When the Senate Youth Program visited Arlington Nationwide Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, March 13, the expertise held particular that means for 2 college students, each kids of navy service members.
Their go to to the cemetery preceded the Month of the Army Baby, noticed each April. This observance acknowledges that, whereas service members put on the uniform, their kids share the distinctive challenges and sacrifices that include navy service.
Senate Youth Program college students Ava Ellis and Michael Carbone attend colleges throughout the Division of Conflict Schooling Exercise, a college system that serves kids on American bases worldwide. Visiting Arlington Nationwide Cemetery — the place the tales of kids like them are woven into the panorama — impressed reverence and prompted each to mirror on what it means to develop up in a navy household.
Ellis, whose father serves within the Air Drive and is at the moment stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, described the expertise as “very emotional.” She added that visiting the cemetery helped her perceive components of navy life that many kids might not see.
“As a navy baby, a number of instances you see the great components, however we are sometimes shielded from the tougher facets, particularly when my dad deploys or takes on a more durable job,” she mentioned. “Being right here opens my eyes and helps me see all facets of it.”
For Carbone, the son of an Military soldier at the moment stationed at Garrison Wiesbaden in Germany, the go to introduced again reminiscences of his father’s deployments.
“Coming in, it was very emotional,” he mentioned. “It made me suppose again to when my dad was deployed to Afghanistan and questioning if he was going to return residence,” Carbone mentioned, including that he felt a larger appreciation for each of his dad and mom’ service, together with his mom’s position as a navy partner.
Senate Youth Program college students laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after which witnessed the altering of the guard. Because the ceremony concluded and the acquainted notes of faucets echoed throughout the plaza, the second prompted quiet reflection for Ellis and Carbone.
“I forgot that they play faucets throughout the ceremony,” she mentioned. “You hear it on navy bases each evening, however listening to it right here reminds you of the sacrifice behind all the pieces.”
For navy kids like Ellis and Carbone, service is woven into each day life, shaping their views in methods a lot of their friends might by no means see. Their go to to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, shortly earlier than the Month of the Army Baby, enabled them to achieve a deeper understanding of their households’ sacrifices and their very own place throughout the legacy that the cemetery preserves. Ellis and Carbone’s reflections highlighted that navy kids are a part of an extended historical past of service, sacrifice and remembrance — and that the cemetery honors not solely those that served, but in addition the households who stand behind them.
