ARLINGTON, Va., Two children of Alaska Army National Guard Maj. Joel Gilbert were recently featured on a Nickelodeon "Nick News" special, "Coming Home: When Parents Return from War."
Kayleigh, 12, and Angus, 11, were interviewed about coping with the deployment of a parent by a crew from Lucky Duck Productions in March at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where Gilbert was a student at the Command and General Staff College,
"Lots of people disagree about the war," show host Linda Ellerbee told the New York Daily News. "The show is not about that. Everybody agrees the men and women serving in the military deserve our respect, but let us also honor the bravery and sacrifices made by the kids of men and women serving in the war."
Gilbert said his children had a unique experience while he was deployed to Iraq as commander of Company A, 3rd Battalion, 297th Infantry of Juno, Alaska, from October 2004 to January 2006,
Living in a town of 30,000, only one other parent with a child at their school was deployed, so "they had no peers to associate with," Gilbert said. It was not like living on a military base and going to school with children who are dealing with the same issues. They had no interaction with military children until they moved to Fort Leavenworth.
When he got his orders for Iraq, Gilbert and his wife, Laura, discussed his deployment with the children, who were ages 10 and 9 at the time. "Kayleigh started crying and wanted to know, 'Why can't we go with you?'
"We talked a whole bunch about it before I left," he said.
During his deployment, Laura worked for the Family Assistance Center. The children also helped with stuffing care packages and other projects, which "kept them in the loop," Gilbert said. "My wife kept everyone super-involved" with scouting and other activities. It helped the time go by faster, he added.
Gilbert said he tried to send an e-mail from Iraq every night before he went to bed, and he tried to call every three to five days.
When he returned home, Gilbert said his children were concerned that he would treat them like Soldiers. "But I was able to reintegrate really well," he said. "We have always had open lines of communication with them."
Gilbert said he hopes the show will "get kids thinking." Some children may have a parent who is different after returning from a deployment, so "if they did see the show, they may now understand why they may have issues [adjusting]."
Each of the children featured on the show talked about their feelings, their fears and expectations, during a parent's deployment.
"I think their honesty and integrity and their pride come shining through," Ellerbee told the Daily News about the children. "They're very open about the pain, but they couldn't be more definite about their pride in their parents."
According to the Daily News, the idea for the show came from talk in the U.S. about troop withdrawals combined with the fact that 43 percent of the Soldiers are parents, a far greater share than in any previous war.
Marty Toub, a producer for the show, told The Fort Leavenworth Lamp that the show's crews interviewed children throughout the United States.
"There's so many ways to grow up in this country," he said. "We talked to Soldiers, and we also "¦ talk to kids and find out how they're getting through it."