Camp for military families
by Marlene Fritz
At a long wooden table flanked by her husband and daughters, physician’s assistant Heidi Munro gazed out the door of the rustic mountain lodge and said, “It’s beautiful here…very nice.”
It had been a year and a half since Munro, company commander of an Idaho Army National Guard medical unit, had returned to Boise from 18 months in Iraq—and a little over a year since Camille, 8, stopped slipping into her parents’ bedroom every night to make sure her Mom was still there. “She’d give me a kiss, say ‘Just checking,’ and go back to bed,” said Munro, brushing away several tears that briskly erupted through her smiles. “That still makes me cry.”
Frank Coprivnicar, a full-time Idaho Air National Guardsman and C-130 cargo pilot at Boise’s Gowen Field, had flown missions into Iraq and Afghanistan for half of 2004 and was preparing for another deployment in August.
Like the Munros, the Coprivnicars were spending a playful mid-July weekend at the 2nd annual Idaho 4-H Operation: Military Kids’ Military Family Camp north of Ketchum, reveling in each other’s company and that of other military families, 4-H youth counselors, and adult volunteers.
A camp where military families just show up
“We love to camp and we didn’t have to do anything but show up,” said Kathy Coprivnicar, mother of three. “I didn’t have to cook, set up camp, or plan a meal. We’re just here to enjoy it.”
Saturday began with campers reeling in rainbow
trout at Lake Creek Lake, 17 miles north of
Ketchum,
and closed with laughter and a
luscious luau.
The military family participants’
only duty on this summer weekend was
to relax and enjoy one another
That, precisely, was the point, said Sue Philley, camp leader and University of Idaho coordinator of Operation: Military Kids (O:MK), which organized the three-day outing to the 7,100-foot-high Central Idaho 4-H Camp. The event was sponsored by a partnership including O:MK, Idaho Military Family Programs, Regional Army Reserve Child and Youth Services, University of Idaho Extension 4-H Youth Development, 4-H Endowment, and Idaho business and veterans’ organizations.
The camp was so rich in arts, crafts, sports, and outdoor activities—everything from archery to yoga—that Frank Coprivnicar never once heard that perennial child’s whine, “Daddy, what can we do next?”
“We offer lots of choices in order to meet everybody’s needs,” said Philley. “We don’t want anyone to feel that they have to do any particular activity. We want everybody to choose what they want to do.”
Amazing fishing, fun for all
On Saturday morning, most of the 30 military family members chose to accompany volunteer fishing guide Bob Forster to Lake Creek Lake, recently restocked with rainbow trout.
“The fishing was amazing,” said Greg Clark, a chaplain with the Idaho Air National Guard. “Everyone on the lake came home with something.”
William (left) and Dan Ashley enjoy special family
time over a meal of freshly caught, foil-baked fish. Forster, a retired University of Idaho Extension plant pathologist, has fished for nearly 50 years, but never before with a mixed-age family camp. “My primary motivation is to support our military personnel and their families, so it’s very satisfying,” said Forster. “They’re putting their lives in danger for us, and this is one small way that we can repay them and show our gratitude.”
Cleaning up after an energetic session of printing and painting with every kind of medium—from rubber fish to crumpled paper to sand—4-H Extension associate Maureen Toomey remarked that all of her students had been “very creative
—regardless of their age or ability.” One wildly tinted Amate painting—an art form originated by Mexico’s Otomi Indians—testified to even a two year old’s “great use of color.”
“What’s great about this camp is that it’s focused on family, it’s focused on talking, it’s focused on being happy, it’s focused on learning new skills together,” Ashley said. “That builds a strong foundation and fond memories.”
Even small
campers try their
hands--and feet--at climbing a 'rock'
trucked
in by the Idaho National Guard.
Tucked tightly against Bruce Cooper, an Idaho Air National Guard medic, an excited William Ashley, 6, carefully positioned his bow, insisting on arrow after arrow from his 13-year-old friend, Phillip Cooper.
Bruce and Phillip, of Boise, were attending the camp as a father-son team. “It’s just the two of us,” said the elder Cooper, who had returned to his job as a medic for the Idaho Maximum Security Institution and was awaiting surgery for injuries suffered during the third of three Mideast tours. “It’s our time.”
Cooper is no stranger to 4-H: He has been a leader since October 2006. He does it for “the kids—spending time, taking time, working with kids.” How long will it take for his life to return to normal? “You don’t get back to normal,” Cooper replied. “You just keep on keeping on.”
Contact Sue Philley.
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