,” said Anna Rivera, who brought her children Ernesto, 7, and Diego, 6, for the day. The Marysville woman said her husband, who’s on the USS Ingraham, is about to leave on his third deployment. “It’s supposed to be six months,” she said.
Terri Strauss, who has a husband aboard the USS Shoup and a son on the USS Abraham Lincoln, serves as the Shoup’s ombudsman, a liaison between families and the ship.
“I wish we’d had something like this when my kids were young,” said Strauss, whose husband has been in the Navy 23 years. During deployments, she said, “being both Mom and Dad, you’re everything. It’s hard, but we do it.”
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Aletha Tatge, who works at the Everett base and lives in Lake Stevens, brought her 8-year-old son Conrad to Camp Deployment. Her husband, Bradley, is an Army reservist. He has been in Iraq since October. “It’s his second deployment,” Tatge said.
Conrad, she said, has problems with separation anxiety and anger. “He’s a good kid. He loves people. But two years is a hard concept to understand,” she said.
Aboard the Momsen, Conrad was pleased as could be sitting in a captain’s chair on the bridge. For one busy day, the boy was carefree.
Ten-year-old Jarred Acevedo explored the destroyer with his dad close by. Lt. Cmdr. Ray Acevedo is executive officer aboard the Shoup, which was docked Friday near the Momsen. “This is great for kids,” said Jennifer Acevedo, Jarred’s mom and the officer’s wife. “They realize they’re not alone.”
After we’d been “at sea” aboard the Momsen for two hours, I asked Jarred if the Navy is in his future.
“I haven’t planned that far yet,” he said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
