Deborah McKee Kelly

My 10-year-old step-son is fascinated with army/military stuff and the
television show MASH. He watches the show daily (in part because we own
every season on DVD and his dad and I are both MASH-ophiles).

I've been trying to come up with something that would further feed his Army
interest, and I'm kind of stuck, creatively. It's not something I naturally
have an interest in, but he wants to know everything -- why ranks are the
way they are, all about the insignias, the different branches of the armed
forces, how guns work, all about guns, all about grenades, all about why
there are wars, what was going on in Korea, etc. I have done a few searches
on the Army government web site, but haven't really found much that
interests him there. Also done a few Wikipedia type searches, but I think
he needs something more hands on or maybe kid-friendly.

My dad brought over a bunch of his old army uniform stuff for Julian to play
with and dress up, so that was good, but it's INFO he wants on top of the
play.

One small problem is that Julian's dad, my hubby, is fearful of Julian's
fascination with the military. I personally don't have a problem with the
military, per se -- maybe not my first choice for my kids, but I know a LOT
of young adults and not-so-young adults who have gone through and made
wonderful lives and careers with it. But that aside, I don't think Julian
is necessarily going to go join up the second he turns 18. I think he just
finds it fascinating.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Deb
mom to Caitlin, 15; Julian, 10; Josephine, 18 months; Autumn, 4 months


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Sandra Dodd

While he's looking around and researching, maybe he can interpret
these, some (maybe all) of which were my dad's near the end of WWII.

http://helpwithmysterythings.blogspot.com/2010/08/world-war-ii-insignia.html

There's a bit about how to see an interest in WWII here, and it would
apply. It was written up somewhere, but now I can only find it here:
http://sandradodd.com/video/sandra3
This is a transcript of me telling the story. I think the first
writing was on the AOL homeschooling message board, and that is long
gone.
There was a mom who wrote and said "My kid doesn't care about anything
in the world but WWII. He doesn't do anything but draw pictures of
tanks and draw pictures of airplanes, and draw maps. He knows all
about WWII. He doesn't know anything else. And so I, that was when AOL
was new so that was years ago. And that was the first time anyone ever
put one of those to me, like tell me how. You know "Prove it. Put up
or shut up." And I said, "Ok." So I just started spinning a thing
about WWII, you know about how much it tied in. If he knew how they
got food to those people and how they were exchanging information,
how .. you know... why were those guys there? what were their
motivations for being there? he would have the same kinds of questions
about every other thing. He would understand other wars and projects
if he understood that. You know, you have to get food to people. They
have to have a place to sleep. They have to have some clothes. They
have to have some water. You know who thinks about that with the war?
But he did. That kid did. That kid knew everything. He was just huge
into the logistics about who was where and why and how. How can that
not tie into everything, including music? [3]

And that "3" footnote is to http://sandradodd.com/connections/



Sandra





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Ed Wendell

OH - that is right there for us - everything military in this house !!! :) and yet no relatives in the military since WWII - and none living.

Here are a few thoughts as Zachariah got the military bug at about age three and is going strong at age 16. In fact he and his dad
are off playing air-soft at a big Mil-Sim (Military-Simulation) game at Fort Riley this weekend. They will be re-enacting the battle for Pristnia in the Balkans with Albanians vs. Serbians - then NATO/European forces intervening. They re-enact military events - current since WWII. Full military gear - not current uniforms due to safety issues of course. There are teams form all over the region and various states. I'm amazed how far teams travel to these big games. Not all the games are big ones like the one this weekend but they still have fun. The team they are on requires you to be age 15 if a parent will play too. However, there is one place they go that lets ages 10 and up play. So start searching - we didn't find this place until Zac was 15 - we wish we'd found it sooner as he knew about airsoft but everything we found said age 16 to join a team so he waited, joined the team and then through the team found the other place where he could have been playing all along. There are tons of videos on You Tube of people playing air-soft.

We too worried for years that he'd join the military as soon as he could. But you know, now he says he does not want to join the military - just loves all things military. All aspects of war - he knows / loves learning about all aspects of war, the history, the economic causes of certain wars, the economic impact of wars, social impact and causes, how inventions of warfare advanced civilizations; how new weapons and the various art forms of warfare then led to civilian uses, various types of history surrounding military; how a fluke weather phenomenon changed the course of a battle/war. It is like Military and Warfare are the umbrella that fuels everything else for him - and his love of all things military fuel an extremely wide range of interests.

Maybe letting him live his passion and immerse himself in it has satisfied him to the point of not feeling a huge desire to join up?

Celtic, Roman, Viking, Norse, Scottish, Napoleonic, Shogun, Arabic, Ancient Egyptian (Pharos), European Middle Ages, Knights Templar, Crusades, Samurai, American Revolutionary Way, American Civil War, American West, other wars involving the USA, the list never really ends really.

Which leads to interests in just about everything else - Presidents, Kings, rulers, political, physical geography, Celtic/Roman/Norse/Greek mythology - the Gods had some great battles; he has made chain male; carved swords from wood, worked with flinging, made dioramas, plotted, drawn and written battle plans, made home "war" movies,

Here are a few of the shows he has enjoyed - most are on the internet: Hogan's Heroes, MASH, McHale's Navy, F-Troop, any old John Wayne war movies, Well any old war movies - he went through a period of loving old westerns - anything with a great shoot out. We get a channel called The Military Channel and The History Channel is great too.

Computer games that are first person shooter, military strategy games, I'll ask him when he gets back home for suggestions.

We bought him fatigues when he was little to wear. Sometimes it was just the pants and a T-shirt, hats, dog tags, patches, pins (like a tie tack or hat pin) He put those all over the lapel of his coat.

We keep our eyes open for things like: air shows - it was expensive but we went to an air show and he got to ride in a WWII fighter plane; when he was about 5 we were in AZ and he got to fly in a Bi-Plane; usually at the air shows there are all types of military vehicles on display; military museums tucked here and there as we travel (they are often very small but suits the desire); a lot of the military bases have museums that are really good; there is usually some type of Civil War re-enactment each year around here - great cannon shots; we have the WWI museum and memorial; sometimes there are Military educational semi-trailer trucks that travel around and park in malls and the kids can go through.

He has fallen in love with 40's era big band & swing music. He loves the movie Master and Commander which led to a love of various classical music. The other day I came home from work and opera was playing very loudly - go figure!

He has taken Hap-Ki-Do; fencing; and a couple of other "fighting" art forms; Military cadence drumming;

Two Halloween's ago he made a Samurai costume for himself and a horse at the stable where he takes riding lessons. Every year since he was 3 his costumes are about some type of military something or other.

Putting together military vehicle models were an interest for a while. Collecting the tiny GI Goe size military guns. Remote control military vehicles.

For facts he watches a lot of shows and movies and then asks questions and we look things up - now he looks things up himself a lot. He often has the laptop right next to him as he reads and / or watches something on TV - which often leads to watching something on-line. You Tube is about the best place I know of to get footage. Most You Tube footage is done to a song/music. We often have a great laugh as Zac has a great sense of humor - he found a funny video from the 50's done to the song "Battle of New Orleans" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsRK3DNoa_Q


You can get info on just about anything on You Tube - Zac is a visual person and loves You Tube. The samurai costume he made was gotten from You Tube, he figured out how to make Japanese rice balls to eat this week through You Tube; He spends hours entertaining himself and us with You Tube and learning.

I guess I am saying that as we live our lives and go along we find opportunities everywhere connected to Military because we are aware of his desire for that connection. Some things we actively hunt and other opportunities seem to appear as that is where our awareness is focused.

Lisa W.














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Ed Wendell

Which leads to interests in just about everything else - Presidents, Kings, rulers, political, physical geography, Celtic/Roman/Norse/Greek mythology - the Gods had some great battles; he has made chain male; carved swords from wood, worked with flinging, made dioramas, plotted, drawn and written battle plans, made home "war" movies,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry - that should be "worked with flinting" a fascination with Obsidian fueled his love for all kinds of rocks and fossils - we have a huge pile on our deck that he has been adding to since he was little - interesting sticks too.

Another passing interest that lasted a couple of years was rocketry - that was fun!

We found a place that sells the meal packets that the soldiers eat on the field and he tried some of that last year - it was pretty bad ;)

Army Surplus stores are fantastic fun to browse and to pick up some great finds as well as to talk to the owner about items he is selling. Old ammo boxes make great "treasure boxes" Zac has a couple and keeps all kinds of stuff in them.

On-line stores for gun shopping and people's review of said guns - why it is a great gun or not, etc.

Current news - for instance when they found the Saxon Horde recently - and just this weekend the first Medal Of Honor was issued to a living service member since the Vietnam War. Usually the service member is deceased when they receive the medal of Honor - receiving the Medal Of Honor while alive it pretty rare - there is a lot of ritual and special privileges that go along with receiving the Medal Of Honor. here is a site that might interest him: http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/medal-of-honor/ or when some of the last WWI vets have been passing away this year here in the USA and in Great Britain.



We have large (36x24) maps - world map and a USA map up on our walls. Zachariah references them a lot to figure out wars, battles, countries, boundaries, oceans/seas/lakes/water ways, locations, etc.

Memorial Day and Veteran's Day and of course the Fourth of July are great times to find events too - if you are in the USA that is - I keep mentioning USA things as that is where we are - if you are somewhere else just take these ideas and apply to your own region/country.

Lisa W.




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Pam Sorooshian

Civil Air Patrol ---- I've known several kids who got really involved
in it and loved it and have even pursued careers related to things they
learned in it.

We live a few houses down from a military base and once a year they have
a big event called "Wheels, Rotors, and Wings." They display all their
military equipment and do all kinds of demonstrations and have fly-overs
by fighter jets, etc. It is an all-day event and very interesting. I've
seen them do an entire MASH unit drop - fly helicopters over and drop
the equipment from parachutes and the solders all run out and set up the
entire mobile hospital - then you can take a tour of it.

So - look around at nearby bases and see if they have any kind of
community events. Our base also does a "Safety" event each year - that's
more other community organizations like Red Cross, etc., but the
military also does demos of rescue operations and stuff like that.

Also - there are tours of aircraft carriers - I've been to one in San
Diego, for example. You could make an entire family vacation centered
around visiting military sites (and throw in some others for the rest of
the family, too).

Oh - our base has a Glider Club. They meet twice a week and planes take
the gliders up and release them and they fly (glide) all over. They
sometimes take passengers. For free.

Too young for it, probably, but I think Catch 22 is a fantastic book for
people who like MASH.

Does he like to play military strategy board games like RIsk or (more
sophisticated) Axis and Allies? There are lots.

-pam

Pam Sorooshian

On 9/12/2010 12:00 PM, Ed Wendell wrote:
> He loves the movie Master and Commander

Roxana is majoring in history (and drama) at her university - because of
her long-time love affair with the Master and Commander books. There are
21 or 22 of them. I listened to the first one as an audible book and it
was really good. She's not just generally into all military history -
but specifically into maritime history of that era. Interestingly, she's
managed to connect that very specific interest with other classes. For
example, she's just finished a stage crew class for her drama major and
she did a presentation about how all the ropes and rigging in a theater
are based on the riggings of sailing ships. In her "History through
Cuisine" class, she did a presentation on the food aboard a Napoleonic
era sailing ship. Even made some kind of a pudding for the class to taste.

pam

Ed Wendell

she did a presentation about how all the ropes and rigging in a theater
are based on the riggings of sailing ships.

~~~~~~~~

I didn't know that - that's fascinating - thank you for sharing. I'll let Zac know when he gets home.


His interest in the Samurai led to making the rice balls this week. Because he is allergic to soy, Ed helped him come up with something to sauté the steak in: brown sugar, raspberry vinegar, olive oil, and sea salt. It was really good. Ed did good ;) I would never have thought to add those ingredients together.

Zac is getting ready to take an introduction to Japanese class based upon food. "Tabemashou! A Restaurant Themed Intro to Japanese"

Lisa W.






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Sandra Dodd

-=-Does he like to play military strategy board games like RIsk or (more
sophisticated) Axis and Allies? -=-

There's a computer video game Marty played for a while called
Battlefield 1943.

http://www.ea.com/games/battlefield-1943

(Ah... it's for gaming platforms too.)

Sandra

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Karen Hsu

There's also an xbox game (downloadable the xbox Arcade) called Panzer
General that is a WWII battle strategy game.

Karen


> ---There's a computer video game Marty played for a while called
> Battlefield 1943.
>
> http://www.ea.com/games/battlefield-1943 ----
>


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Michele

Hi, I have 3 ds's who Love military stuff too. All the suggestions have been great. I would like to say that Airsoft has been key for my guys. (ages 9,11,13). They have learned such an incredible amount about artillery and weapons in general from going to airsoft specailty stores or researching it on the internet. They also play at a local airsoft park and have been learning strategic/tactical things. Today we are going to make an army gilly (sp) suit to wear to the next combat.
Also, for a novel/fun approach to WWll have you tried reading Horrible History's Woeful Second World War? My ds's really enjoy the Horrible History books.
Good Luck!
Michele J

k

If you're ever in Pensacola FL this
(http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/) is a fabulous place! I loved it
and so did Karl and Brian. It has all kinds of military planes and
vehicles on display. Originals. It's unbelievable the stuff that's in
there. I could have spent another day in there and I don't like the
military at all. My interest is in how it relates to space travel (a
lot!).

~Katherine




On 9/12/10, Deborah McKee Kelly <dlmckee@...> wrote:
> My 10-year-old step-son is fascinated with army/military stuff and the
> television show MASH. He watches the show daily (in part because we own
> every season on DVD and his dad and I are both MASH-ophiles).
>
> I've been trying to come up with something that would further feed his Army
> interest, and I'm kind of stuck, creatively. It's not something I naturally
> have an interest in, but he wants to know everything -- why ranks are the
> way they are, all about the insignias, the different branches of the armed
> forces, how guns work, all about guns, all about grenades, all about why
> there are wars, what was going on in Korea, etc. I have done a few searches
> on the Army government web site, but haven't really found much that
> interests him there. Also done a few Wikipedia type searches, but I think
> he needs something more hands on or maybe kid-friendly.
>
> My dad brought over a bunch of his old army uniform stuff for Julian to play
> with and dress up, so that was good, but it's INFO he wants on top of the
> play.
>
> One small problem is that Julian's dad, my hubby, is fearful of Julian's
> fascination with the military. I personally don't have a problem with the
> military, per se -- maybe not my first choice for my kids, but I know a LOT
> of young adults and not-so-young adults who have gone through and made
> wonderful lives and careers with it. But that aside, I don't think Julian
> is necessarily going to go join up the second he turns 18. I think he just
> finds it fascinating.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Deb
> mom to Caitlin, 15; Julian, 10; Josephine, 18 months; Autumn, 4 months
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

joanne.lopers

Do you have an army surplus store where you live?
My son loves wandering through and looking at the stuff. You might be able to get some ideas from the staff too. The staff at our store is pretty knowledgeable. He might like paracord braiding. The rope is cheap and you can find out on utube how to make them. My son saw one of the staff members making bracelets the last time we were at the store now he wants me to ask if he can get a job there making them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPO19rXgaIo

Joanne

--- In [email protected], k <katherand@...> wrote:
>
> If you're ever in Pensacola FL this
> (http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/) is a fabulous place! I loved it
> and so did Karl and Brian. It has all kinds of military planes and
> vehicles on display. Originals. It's unbelievable the stuff that's in
> there. I could have spent another day in there and I don't like the
> military at all. My interest is in how it relates to space travel (a
> lot!).
>
> ~Katherine
>
>
>
>
> On 9/12/10, Deborah McKee Kelly <dlmckee@...> wrote:
> > My 10-year-old step-son is fascinated with army/military stuff and the
> > television show MASH. He watches the show daily (in part because we own
> > every season on DVD and his dad and I are both MASH-ophiles).
> >
> > I've been trying to come up with something that would further feed his Army
> > interest, and I'm kind of stuck, creatively. It's not something I naturally
> > have an interest in, but he wants to know everything -- why ranks are the
> > way they are, all about the insignias, the different branches of the armed
> > forces, how guns work, all about guns, all about grenades, all about why
> > there are wars, what was going on in Korea, etc. I have done a few searches
> > on the Army government web site, but haven't really found much that
> > interests him there. Also done a few Wikipedia type searches, but I think
> > he needs something more hands on or maybe kid-friendly.
> >
> > My dad brought over a bunch of his old army uniform stuff for Julian to play
> > with and dress up, so that was good, but it's INFO he wants on top of the
> > play.
> >
> > One small problem is that Julian's dad, my hubby, is fearful of Julian's
> > fascination with the military. I personally don't have a problem with the
> > military, per se -- maybe not my first choice for my kids, but I know a LOT
> > of young adults and not-so-young adults who have gone through and made
> > wonderful lives and careers with it. But that aside, I don't think Julian
> > is necessarily going to go join up the second he turns 18. I think he just
> > finds it fascinating.
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Deb
> > mom to Caitlin, 15; Julian, 10; Josephine, 18 months; Autumn, 4 months
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
>