Operation Gratitude Comforts Children of Deployed Service Members

Caydance Thompson helps her parent unload a pallet of Battalion Buddies. Battalion Buddies are stuffed animals distributed to deploying service members to give to their children as a parting gift. (U.S. Air Force photo by Adrian Rowan)

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del.  - As many Team Dover members know, deployments not only take a toll on the service members who face peril abroad, but on their families who are left without a loved one. Too often, this group is unaddressed by the common saying “support the troops.”
Operation Gratitude aims to extend the same measure of support to family members left behind by donating care packages. These packages contain treats and a teddy bear, aptly named ‘Battalion Buddies.’
At Dover Air Force Base, Del., key-spouses’ club members from 14 squadrons conducted the first mass delivery of Operation Gratitude care packages to deploying service members Oct. 31. These packages can then be presented by deploying parents to their children as a parting gift.

By Airman 1st Class Samuel Taylor, 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
From www.dover.af.mil


read more: http://www.dodlive.mil/index.php/2011/11/operation-gratitude-comforts-children-of-deployed-service-members/

Posted in: Operation Gratitude, Support Our Troops