MOKULE'IA — Organizers of Operation Purple, a week-long summer camp for military children dealing with war-related stress, thought all 130 spots wouldn't be filled when they coordinated it for the first time in Hawai'i last year. Then they received 500 applications, more than any other Operation Purple camp in the country.

Now in its second year, Operation Purple has filled the YMCA's Camp Erdman to capacity with 227 campers, all children of parents who have or will be deployed. The program offers everyday summer camp activities like swimming, sports and an obstacle course, but also provides counseling and forums so the campers, ages 7 to 15, can communicate how they feel and realize they're not alone, said family camp director Roy Harriman.

"Other kids don't have these issues," Harriman said. "They're not fearful for their parents like these kids are."

The camp celebrated Military Experience Day yesterday, which included presentations from the Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy.

Campers and counselors rotated among several demonstration activities all day, featuring military dogs, rescue boats and helicopters, and physical training games.

Sgt. Edgar Ford, who recently returned from his third tour of duty in Iraq, also held a question-and- answer session for the campers concerning anything about the military or being in a war zone. Ford has two children at the camp — Ethan, 12, and Afton, 13.

"It's really tough on them," Ford said. "I looked in the audience and some of the kids had tears in their eyes because, obviously, they were thinking about their parents who were deployed."

The best thing the camp provides, he said, is a support system for the children. Ethan and Afton both attend school in Kapolei, where there aren't a lot of military children, and Ford said he's glad his children are able to come to a place where "everybody's in the same boat."

Camp counselor Kadie Winckelmann, 23, has worked at the YMCA in the past and said Operation Purple is both similar and dissimilar to other camps.

"They're kids. They're normal kids," said Winckelmann, who works with 10- to 12-year-old girls. "You're going to have homesickness, you're going to have girls that are boy-crazy. But there's another layer of emotion there. It's not just homesickness. For some, they haven't seen their dad in a year and a half because he's deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or Kuwait, and he's in danger."

Counselor Tim Torres, 26, works with 11- and 12-year-old boys and says that even though they spend most of their time goofing around, he tries to encourage them to talk about what it's like to be in a military family.

Abenezer Gering, 12, said yesterday was his favorite day of the camp so far because of the chance to go aboard helicopters. He pointed out which campers are his friends by putting his arms around the boys standing next to him.

"They're all my friends," he said. "Everybody here."