Camp good grief.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)

Each year, grief-stricken children who have lost a parent in the military attend one of approximately 20 camps conducted nationwide by a nonprofit organization called Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS).

As one example, back in August, more than 20 children ranging in age from seven to 19 attended a one-day camp in Salado, Texas, near Fort Hood. At the same time, about 40 adults attended a separate seminar nearby.

The activities at the camp are quite different from most other summer camps. At Camp Good Grief, all the children are mourning for a parent or other relative who died while serving in the military.

One exercise the children engaged in was to write letters to their fathers, many of whom were killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The letters were tied to helium balloons and released into the sky. "Are we gonna send them to heaven?" asked one child.

"Age doesn't matter. The grief process is the same," said camp counselor Vanessa Gabrielson, in an AP interview posted at Military.com. "Every time I go, it gets easier, and I learn something." Gabrielson's own father was killed in Iraq in 2003.

Crystal Becker, the mother of one of the girls attending the camp, and the widow of Army Staff Sgt. Shane R. Becker, who was killed in Baghdad last April, explained her reasons for taking her daughter to the camp:

 
   Not knowing what will be said ...