Little Troopers reunites military families in first-of-its-kind family reconnection weekend

Military families were reunited this week when Little Troopers, the children’s military charity,kicked off the first of their “All Together” family reconnection weekends.

(Credit to Paul Brewer Photography)

In January, the organisation revealed they were launching a series of four fully funded family reconnection weekends for forces families to spend quality time together outdoors, funded by Team Forces.

The charity hosted its first weekend this week in Portland, Dorset, with eight families taking part in action-packed activities at the Portland Outdoor Centre in Castletown.

Families arrived on Friday (2nd May), kicking off the weekend by spending time together over a beautiful sunset on the beach and drinking hot chocolates.

On the second day, families got to try out coasteering at Portland Bill, exploring the shoreline by swimming, jumping, scrambling and climbing the rocks and cliffs, and learning coastal bushcraft and cooking fish on the fire. Families headed home on Sunday 4th May after giving kayaking, rafting and stand-up paddleboarding a go.

(Credit to Paul Brewer Photography)

Louise Fetigan, Founder of Little Troopers, said: “Our new family reconnection weekends are aimed at families before, during or after a period of separation or deployment, to help ease periods of separation and help children to connect with their parents. Our Dorset weekend went brilliantly. It was so lovely to see families getting stuck in with all the activities and it was a real joy to see everyone laughing and enjoying some special time together. Military families are generally quite active families, so we felt the weekend really played to these families’ strengths and interests and we hope it will help them to have bonded with one another, whether they’re facing the difficulties of an impending deployment, missing a parent who is away, or welcoming a parent home as they settle back in.”

The Little Troopers weekends invite between six and eight families, with one or both parents and up to four siblings aged nine to 18, to go away for an exciting few days of outdoor adventure and connection, where they are encouraged to put down their phones, meet new people and make memories. Each weekend runs from Friday to Sunday at no cost to the families.

The dates and locations for the next three Little Troopers All Together reconnection weekends in 2025 are: Friday 13th June to Sunday 15th June 2025, New Forest, Hampshire.
Friday 25th July to Sunday 27th July, Brenscombe, Wareham, Dorset.
Friday 26th September to Sunday 28th September, Portland, Dorset.  

The events form part of the charity’s broader ‘All Together’ programme which brings together young people from across the military community to benefit from spending time with others who have shared similar life experiences. For more information about Little Troopers All Together and to learn more about the charity’s work supporting military children, visit www.littletroopers.net

Give Us Time - Spring & Summer respite breaks

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Click here to visit the website

Scotland: Forces Children Scotland child friendly emotional cycle of deployment

Work started earlier this year with children and young people to co-create a child-friendly emotional cycle of deployment resource to explain the emotional cycle of deployment.

The children and young people have developed the visual of a rollercoaster to help explain their experiences of the different stages of the cycle.

The Deployment Rollercoaster can be accessed here:
https://forceschildrenscotland.org.uk/the-deployment-rollercoaster/

The Deployment Rollercoaster allows children, young people and adults to see that all emotions are valid and it ok to feel different emotions throughout the deployment cycle. The rollercoaster is supported by accessible resources for children, young people and parents to help support their child’s mental health and wellbeing at each stage of the ride.

We invite you to explore this online resource and let us know your thoughts and would welcome an opportunity to meet with you to talk or discuss opportunities to promote the use of this resource in your setting.

Information provided by Leuchars HIVE

Leuchars: Deployment support for RAF personnel at Leuchars

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RAF Personnel stationed at Leuchars are part of the military community, they and their families are welcomed to Station events, coffee mornings and activities provided by the Leuchars Welfare Teams. 

HIVE is also here for the RAF Families and has contact with the RAF HIVE Information Support Officer and SSAFA at RAF Lossiemouth. 

RAF Lossiemouth HIVE have produce the Deployment Support document above for RAF personnel at Leuchars.

If you require further help then please contact HIVE at Leuchars.

Information provided by Leuchars HIVE

Huggable Heroes

 

Please click here to visit the Huggable Heroes website

Personal Accident and Life Insurance Schemes for Service Personnel

 

MOD is re-evaluating the Personal Accident Insurance Scheme and Life Insurance Scheme offer for personnel. A procurement exercise has been completed and we are pleased to announce that a new Broker, The Risk Factor, has been appointed. Initial discussions have taken place, and our priority is the continuation of appropriate cover for existing policyholders with as little disruption as possible.

As this is a new supplier, insurance products will no longer be branded as PAX. Existing PAX Personal Accident Insurance Scheme members should note that a replacement Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (providing similar benefits) will be introduced on 1 June 2023, for which they will need to apply if they wish to maintain Personal Accident Insurance cover. There will be no automatic transfer from PAX to the new provider.

There is no action for policyholders to take at this point. Once arrangements for how to join the new Insurance Scheme(s) have been finalised these details will be made available along with the new Scheme’s policy terms and conditions so individuals can make an informed choice based on their requirements (we expect this to be mid-May).

MOD personnel: please see 2023DIN01-023

Families Deployment Guide ed 5

 

Click on the image above to read the support guide in full.

All Together: Little Troopers launches new deployment club

To View the full document please click here

The Experience of Parental Absence In Military Families

Is your serving person currently working away? Understand more about how this may affect your young person's feelings and behaviours with this downloadable resource from the Naval Families Federation, available HERE

Please note that some of this information will be relevant to military families regardless of which Service you are part of!