Military kids aren't resilient because they're tough. They're resilient because they're creators. They build new communities out of spare parts. They engineer solutions to problems adults don't even see.

A medal is a symbol of completion. It marks the end of service. But for the Military Child, service never ends at a ceremony. It continues: at the next duty station in the next classroom during the next deployment in households where children learn to read the room before they learn to drive A medal would have suggested finality. What military children needed was continuity.