Flashback Friday: How the Month of the Military Child Grew Up

The Exchange has always recognized the importance of military children and made sure to serve America’s youngest heroes, sometimes in unusual ways, such as shipping a 23-horse merry-go-round, complete with calliope music, to Harmon Air Force Base in Newfoundland after a colonel requested it for children on the base.

From 2018: A child gets her face painted at a Month of the Military Child event at Luke Air Force Base.

While you won’t see carousels showing up at APOs overseas these days, the Exchange is still focused on saluting military kids for their resilience, particularly during April, the Month of the Military Child. The monthly designation was made official in 1986 by Caspar Weinberger, President Ronald Reagan’s defense secretary, to emphasize the role military children play in the armed forces community. The Exchange celebrates this month annually with military child-centered events at PXs and BXs worldwide.

Military kids can look for activities, sweepstakes and more at their local Exchanges. One of the most popular Exchange MOMC features is a free iron-on collectible military brat patch, which the Exchange began offering in 2018 to honor Warfighters’ children’s service and fearless spirit.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Month of the Military Child celebrations moved online, but resourceful stores still found ways to honor the children with drive-through Purple Up celebrations and curbside salutes to military children.

According to the Department of Defense, there are more than 1.6 million military children who face challenges but also have unique experiences as a result of their parents’ service. On average, military children move once every two or three years, which typically means enrolling in new schools and making new friends while departing from old ones.

Month of the Military Child concludes with National Military Brats Day on April 30.

For those outside the military, the term “brat” may sound like an insult, but it is thought to be rooted in a British acronym that’s more than 100 years old. According to Veteran.com, “Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael M. Dunn wrote a blog post in 2011 making note of a book from 1921 attributing the origins of the term at least in part due to a British military acronym that stood for ‘British Regiment Attached Traveler’ (BRAT) … The story goes that eventually ‘BRAT’ became synonymous with military children.”

Famous military brats include Amy Adams, Reese Witherspoon, Shaquille O’Neal and LeVar Burton, who wrote about his experiences growing up military in a 2015 blog post.

Sources: Exchange Post archives, Department of Defense, Department of Defense Education Agency, Veteran.com