From left, Air Force Master Sgt. Ken Crain and son Brodie, Jeni McCarty and son Patrick, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jorge Birriel and son Jermaine, and Lt. Cmdr. Al Adams and son A.J., at the Stars and Stripes circulation office at Camp Foster, Okinawa. (Fred Zimmerman / S&S)
From left, Air Force Master Sgt. Ken Crain and son Brodie, Jeni McCarty and son Patrick, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jorge Birriel and son Jermaine, and Lt. Cmdr. Al Adams and son A.J., at the Stars and Stripes circulation office at Camp Foster, Okinawa. (Fred Zimmerman / S&S)
Air Force Master Sgt. Ken Crain counts copies of Stars and Stripes while son Brodie waits patiently. (Fred Zimmerman / S&S)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — “Extra! Extra! Read all about it.” That was the theme of Tiger Cub Pack 101’s monthly “Go See It” trip for January.
To learn how the news media works, four of the pack’s nine boys made the trip with parents Saturday to the Stars and Stripes circulation office on Camp Foster. There the boys and parents helped count out newspapers for delivery to carriers and even inserted packs of coupons into papers that were going into vending machines. The visitors not onlywalked away with a better understanding of how the paper gets delivered, most also left with black fingertips courtesy of handling ink newsprint.
Den leader Al Adams, a Navy lieutenant commander, said the Stars and Stripes office was asked to host the trip to fit with January’s theme of learning about media and communications. Every month has a theme, he said, and the boys try to take a tour to correspond with it.
Last month’s theme was nutrition, so the Tiger Cubs went to U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa to tour the cafeteria there, lending a hand to make lasagna while there.
“It’s important for them to learn how society works, and that they’re part of society,” Adams said. “It gives them an understanding of the world around them.”
Adams’ son, A.J., 7, was surprised to learn that the newspapers he helped sort Saturday afternoon would be on his doorstep later that day. His parents get the paper at home, and they sorted copies for their own carrier.
Every time the boys go on a trip, Adams said, they receive beads to put on their Tiger Badges. They also get beads for attending meetings and family activities.
From what he saw during the trip, 6-year-old Tiger Cub Brodie Crain said getting the news into readers’ hands wasn’t all that tough.
“It was really great,” he said. “It was easy putting the coupons in the paper and stacking the papers with my daddy.”
