5 minute read
A Different MK
Written by Kai Sniffin, Photographed by Reagan Lee and Austin Romito and Designed by: Joseph Smallwood
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In many Christian circles, the term "MK" is often associated with "missionary kids," or children whose parents are missionaries serving in different communities. These individuals grow up in unusual circumstances, but they aren't the only MKs one can find on a college campus. Meet military kids.
It is not uncommon for children of military families to blend into the society around them — close friends, professors and others within their daily lives may not know about the unique lifestyle they’ve experienced growing up.
Military kids may not speak of their experiences for a multitude of reasons — fear of coming off as cocky from the list of places they’ve lived to difficulties expressing the hardships they’ve faced by being associated with a military family. Often, military kids do not share their stories because of the fear
In one way or another, change is an inevitable part of being in a military family. From deployments to moves, change manifests itself differently in each. Some families spend an average of 24 months or less living in a location. Others stay rooted for awhile, with the active duty family member deploying often. However, many families experience both.
Courtney Mitchell, senior architecture major, grew up in a family in which both parents were in the service — her mother served in the Air Force; her father served in the Coast Guard. As a result, there were times where Mitchell’s family would be temporarily separated because her parents were stationed at different bases.
As Mitchell lists the different places she has lived — eight in total — she says her family’s move to Alaska was the most difficult move.
“My move from Virginia to Alaska in the middle of my freshman year of high school — that was definitely one of my hardest moves. From not wanting to leave my best friend in Virginia to everything I had come to know,” Mitchell says.
It was during this tour in Alaska with the Coast Guard that her mom joined the Air- Force as a nurse practitioner. The transition from having one parent in the service to both serving brought intense change within the family dynamic. After her mom received orders outside of Alaska, her family temporarily lived apart, with Mitchell and her dad staying in Alaska and Mitchell’s mom and brother relocating to Florida. Throughout all of this, Mitchell had to become an expert on how to handle change with grace and maturity.
“(The military) forces you to accept changes of life that naturally will happen and forces you to mature in that way a little bit faster,” Mitchell says.
Mitchell’s family is currently back together, with her mom retired from the Air Force and her dad still coordinating search and rescue missions for the Coast Guard.
Joy Jack, junior graphic design major, can also identify with the change that comes with growing up in a military family. Jack’s father is an active duty officer in the Navy and has been serving for 20 years. Her family has moved 11 times, sometimes overseas to countries such as England and Italy, and Germany in the near future. Each move comes with opportunities as well as situations that may not be ideal.
“Growing up as a military kid you are constantly moving. You are always picking stuff up and just leaving to go to a place that you don’t know,” Jack says. “It’s hard to explain it, but it’s just a lot of being unfamiliar and really uncomfortable.”
Although Jack is no stranger to the situations that come with being a military kid, such as her father being sent on long overseas deployments and being the "new kid" in school countless times, she says she is grateful for the life she has been given.
“It’s hard because I always see other kids say they went to the same high school all four years and I went to three different high schools. I always envied being able to grow up in the same school, with the same people, and I always say that I want that,” Jack says. “But if I really think about it, I don’t think I would change my life at all because I’m really grateful (for) my family and all the people I’ve been able to meet. Even if I don’t keep in touch with them, just those memories are nice and I’m blessed that God has given me the life that I have, and I wouldn’t change it.”
Campbell McOwen, junior nursing major, comes from a long line of military service members. McOwen’s grandfather and great grandfather served in the Navy, and his father broke the tradition by serving as a colonel in the Army in civil affairs. His immediate family remained in California during his father’s deployments.
“I was fortunate because he would just go and he didn’t want to move us a lot. I really respect him because he made it as easy as possible,” McOwen says.
McOwen says he views adaptability as a ‘perk’ of the military lifestyle that has aided him well in life. However, this was tested when his father was deployed to the Philippines immediately after 9/11. Because of the long deployment, McOwen’s family relocated from their California home to join his father for six months.
During their stay in the Philippines, McOwen and his family went through the motions of their daily routines but also had to adapt to dangerous surroundings.
“There was some normalcy there and then there wasn’t at the same time,” McOwen says. “All of a sudden we feel the ground shake and we find out that there was an explosion — a bomb that blew up in the building next to us. Everywhere we went we had to say that we were from Iceland because we weren’t sure how much of a threat there was there.”
Military kids also have a different definition of home. Many will say that they feel more at home in a country that is not their own. Home may be wherever their family currently is, the place that contained the most personal growth for them or where their closest friends reside — it no longer becomes a place with physical walls.
“It’s more about where the important people are,” Mitchell says.
Despite the constant changes, military kids have the opportunity to broaden their worldview, evolve and teach others in the process — offering a perspective that can prepare them for future endeavors.
