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The American Overseas Schools Historical Society and Archives both endorses and supports Operation Footlocker.
OPERATION FOOTLOCKER: A UNIQUE FAMILY HISTORY
By Reta Jones Nicholson dream@computerland.net 

Those of us who are military brats (we actually are proud to be called that!) have a very unique history; many of us lived overseas - or other places far away from extended family - and because of that we tend to have very strong feelings about what home and family mean. We moved frequently, leaving friends and pets behind, and often started a new school year in yet another new school.

We brats couldn't take much of our "stuff" with us at moving time (there was a weight allowance) so through the years we gathered items that carried great  meaning to us, representing as they did homes and friends and events that would likely never be returned to. We lost touch with the people and places, but we had our memories, our portable traditions, and we had our immediate family who had shared them with us.

As we grew older and started our own lives and families, we packed our memories away with the objects that evoked them. Those of us who went into civilian life had long since learned that non-brats often didn't want to hear about our uncommon lifestyle, the places we'd been, the cultures we'd experienced...it was easier to pack that life away and assimilate (we're very good at that). We started new traditions and had new people to share our more current (and likely more stationary) lives and memories with.

 STAYING IN TOUCH

Some brats who'd gone to high school overseas maintained contact with each other through their alumni groups, and of course there were others who had kept in touch as well. There were MILLIONS of us brats, however, and most of us had lost  track of our friends; many of the military installations we'd lived on (and the schools we'd attended) had been closed or torn down.

With the advent of the internet, though, military brats in large numbers began to remember their lives "inside the Fortress" and they started looking for their childhood friends. We needed to connect with others who'd shared similar lives, even if lived separately or during differing eras. We began to find each other and also found we shared traits and skills and pride and honor from growing up in the shadow of our warrior parent's mission.

OPERATION FOOTLOCKER

Out of this connecting came a project, begun by two other military brats and myself almost four years ago, called Operation Footlocker. We took an old, beat-up, regulation footlocker (a military trunk that was common in our households) and we put into it stories and photos and objects from our lives as military brats. We told other brats about it, inviting them to put their mementos in it, too. We began shipping it to groups of brats who'd gather to look at the contents and add their items, then they'd ship it on to the next brat who was organizing a similar gathering.

OpFoot, as we call it, has now criss-crossed the country several times, been at dozens of events, brat reunions, military reunions, air shows, parades.... wherever it's appearance has been requested. (So many places wanted it two years ago we had to birth "OpFoot Jr.", a second footlocker, to handle the demand.) It's sat in many a living room with its contents spread about.

Literally thousands of brats and their family members have poured over the stories and objects - with many hoots of recognition ("I remember these!", "Omigosh, I went to school with her in Turkey!", "Ugh! Shot records! Remember standing in line waiting to get stuck? And heaven help you if you ever lost this little yellow record!!") and even a few tears now and then as you remembered faces and times and places that were gone forever.

Don't think for a moment, though, that we regret our lives as brats! Very few will say they hated it, and most will tell you proudly that they wouldn't trade their experiences for anything....and yet there is a certain amount of loneliness that came along with the lifestyle and stayed with each of us when we moved out of it. Now, however, some of our collective memories are packed in a footlocker on the move instead of a box on a shelf, and we're discovering our larger "family"....and "home" is where family is.

Can you pack millions of histories and mementos into a single trunk? We're trying! Although we brats are very good packers, we know someday we'll run out of room ... even if we have several footlockers.

Items donated to Operation Footlocker  will  have a permanent home at the American Overseas Schools Archives (AOSA). Although originally established to archive the records of American children schooled overseas, the AOSA has expanded its vision to include ALL U.S. military dependent children.

While Operation Footlocker will continue to roam, gathering written memories and memorabilia from brats of any branch or era of U.S. military service, its archived contents will be held as a special collection at the Society's Historical Park, to be built on land generously donated by the City of Wichita, Kansas.

To schedule Operation Footlocker for military brat related events contact Gene Moser, Operations Officer, Operation Footlocker STEAMGENE@aol.com

You can send e-mail to  Reta Jones Nicholson  dream@computerland.net

For more information visit the Operation Footlocker homepage at: www.tckworld.com/opfoot/
 

Article Copyright 1999-2000 Reta Jones Nicholson All Rights Reserved
Website Copyright  2000 AOSHS All Rights Reserved  GGordon1@aol.com

 Researched & Compiled by: Glenn Greenwood, Director of Communications American Overseas Schools Historical Society American Overseas Schools Archive & Museum/Wichita, Kansas aoshscom@wichita.edu