Class tour celebrates military child month

Vance Air Force Base, Okla. -- Haley Barkley, Jeremy Dubriske, Riley Johnson, Konnor Kah and Jacob Plummer are kindergarten classmates at St. Paul's Lutheran School.
But they have something else in common: their parents are all Air Force members of Team Vance.
"With four other military children in the same class as our son, my wife wanted to do something on base for them and their classmates," said Capt. Mitch Johnson, 71st Flying Training Wing. "So she talked with their teacher about working a tour into the class schedule."
With April as the Month of the Military Child, it seemed a perfect time.
"We know how important the Month of the Military Child is," Captain Johnson said. "We also wanted a part of America's future to be exposed (to the military)."
Most of the parents had the opportunity to show the class a part of his or her profession during the April 1 tour. In addition to Captain Johnson, this included Maj. Steven Dubriske, 71st FTW judge advocate; Capt. (Dr.) Peter Kah, 71st Medical Group; and Staff Sgt. Brande Barkley, 71st MDG optometry. The students performed a mock trial in the courtroom, "flew" in stationary simulators, listened to each other's hearts and lungs, and wore eyeglass frames while reading an eye chart.
"This is a lot of fun," 5-year-old Haley Barkley said. "I liked the courtroom and I learned a lot of stuff, like about judging."
The class was also treated to a stop at aerospace physiology before the tour ended, where they sat in the altitude chamber and barany chair.
"The tour was great, and it was exciting to see everyone enjoying it," Captain Johnson said. "I also appreciated Mrs. (Rhonda) Lamle, their teacher, for coming; she was great."
(Editor's note: See services, Page 16, for Team Vance's Month of the Military Child activities.)