COUNTYWIDE : Educators Learn More About Helping Pupils During Crisis

One modeled war paint and camouflage gear, another the chemical masks and 15-pound flak jackets Marines will wear “once the attacks start.”

Still another told them about the impact his Persian Gulf deployment and recent return had on his family even without a war.

Gathering for their latest effort to comfort children of soldiers in the Persian Gulf, about 45 guidance counselors, nurses and psychiatrists and several principals from schools near Orange County’s two Marine bases got a dose of reality from military types Monday morning in a program at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station.

If America goes to war with Iraq, the educators were told, they will play a critical role in helping the estimated 2,000 Orange County students who have a Marine in the family cope with the situation.

“Should there be mass casualties, it’s going to be difficult. I am the only licensed therapist on this base,” said Mary Page, coordinator of the Family Advocacy Program at the 2,700-Marine helicopter station in Tustin. “So you are the ones who will really be impacting these children.”

“We are expecting a significant effect on our students . . . a lot of fears and doubts,” added Bruce Givner, deputy superintendent of the 21,000-student Irvine Unified School District, which has schools near the Tustin and the El Toro bases.

“We are trying to take the long-range view” by not only preparing schools to help students whose parents have died or been injured in combat but also to help them cope with the parent’s return should there be no fighting, Givner said.

School officials armed with the facts may soothe a panicky child by telling him or her specific details, he said.

Page reminded the group that “one of the hardest things about this deployment is that . . . we have no idea when our men will be back.” She urged the counselors to be candid with children, who inevitably will learn the day’s news from television anyway.

The educators tried on the four-pound combat helmet and the desert camouflage vest that goes with the ensemble. They asked a lot of questions.

In the event of mass casualties, said one, how does the military make a death notification? A team that includes chaplains visits the family in person, they were told.

As counselors, they asked, are they allowed to go to the home themselves? Are mothers receiving support from the base? How should they screen television news shows for reports on Orange County Marines, by squadron or battalion?

Gunnery Sgt. E.D. Bastian urged the educators to tell children the truth. When students ask him during presentations why Marines wear two dog tags, he said, he does not spare details: The first one is placed in the mouth of a dead soldier to identify him when he returns home for burial; the second is taken for processing.

The counselors said they thought the meeting was helpful.

“We’re seeing a steady increase in the kids’ concerns and fear,” said Marcia Mordkin, staff psychologist at El Toro Elementary School, where virtually all pupils have at least one parent in the service. “It’s why I have to get back to the school now.”