Remember Our Warriors This Christmas
Home will be thousands of miles away
Let’s get right to the point of this one: we have heroes in harm’s way this holiday season. Yes, this has been the case for at least the last 18 years, but as time has passed since 2001, it has become easier and easier to forget this fact-even for someone who’s been through it.
I went to Iraq in 2003 as part of the initial incursion of U.S. and allied forces, and I thought at first that I would only be there around six months. Hell, we all thought that. My initial orders had to be amended when reality set in and it became obvious that this was not our fathers’ Persian Gulf War. In addition to the dangers of life in a combat zone, I was also going through some personal trials back on the home front that made for a special sort of hell that year.
Christmas was always a sort of reset button for me — a time to celebrate the good things of life and a promise of better things to come. As Christmas 2003 grew larger in my field of vision, I tried my best to muster up the same optimism and excitement that permeated every winter season of my life to that point. I couldn’t, and here’s why:
Christmas in a combat zone does not allow for family time. For many of our deployed service members, the only presents they will get this year will be toiletries in care packages. Their trees-if they have one-might be a palm tree outside with some makeshift lights around it, or it might be a two-foot-tall Charlie Brown special on a government-issue desk. Christmas, in short, will be much more austere than many of them are used to.
Make no mistake, though. They will make the most of it. Dining facilities on the more established bases will offer food that, while certainly not Mom’s best, will at least allow them to close their eyes and imagine they are somewhere else — if even for only a moment. They will hold “parties” that won’t rival the ones in their offices or neighborhoods back home, but will at least set Christmas Day apart from the rest of the year. They will sing songs. They will call their loved ones (if possible). They will smile.
As you celebrate Christmas this season with your family and friends, please remember those who can’t. Then remember why they can’t. Say a prayer for them if you are so inclined, but please be inclined to thank them when they return home from what they are doing Over There. That will be the second-best present they will ever receive; the best will be spending the next Christmas with their loved ones. It’ll be much sweeter than any other they’ve ever experienced.
Originally published at https://letmebefrankmedia.com on December 17, 2019.
