"When you lose one life, you have to begin another life," said Norma Melo.
For Melo, those words go a long way toward summing up how she views the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS. Melo's husband - Staff Sgt. Julian Melo - was one of six soldiers from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, killed in the December 2004 dining facility bombing in Mosul, Iraq.

"TAPS was there for me," Melo said.

Founded by Bonnie Carroll in 1994 as a result of tradegy, TAPS has established itself as a frontline resource to the families and loved ones of military men and women. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization has offered support nationwide to more than 25,000 surviving family members of fallen soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors.

The organization provides comfort and care through comprehensive services and programs, including peer based emotional support, casework assistance, crisis intervention, and grief and trauma resources.

TAPS is engaged every weekend in seminar work for survivors, and it shows no sign of stepping away from its task.

"There is always, always a person at the other end of the toll-free line to talk to you," said Carroll. "They will square you away."

Cait Needham, whose husband was killed in combat in 2006, agreed.

"We all have something in common here today," said Needham. She then paused, collected her thoughts, looked up, and added, "And then the world stops." Needham quietly said that grief is a long and arduous process and that she is thankful for the support TAPS has provided. "TAPS understands me; it has given me the skills to get through the day," she explained.

During the two-day event, TAPS hosted a grief seminar for adults and a good grief camp for children last weekend at Joint Base Lewis-McChord North Chapel. Approximately 100 adults and children from the surrounding area attended. As the event began to wind down, a number of children walked out of the chapel, each holding a ribbon attached to a helium balloon.

"They write a note on a piece of paper and attach it to the ribbon," commented Katherine Day, TAPS' director of national seminars.

"They then send those notes up to the heavens," she added as the balloons rose into the blue sky.

For more information about TAPS, visit www.taps.org or call the toll-free crisis number at (800) 959-TAPS.