WARRIORS FAMILIES | 80K VIEWS

June 6, 2018 – Today was D-Day in 1944. 

This blog today just passed 80,000 page views.

Thank you for reading.

Here are the most-viewed posts on this blog site since it was begun. The first one has 54 comments.

FAMILIES | CHAMPS Closes Down Dec 10, 2014, 54 comments

WW2 | 8. Hiding Jews in Holland–Bob Boissevain (Up... Dec 2, 2014, 6 comments

VET STORY 2 | Franklin D'Olier, Founded American L... Sep 17, 2013

R.I.P. | Edward B. McMenamin (1912-1994), Economis... Jan 2, 2016

WW2 | Willem van Stockum Bench at Trinity College,... Jul 14, 2015

WW2 | Mark II Halifax Bomber Nov 25, 2015

US NAVY | Oct. 10, Naval Academy Founded, 1845–170... Oct 10, 2015, 1 comment

UN OPENS | My Dad Joins ICAO (Comment) Oct 24, 2015

WW2 | Spies–Choices May 29, 2015

CIVIL WAR | June 12–Jeb Stuart's Cavalry Circles t... Jun 12, 2015

BLOG VIEWS | 20K Views, Top Ten Posts

Thank you for reading and commenting. We just went past 20,000 page views.

These are the top ten posts, based on page views, since this blog was started in mid-2013:

7. Hiding Jews in Holland from the Nazis - Bob Boi... Dec 2, 2014 (Chapter 7 of a forthcoming book I am writing on the Dutch Resistance)

CHAMPS Closes Down Dec 10, 2014, 54 comments

D-Day Week 2014, 70th Anniversary Memorial for Dow... May 30, 2014

11. After the War - The Boissevain Family, Mengelb... Nov 2, 2014 (Chapter 11 of the book)

Bletchley Park and the U.S. (AT&T) Contribution May 31, 2015

Veteran's Story 1 - Sgt. Tom Collins at Bletchley ...Jun 9, 2013

Veterans' Initiatives 3 - VA Loans - New York City...Jun 11, 2013

Financial Coaching for Veterans May 21, 2015

American Sniper (Comment) Jan 31, 2015
FBI Agents Write Tale of My Classmate the Unab... May 30, 2014

FAMILIES | CHAMPS Closes Down

L to R: Deborah and Jennifer
Fink, founders of CHAMPS.

I just received the following letter from Jennifer Fink. The photo at right was not part of the letter. I add it as a way of saying thanks to them for the good things they achieved although they ran into unexpected resistance and have recognized that the resistance wasn't going away...

Dear Operation CHAMPS Supporters,

This morning, with deep sadness, I am announcing that Operation CHAMPS will shut down.

Attached is our final statement that we will be posting on social media and our website. We reached this decision reluctantly, following weeks of distorted and destructive attacks from a group of adult children of military Servicemembers (Brats). Although the situation began as a mere difference of opinion regarding the “CHAMPS” terminology, the Brat attacks quickly escalated and became increasingly abusive. Some of our volunteers have been threatened, and as you know, your organizations have been besieged with posts, tweets, emails and mail requesting the withdrawal of your support. This controversy has become a significant distraction to many of your worthy organizations. Hence, we have made the decision to close our doors.

When Debbie and I set out on this journey a few years ago, we envisioned an organization that would be at the heart of a community where military families felt supported, understood, and appreciated by their civilian counterparts nationwide. Our path may have ended prematurely, but we are incredibly proud of the footprints we have left behind. Together, we were able to provide thousands of hours of free child and respite care to families of Wounded Warriors, Servicemembers, and veterans, and deliver morale-building, uplifting educational programming to thousands of elementary school-aged children living in the United States and abroad.

Moreover, Operation CHAMPS' legacy leaves a "Full Force Committee" bringing together the five military branch associations to collaborate on behalf of our military-connected children and their families. We find comfort in knowing that their collaborative efforts will continue. None of this would have been possible without your support. Because of Champions like you, we were able to bring joy to countless children and relief to our community’s Servicemembers, spouses and caretakers. We plan to use the rest of Operation CHAMPS funds on purchasing holiday gifts for our Wounded Warrior, military, and veteran families. Our high school and college volunteers will be involved in the purchasing, gift-wrapping, and delivery of these holidays gifts to our deserving Wounded Warrior, military, and veteran families. We believe this is a most befitting way to say farewell.

While Operation CHAMPS’ journey has ended, we have notified our team of dedicated volunteers that we will be happy to assist them in transitioning to volunteer with some of your organizations that would best suit their interests and locations.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns. On behalf of Operation CHAMPS’ Board of Directors, volunteers, supporters and the countless military families touched by our programs, we thank you.

V/r,
Jennifer E. Fink, Founder & CEO, Operation CHAMPS, P.O. Box 342431, Bethesda, MD 20827 - 301.758.6717 - www.OperationCHAMPS.org 

FAMILIES | BRATs vs. CHAMPs

The BRAT medal.

In December 2013, I posted something on a new book called CHAMPs, which stands for Child Hero Attached to Military Personnel.

The idea behind the book is that it would replace the existing term BRATs, which in one etymology (see below for others) used to mean "British Regiment Attached Traveler", but came to mean a child that is restless and not totally familiar with local behavioral conventions.

Brats are not necessarily military kids. I was a U.N. Brat and there are Embassy Brats. My Dad worked for the OSS during the war and when the United Nations was created in San Francisco, he was at the conference on behalf of the U.S. Budget Bureau. He became the Secretary of the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization and worked for them for nearly two decades, when I was growing up. He was then appointed Senior Director, the #3 spot in the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. So we lived all over - in Washington, DC, Montreal, Dublin, Paris and Geneva and I attended schools and universities in Montreal, Dublin, Yorkshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Oxford and Washington, DC.

The CHAMPs book has since come under attack. Guess what? Military children actually like being called BRATs, which is said to stand for (see medal above):

• Brave,
• Resourceful,
• Adaptable,
• Tolerant.

This acronym is not the only one associated with the term "brat", nor does everyone agree that an acronym is the origin of the term. Wiktionary says it derives from an Old English slang term meaning "beggar's child" - originally from northern and western England and the Midlands dialects - from the word for a "makeshift or ragged garment"; probably the same word as Old English bratt.

There are nearly 30 comments on my post last year, all of them defending the Brat moniker. There is a petition on Change.org to use Brat as the preferred term. It has 4,000 signatures. Apparently they "need" 100,000 signatures. The petition is here.

I've emailed Debbie Fink, author of CHAMPs, to see if she has anything further she wants to say.

Postscript

The next letter I received from Debbie Fink was an announcement that Operation CHAMPS is closing down. http://warriors-families.blogspot.com/2014/12/champs-closes-down.html

FAMILIES | CHAMPs vs. BRATs

The book that caused distress.

A week or two ago I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Fink, one of the authors of a book for the children of military families.

She wrote a book that is intended to support these children.

(I wrote the following supportive post about the book without realizing that it is controversial in the community of military families. I am not changing the post based on the comments after it–otherwise the comments won't make sense. The large number of negative comments about the book following the post stem from pride in the traditional term "BRATs"–and a reluctance to give it up.)

I know what it's like for a child when one parent has to be away from home as part of a job. My Dad was in the United Nations -- literally from its formation -- he was in San Francisco for the U.S. Government delegation in 1945. He traveled all over the world for the next 20 years, after having been away in Europe for the OSS during World War II. So he was away from home more of the year than he was home. We all missed him. His six kids were UN brats. We were very proud of what he did for the world but on the whole we would have preferred he had a job closer to home.

The Little CHAMPS (Child Heroes Attached to Military Personnel) have an additional burden besides a missing parent and the fear that some harm might come to the parent while away. The parent who is away for the military is at a war or conflict or is preparing to go to one. Children have to get used to the idea that someone, somewhere is an enemy of the United States and their parent is in the front line, ready to take a bullet or a bomb for the rest of the country. The Little CHAMPS book (Fink, Fink, and Blackwell, 2012) is written as a tribute to these kids, to honor their service-by-proxy to their country and to offer constructive coping tools for their inherent challenges.

It is also written for civilian children, to give them a window of understanding into the world and challenges faced by their military-connected peers. In this way, the book is a bridge of understanding between the disconnected military and civilian worlds.

The book is promoted by Operation CHAMPs and is supported by the USO, American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the Military Child Education Coalition, National Military Family Association, United Through Reading, Armed Services YMCA and Blue Star Families. All five military branches' NGOs are also on board: AUSA Family Readiness, Air Force Association, Navy League, Marine Corps League, and the Coast Guard Foundation.

An estimated 600,000+ 5-12 year old Champs are the target audience. This is a public health and education initiative. Individual copies of The Little CHAMPS are available for purchase for $10 each. This is a useful book and a good cause.