Operation Purple Camp Wraps Up Another Unforgettable Summer

By the end of a week at Operation Purple® Camp, there is plenty to pack.

Damp swimsuits and sandy shoes, camp T-shirts and half-used bottles of sunscreen fill their bags. But campers leave with more than what fits in a suitcase: stories from the ropes course and the waterfront, names and phone numbers that didn’t mean anything a week ago, and the particular kind of exhaustion that comes from days spent almost entirely outside.

But ask military kids what they remember most about camp, and something deeper begins to emerge.

“I liked that I felt like I fit in and had something in common with everyone,” one 14-year-old camper said.

A Place Where You Don’t Have to Explain

For military kids, finding that kind of belonging isn’t always a simple task.

Their childhoods are punctuated by change. A new duty station can mean a new home, new school, and a new group of friends. Deployments and training can leave an empty chair at the dinner table for months at a time. Some know what it is like to worry about a parent who is wounded, ill, or injured. Others take on responsibilities at home that their classmates may never see.

And despite growing up connected to the military, most military children do not spend their days surrounded by other kids who share that experience. Many attend civilian schools, where classmates and educators may have little familiarity with the rhythms and realities of military life.

That means military kids often become practiced at explaining.

Explaining why Mom can’t come to the school event. Why Dad has been gone for months. Why they moved in the middle of the year. Why they’ve lived in five places. Why they call somewhere thousands of miles away “home.”

At Operation Purple® Camp, there’s a lot less explaining to do.

“People understood that my dad is gone not because he doesn’t care but because he’s in the military,” a 14-year-old camper at YMCA Camp Surf said.

That shared understanding is at the heart of Operation Purple® Camp. For one week, military life isn’t something that sets a child apart. It’s an experience the kids around them understand, too.

“We all had something in common that could connect us together,” another 14-year-old camper said.

What Becomes Possible When You Belong

That common ground creates room for something else to happen.

Strangers become friends. Kids who arrive unsure of themselves try something they have never done before. A child afraid of the ocean gets on a surfboard. Another discovers that talking to new people is not quite as intimidating as it once seemed.

One camper, 13-year-old Harper, put one of her discoveries more simply: she learned she could be good at “socializing sometimes even if I’m hesitant.”

She also learned that she was pretty good at skipping rocks.

That matters, too.

The Freedom to Just Be a Kid

Because for all that Operation Purple Camp is designed around the unique experiences of military children, it is also, emphatically, camp.

Camp means bodyboarding and gaga ball, swimming and big swings, and conversations without phones. It means learning new skills, eating camp food, laughing with people who were strangers just days before, and looking up long enough to notice the sunset.

“I loved Bodyboarding and gaga ball, but most of all I loved the sunset views,” one 13-year-old camper said.

Another camper, 15-year-old Jasmin, described what happened when technology disappeared for the week.

“It was very lively! I actually lived in the moment and focused on myself and building friendships.”

Maybe that is part of what makes a week at camp matter.

Military kids spend much of their lives adapting to circumstances they didn’t choose. At camp, they get to simply be kids.

They might be nervous about the big swing, learn to surf, or stay up talking with new friends. They might even discover they’re good at something unexpected. And somewhere along the way, they can look around and realize that, for once, the parts of their lives that might require an explanation somewhere else are already understood here.

Parents noticed the difference when their children came home.

“This has touched her heart and soul,” one mother, Jessica-Lynn, shared. “Learning there are others out there like her and bonding and making friends. Having a military parent is hard, especially when they are gone. It was awesome to actually have people that truly understand and get it.”

What They Carry Home

Eventually, every week of summer camp ends.

The cabins empty, the last towels dry, suitcases are zipped, goodbyes are said, and military kids return to lives that will keep changing.

But perhaps they return home with a new sense of certainty: there are other kids out there who understand.

And while Operation Purple® Camp offers military kids connection, belonging, and understanding, sometimes the best measure of a week at camp is much simpler. As one 9-year-old camper put it:

“It was so fun! I really want to come back next year.”

Together We’re Stronger®

By: Olivia Brinsfield, Content Manager