It isn’t just troops in various stages of deployment that qualify for military hero status in the eyes of Linda Adams.

“We think our children in the state of Pennsylvania are really our heroes,” Adams, Pennsylvania National Guard’s family assistance specialist for the 15-county area that includes Crawford County, observed during a recent stop in Meadville.

According to Meadville residents Sam and Tammy Moses, parents in a military family that’s soon to be separated by approximately half a planet, Adams is a hero in her own right. “She’s modest,” Tammy explained. “Not boastful at all. But she carries that cell phone 24/7.”

By the time the week ends, Sam Moses, a sergeant in the 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry, 56th Stryker Division, headquartered in Cambridge Springs, will have bid his family and friends farewell. Days later, he expects to be on his way to Kuwait, the first overseas stop in a 400-day deployment that started in mid-September with training in Mississippi and Louisiana and is expected to return the men and women who comprise the 56th Stryker Division to the United States sometime in September 2009.

When he returned on leave just three days before Christmas, Sam found a brilliant yellow ribbon adorning the front porch of the family home.

As Tammy sees it, that’s the kind of caring gesture that means a lot to both troops and families.

It’s also something she’d like to see a lot more of. “I just can’t believe there’s not even a yellow ribbon in Diamond Park,” she said Friday. “That just hurts my heart.”

What has lightened her heart, however, is discovering the multiple levels of support that people like Adams represent. Whether it’s subsidies to help with day care, grants that allow children of deployed parents access to extra-curricular programs or local providers going above and beyond to help families take advantage of military health-care benefits, the list goes on and on, Tammy said.

As northwestern Pennsylva-nia’s family assistance center specialist, for example, Adams arrived at the Moses doorstep bearing a box of goodies for the entire family. Based in Oil City, Adams is one of 10 Pennsylvania National Guard family assistance center specialists serving individual regions throughout the state.

“It’s a miracle! New backpacks! Free!” 8-year-old Anthony Moses exclaimed. “A T-shirt! Just my size!”

Adams, who also represents the Guard on the state’s Operation Military Kids team, brought OMK Hero Packs for Anthony and his sister, Tayler, who’s 12.

“There’s a camera inside so you can take your pictures and give them to your dad while he’s still home,” Adams explained.

Operation Military Kids, part of the 4-H/Army Youth Development Project, is an effort on the part of the Army to collaborate with the nation’s communities to support children and youth impacted by deployment. Since 2004, OMK has distributed Hero Packs to more than 47,000 military youth. Each Hero Pack is filled with a variety of goodies providing both fun activities and ways to stay connected to their deployed parents.

For Tammy, a 12-year Navy veteran in her own right, Adams brought helpful books with titles including “Surviving Deployment,” “Married to the Military” and “Chicken Soup for Military Wives.” And an official National Guard first-aid kit to keep in the car for emergencies.

The soon-to-depart sergeant wasn’t left out; a deployment kit featuring a file for organizing personal papers in one convenient place was included in the overflowing gift box.

He also received a solemn promise: “As the family assistance center specialist, anything I can do to help your family while you’re gone, please know that I am going to do that for you,” she said. All they have to do is pick up the telephone and give me a call or e-mail me and I will be there for Tammy and her children,” Adams said.

It’s a promise she’s made to all of the 800 families in her region. “I’m available to visit every family,” she said. “If they say, ‘Linda, could you come?’ — then I am available for them.” Contacts take place in all sorts of ways, from one-on-one to small groups to large gatherings.

“This is her style,” Tammy said. “She cares about us — and we’re very grateful that she does.”



Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.