Yuma Proving Ground Celebrates Month of the Military Child With Community Parade

Students from Yuma Proving Ground's Child Development Center and James D. Price Elementary School marched in superhero costumes from Building 1102 on Lee Tan Avenue on the morning of March 26, parents alongside, with local first responders and community members lining the route to cheer them through.

The parade launched the installation's observance of the Month of the Military Child, which the Department of Defense recognizes each April. Installation Commander Col. John Nelson, who grew up as a military child himself, addressed the celebration and spoke to the resilience and strength those children develop over the course of a life shaped by the military.

The superhero theme was not coincidental. The dandelion serves as the official symbol of the military child, chosen because the plant adapts to any environment, takes root in new soil quickly, and keeps growing through disruption. That metaphor reflects a real pattern: military children change schools mid-year, rebuild friendships after moves to new installations, and manage months of parental deployment while classmates' daily lives stay largely unchanged around them.

In Yuma County, that experience belongs to neighbors. Yuma Proving Ground and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma together represent a substantial share of the county's population and economic base, which means the children absorbing those pressures are enrolled in local schools, living in nearby neighborhoods, and growing up alongside civilian kids who rarely see that burden surface.

The observance continues through the rest of April. YPG's Morale, Welfare and Recreation program launched the "Young Lives, Big Stories" contest to coincide with the month, inviting military children to submit artwork, writing, or video about what their experience means to them. Prizes reach up to $1,500 in gift cards, with details available through the YPG MWR program. For Yuma's civilian community, it is one of the most direct ways to acknowledge, in more than symbolic terms, what the county's military families carry year-round.