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Soldiers and families stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, continue to rediscover the therapeutic benefits – for mind, body and spirit – of outdoor recreation, from the Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area (BLORA), which is located just 14 miles northeast of Fort Hood's main post, to a model Warrior Adventure Quest (WAQ) Program that helps soldiers reset after long deployments through high adventure recreational activities, to a new Resiliency Campus, which was created to provide support, facilities and services to help strengthen soldiers and their family members through a comprehensive holistic approach to wellness. And with some of the nation's most scenic National Parks (NP), such as Big Ben NP and other popular recreational destinations just a short car ride away, Fort Hood Recreation provides soldiers and their families with unique opportunities to discover what makes Texas so grand.
• Recreation on Post
• Warrior Adventure Quest
• Resiliency Campus
Click for Complete "From Belton Lake To High Adventure, Fort Hood Programs Are as Big as Texas"
 The new "eco-friendly" playgrounds at NSB Kings Bay. |
This is an unprecedented time for playground construction on military installations worldwide, as more and more installations are increasing support programs and facilities for military family members. The FY 2011 spending budget of $726 billion — $61.2 billion more than FY 2010 — provides a record $8.8 billion for military family support programs and facilities, including new child development centers (CDCs), youth centers, and family housing complete with the newest playgrounds and play areas. In addition, many smaller nonappropriated-fund (NAF) projects are adding more family friendly play areas to facilities base-wide.
This influx of new playgrounds couldn't be coming at a better time, as the White House, under the leadership of First Lady Michelle Obama, is trying to launch a nationwide effort called Let's Move, to help get children more active and to combat childhood obesity. Mrs. Obama has recognized that playgrounds are an important part of the Let's Move plan, which focuses on working with leading organizations, such as Kaboom, to help build more safe playgrounds nationwide.
“It's about making sure our communities have safe places for kids to play,” she said. “There's this terrific non-profit — Kaboom — that's working to do this. Right now they're working to map every single playground in the country so that parents can find the closest one in their neighborhood, and I encourage you to check it out and add the playgrounds in your own community to their list.”
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Opened just in time to keep families cool in the sweltering summer heat, the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) department at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., now has some exciting new “family friendly” water park attractions. The project that has made the biggest splash with families is a new spray park and wading pool, which officially opened on June 10, 2010. The Spray Park offers zero-depth entry, ground bubblers and misters, bucket pours, water guns and slides. Centennial was the contractor for the project, and the spray park equipment is from Rain Drop Products. The $750,000 project was paid for using non-appropriated funds (NAF).
“The spray park has been well received by the Fort Leonard Wood community,” notes Megan O'Donoghue, director, FMWR Marketing, “With approximately 4,450 military children of pre-school age, the Splash Park allows parents a place to relax and cool down with smaller children who may not be experienced swimmers.”
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The spray park is centrally located at Wallace Pool, and is all part of the Recreation Complex at Fort Leonard Wood. Wallace Pool is an Olympic-sized outdoor pool with a 50-foot water slide. A smaller pool is located in the center of the Lieber Heights housing area.
In an effort to show support for Army families, this summer FMWR is offering free swimming at its outdoor pools.
“The free swim program is in keeping with the Army Family Covenant's promise of taking care of soldiers and families by continuing to build strong partnerships with Army families,” notes O'Donoghue. “By offering free swimming at the outdoor pools, FMWR hopes to enhance the recreation experience for our soldiers and families and increase quality of time families spend together.”
Click for Complete "Fort Leonard Wood FMWR Splashes into Summer"
From a recreation and sports therapy program that is second to none, to physical therapy and research departments that are helping to improve on the science behind the latest strategies and technology being used in rehabilitation today, the James A Haley VA Hospital, Tampa, Fla., is one of the leading VAs in the nation. Using multidisciplinary teams and working and sharing info with VAs and medical centers around the world, the Tampa VA is a great example of a hospital that has adapted and responded to the new generation of wounded warriors. And despite the fact that many of these service members have experienced multiple deployments and are recovering from a complex combination of mild to serious injuries, staff at the VA say they see firsthand the desire in many of them to return to normal activities, and for those who are capable, back to full duty.
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“We realized in the early part of this war that this new generation of individuals coming back from the war has much more of an interest in recreational and leisure activities, including those that are high-adrenaline in nature” says Dr. Steven Scott, chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and director of Polytrauma Rehab. “So, early on we made sure that we had recreational therapy, and that we made a concerted effort to grow it, offer these activities in off hours, weekends and as part of an interdisciplinary team to rehabilitate these individuals.”
Unlike in the past, Scott points out that bingo just doesn’t cut it anymore when it comes to providing social activities. “They want the more exciting or extreme adrenaline-pumping sports and recreational activities, and tend to want to push themselves and take on more risk.”
Click for Complete "Rec and Sports Therapy Gets Vets Moving"Departments:
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On the Cover: Playground construction on and around military installations has reached unprecedented levels, as the Department of Defense continues to increase support for military families with new facilities, services and programs.
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View our Editorial Comment Page from our current publication including this editorial: Let's Play ... |
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