With You All the Way USO Tour Q&A with Trevor Romain
The With You All the Way USO Tour ended in May. On the Tour, Trevor and the team met with children, parents, and staff at bases and schools all over the country. With the tour over, we sat down with Trevor to share his thoughts on the tour, his experiences, and the thousands of military children he met along the way.
With You All the Way USO Tour By the Numbers
- Dates: September 2010-May 2011
- Number of bases visited: Over 30 bases in three countries
- Number of children in attendance: Over 40,000
Q: Can you describe what you talk to kids about on the tour?
Our presentations cover many pertinent topics that affect military kids. We talk about bullies, moving, deployment, wounded warriors, facing fear, making friends, doing homework and even how to take care of your body.
Q: What do you hope children take away from your presentations?
The tour is designed to foster a peer-to-peer culture while teaching kids how to support each other, ask for help, express their feelings, manage their feelings and how to put into practice the coping skills taught during our presentations.
Centered around the core values of our With You All The Way kit, we use animation, journaling, expression, writing, drawing, music, discussion, role-playing and idea-sharing techniques to help kids build resilience while giving them tools to understand and cope with the daily ups and downs of military life.
Q: What are some of the issues that are unique to military children?
Military kids face what non-military kids face like bullying, divorce, moving, fear and loss, but their issues are compounded by deployment, multiple relocations, new schools and so much more.
Q: After your presentations, children always approach you to share their own struggles. What do you say to children who are having a tough time?
First we tell the kids how proud we are of them for expressing their feelings. Then we listen. Most of the time kids just need an ear. Someone to hear them out. If we feel that
the situation warrants more involvement, we suggest coping techniques or we help the kids connect with teachers, counselors or someone else who can set into motion a program to help them. We strongly encourage them to reach out to someone they trust, for help, if they feel they need it.
Q: How have military children surprised you with their strength and resiliency?
These kids are amazing. What an inspiring bunch of incredible children. What touches me most is how they support each other. At a recent presentation a young girl, who lost her dad in Afghanistan
earlier this year, began to cry softly during our presentation. Two of the little girl’s friends sat on either side of her and one put her head of the girls shoulder while to other compassionately rubbed her back and stroked her hair. It’s a scene I will never forget.
