2024/Kalera -

What do I think being a military child means? I think it means being strong not only physically but mentally and powering through all the obstacles and hardships thrown our way. Hi, I’m Kailera Kissick. I’m a seventh-grade girl who goes to Lester Middle School in Okinawa, Japan. I’ve actually only moved once in my life so I don’t exactly understand how it feels to move every couple of years or how it feels to be a new student. What I do know is that it is fun to live in a foreign country and travel to other places to explore. As much fun as it is, It still isn’t fun to have friends and then they keep moving away. Another thing is we have to grow up and go through a lot while one of our parents is gone or deployed to other countries. Another problem we experience that doesn’t happen very often now but did when I was younger was fearing our parents wouldn’t come home after a war. I remember that feeling of relief when we would see our dad in the rush of marines looking for their loved ones. Some of the good things that come with being a military child are getting to know we aren’t alone and that there are tons of kids who experience the same things as us. Last but surely not least is that we have to power through all of this so that we can have a social life and get a good education without being judged by others for having feelings and being upset with the fact that we have to fit our life around the schedule of the military and go where they want our service member to be. This is only a portion of what military children have to go through.