Free Off to War by Deborah Ellis Page B

organized.
    I don’t really know what’s going on in Iraq. I don’t want to get into it. I’ll want to see the facts when it’s all over, not while it’s going on. People are saying a lot of different things now, but when it’s all done, you’re going to see the facts.
    Malia — On that, I’m going to have to agree with my brother.

Kaylee, 13, and Bailey, 12
    A 2007 report by the Ontario Ombudsman focused on the effects of overseas deployment on the children at CFB Petawawa. Children talked about panicking when they were called to the principal’s office because they thought they were going to be told their mother or father had been killed in Afghanistan. Others talked about hiding in their homes with the lights off so they couldn’t be found if officers came by to give them bad news. The report revealed there were long waiting lists for professional counseling services for children, and it called for increased funding for the local mental health center.
    It is now acknowledged that war trauma can affect both the soldier and the soldier’s family. Sometimes military parents are afraid to give their children bad news. They don’t want their kids to worry. They want their kids to have childhoods that are happy and free from cares about war. Sometimes their children find out anyway, and keep their knowledge a secret, so their parents don’t worry.
    Kaylee and Bailey are friends who live in Permanent Married Quarters (PMQ), family housing on CFB Petawawa. Both are
active in support groups run by the Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC), which provides support for military families.
    Kaylee — My dad is a corporal. His job is mat tech, and a welder. He’s in Afghanistan now. He’s been there for five months. He should be home at the end of August.
    He’s been in the military for seven years. I think he joined in order to help children in all different countries. Before that, he fixed houses.
    I have a ten-year-old brother named Tyson. My mom does home daycare, a lot of times for parents who are overseas.
    When Dad first told us he was going to Afghanistan, he said he was leaving in a month. Two weeks later, he said, “I’m leaving tomorrow.” So that was a really big change.
    When Dad left, my mom put us in lots of programs, like the Deployment Program and the Buddies Program. I’m a Big Buddy and my brother’s a Little Buddy. There are a lot of different activities we go to, like Bonaventure Caves and stuff like that, and the Diefenbunker. Different places. And we’re in the Deployment Group at school, for kids whose parents are overseas.
    The Diefenbunker is a huge old underground military base. It’s really cold and dark down there. It was built a long time ago so the government would have a place to go in case there was an atomic war. It’s called the Diefenbunker because the prime minister at the time was Diefenbaker.
    As a Big Buddy, I’m assigned a Little Buddy for events like playtime at the recreation center, and we get free movie tickets, too. I’ll go to the movies with my Little Buddy. Maybe I’ll buy her a popcorn or something. There are a lot of other deals, too.
    I always ask my Little Buddy how she’s doing and when her dad called last, and how that went. Stuff like that. It gives hersomeone to talk to. She’ll tell me everything. Even stuff she doesn’t tell her mom, she tells me, like when she feels sad, and when she misses her dad.
    It’s really cool to hear what other kids have to say about their parents being overseas, and it’s even more cool to hear what a little kid has to say, because it’s even harder for them to understand what’s going on.
    For Father’s Day we sent my dad two boxes full of chocolates. They weren’t just for him, they were for all the troops. We always send him Tim Horton’s gift certificates, too. The money the soldiers have