Enlisting support: Activities at Ellsworth help ease challenges of military life

By Cindy Card, Journal correspondent | Tuesday, August 21, 2007

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Military personnel aren’t the only ones serving their country. Their spouses and children are also asked to serve in their own way, which can bring added stress to a family.

Whether it’s dealing with the deployment of a parent, or managing the many moves that military families often make, the military life can be challenging.

In order to combat those stresses, Ellsworth Air Force Base offers lots of recreational opportunities to military children, said Tech Sgt. Steven D. Wilson at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

“The Airman and Family Readiness Support Center here is top-notch,” Wilson said. “When any military member deploys, their families receive a packet full of things like vouchers for discounts from area businesses, a free oil change and a program called Parents Night Out.”

That program, Wilson said, allows for children to have supervised care at the youth center or child development center for a few hours once a month so the spouse can run errands, do some shopping or take care of other chores. He said the base’s Youth Center also has open recreation for school-aged children in the summertime.

Richard Johnson, his wife, Dawn, and two of their children, 14-year-old Bryant and 9-year-old Halle, recently moved to Ellsworth from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. They’ve already made themselves known to the youth and teen centers on base. Their oldest son, Kerry, 19, is in the Marines and is stationed at Camp Pendleton in California.

“One of our first stops was going to the centers,” Dawn said. “With the kids not knowing anybody, we thought that would be a good way for them to get to know people before school starts. They go maybe two or three times a week. That way, they get to meet people and help them get situated.”

The centers allow kids to interact with each other as well as participate in activities such as ping-pong, foosball, video games, power-hour tutoring, movie time, cooking time and field trips.

“Every Friday, they are doing something through the youth center,” Dawn said. On a recent Friday night, a group went to Rapid City to play glow-in-the-dark miniature golf and have dinner.

“It was cool,” Halle said. “We ate at McDonald’s.”

There are also two pools at Ellsworth Air Force Base, which provide a great way for kids to get to know one another, Dawn said. The outdoor pool is behind the youth center, and the indoor pool is part of the fitness center. The pool also provides swimming lessons.

Bryant said he likes the pool, the organized trips and the teen center. “The teen center’s nice. It’s got everything,” he said.

The base’s fitness center is for adults, but Dawn said older children are allowed to use some of the amenities, which include a family workout room, a free-weight room, group fitness classes, intramural sports, elliptical trainers, stationary bicycles, treadmills, saunas and steam rooms.

“We’ve been happy in just the couple of weeks here with the teen and youth centers compared to Ramstein, which surprised me,” Dawn said. “Being overseas, we thought they’d have more open-rec activities, but they didn’t. It was a totally different program, and we weren’t real happy with that.”

Before Ramstein, the family was stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, which Dawn said offered family activities similar to those at Ellsworth. “Both have nice facilities and offer games, arts and crafts, and usually have scheduled events like the Fit Factor.”

The Fit Factor is designed to get the younger kids more physically active. Participants go online        and receive points for having done certain types of physical exercise, she said.

“We haven’t had a chance yet to take advantage of all of the activities, but just by looking at the list, they did horseback riding before we got here. I wish we could have gotten here earlier, but I’m sure they’ll offer that again sometime,” she said.

Dawn said the base has a lot to keep them busy, something she and her husband value.

“I hold it very highly. Being new to the base and not knowing anybody is a scary move for the kids. These activities have really helped, especially with my daughter. Now, she’ll know a few people when she starts school,” she said.

She said the organized activities are especially good for Bryant, who is less likely to seek out new people on his own.

“My son likes to do the computer stuff, and the teen center gets him involved. He can get out and see things around the area, too,” Dawn said.

For instance, Bryant recently went on a group trip to Rushmore Waterslide Park.

With school just around the corner, the youth center hosted a barbecue bash for children ages 6 to 12. A back-to-school bowling celebration was held at Bandit Lanes over the same weekend.

“We had the option of living on base or living in base housing off base, which was a really hard decision,” Dawn said. But she said having the benefits of the youth and teen centers so close to home outweighed living in somewhat smaller quarters on base.

“And not having to face a 20-minute drive if my daughter decides she wants to do the Friday activities,” Dawn said. “It was a tough decision, but we opted to go with the on-base housing for that reason.”