Summer camps for veterans' kids help ease strains

Summer camps for veterans' kids help ease strains
By MARY HUDETZ
The Associated Press
Monday, June 23, 2008; 4:19 AM

LARKSPUR, Colo. -- At a dining hall filled with the chatter of summer campers eating lunch, the photos on one wall bear witness that this is no ordinary camp.

Pictures of mothers and fathers in uniform are adorned with notes in the bubbly penmanship of youngsters whose parents have or will serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"My dad," reads a note taped to the photo of a man in Air Force uniform. Another, written in thick, red marker: "So me and my brother all have to be strong and make sacrifices for my dad because we all want him to come back."

About 100 youths are attending this free, weeklong camp in the tiny Rocky Mountain town of Larkspur organized by the National Military Family Association. The association is hosting 10,000 campers in 37 states this summer _ up from 1,000 youths at 12 camps when the program began in 2004.
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