Month of the Military Child observed at Rosewood
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on April 17, 2016 1:45 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Tayzlie Tripple reads a poem titled "Dandelion" during the Month of the Military Child celebration Friday at Rosewood High School. Tayzlie's father, Lt. Col. Trent Tripple, was in attendance.
"My home is nowhere."
These were the first words spoken by Rosewood High School 11th-grader Tal Webber during her speech Friday at Rosewood's Month of the Military Child celebration.
Tal is the daughter of not one, but two active military members. The Rosewood JROTC member hasn't spent more than two years at one school in her entire life. She's been at Rosewood for about a year, and will be moving again within the next few months.
Tal was one of many military children attending the ceremony, and her experiences were mirrored by those around her. Tayzlie Tripple, a Rosewood 10th-grader, said that constantly moving has forced her to grow as a person. Tayzlie's father trains pilots at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
"It's forced me to be more social," she said. "I have to put myself out there a lot more in order to make friends."
Tayzlie also admitted that, as much as she does strive to be socially active, it's hard to get too attached to any particular person when she knows she'll eventually move on. Rosewood is Tayzlie's eighth school, and her family will be moving to Idaho in a few months.
Leah Duran, a JROTC member whose stepfather worked in Air Force bomb construction for nearly 20 years, said her stepfather's specific job could complicate things from time to time.
"Well, we couldn't come to bring-your-kids-to-work day." she said with a laugh. "Which we were really disappointed by."
The guest speaker at the celebration was Seymour Johnson's Lt. Col. Michael L. Haire, commander of the 4th Fighter Wing Comptroller Squadron. Haire said that military children are cut from a special cloth.
At one point during his speech, Haire asked all military children in the audience to stand. Among the crowd of hundred, less than thirty stood, spread out in ones and twos around the gymnasium. Several were JROTC members.
"These kids probably don't like that I asked them to stand." Haire said. "They aren't ones for kudos or fanfare. They, more than anything else, just want to be themselves and to fit in."
Haire said that when communities welcome and nurture military children, they are directly contributing to the success of their family members' missions. It can be difficult for military members to fully focus on the job and hand without knowing that their families are safe and healthy.
"I've never worried about the job. We're trained to do our jobs. I've never worried about being safe. We're trained to stay safe. If I've ever had any concern at all, it's been for my family." Haire said.
Haire said that the best thing for people in the Goldsboro area to do for military children is to simply continue being the inviting environment they've always been.
With parents often either away on deployment or busy working at all hours of the day, military children must make the most of the time they do have with their parents. JROTC member David Kelley Jr., an 11th grader, said that the separation is difficult to deal with. David's father is currently deployed in South Korea.
"I'm a real daddy's boy, so when he's gone I really miss him." he said. "We go fishing whenever we can, wherever we can."
The strain is felt on the parents as well. Tayzlie's father, Lt. Col. Trent Tripple, was in attendance to hear his daughter speak. He said that it's sometimes difficult to step back from the military mindset during the precious little time he has to spent with his children.
"All of my children are involved with athletics, so I try to be an assistant coach, and go to their games." Tripple said. "They'll jokingly say they don't want me there, because I'll take notes on what they did right, what they did wrong, and what they can do better. It's that military state of mind, which is hard to get away from."
Being constantly uprooted and moved would be a stressful experience for anyone, and military children are made to deal with it during their formative years. During a period of life in which they are trying to determine who they are, military kids are constantly forced to reset and reevaluate their social and personal lives. For Tal, the military itself offers a more-or-less consistent environment where consistency is otherwise rare. Though her answer to the question "where are you from" may be "nowhere," she hasn't often had to go without a familiar face.
"Moving around is pretty crazy, you meet all kinds of different people." she said. "Other military people get moved around too though, so I don't think I've gone anywhere where I didn't know at least one or two people."