Merry Christmas to Our Troops
In America, Christmas stands out as a time of year unlike any other. In addition to the religious meaning tied to it via the celebration of the birth of Christ, it is a season literally characterized by goodwill and good cheer. A time when eyes really do sparkle as children look through toy store windows, and one in which adults enjoy dinners and friends in homes that, for a season, are transformed into cathedrals of light and bastions of joy.
It is the season when many practice long-held traditions, like sitting together to watch It’s a Wonderful Life while drinking eggnog in front of a fire.
Yet this Christmas Day, in the midst of all the frivolity, freshly opened presents, and homes full of family, we must remember that scattered throughout the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan (and elsewhere) stand American soldiers on guard. Soldiers who won’t be home to see the tree this year.
While we are sitting around the table passing the ham, the bread, and the sweet potatoes, thousands upon thousands of American soldiers will be lying prone in the sand, holding a defensive position behind a rock, or calling in bombing coordinates from behind the only wall that separates them from insurgents bent on killing infidels.
Many of our Marines will also be facing the enemy instead of facing the camera for the family photograph by the tree this year. And some of these Marines departed for Afghanistan as recently as December 15, 2009, just as the Christmas season was hitting its homestretch.
ABC News covered their departure from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and reported that when the military buses pulled up to take them away from their families and countrymen, one mother standing in the “nighttime chill” could only say: “I wish they were getting off [the bus] instead of getting on.” Because these 1st Battalion 6th Marines are to be part of President Obama’s recently announced surge in Afghanistan, the families who watched buses carry them off to war were “undoubtedly aware these Marines would be entering some of the most difficult and deadly fighting of the Afghan campaign.”
Amen to that prayer. I just heard from my son in Iraq – They received a jingle bells of mortar fire this morning. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Thank you for a great essay. I am the spouse of a service member (Army), who recently retired after 21 years of service. We are fortunate that my husband was never deployed; however, we have friends who are in Iraq and in Afganistan. Every day we pray for their safe return.
It seems as though the MSM has already forgotten that our military is fighting two wars. So, it’s good to see that there are those who have not forgotten.
To all service members and their families: Thank you for your service and the sacrifices you have made in order to defend our country. I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and above all, a safe return home.
Thank you.
God bless our troops! Merry Christmas!
Bless all the brave men and women serving in our Armed Forces.
Great Article. Thank You.
Our heartfelt thanks to all who serve our country. You are in our thoughts and prayers each day. May God bless and keep you and your families. Merry Christmas.
Thank you to our troops for all their sacrifice. It’s amazing how easily we overlook (forget) them in the busyness of our days. Merry Christmas!
God Bless our Troops – this Christmas and always.
God Bless the brave men and women of our armed forces and their families. They carry on the tradition of service and sacrifice that benifits all freedom loving peoples of the world. Merry Christmas everyone.
God bless all our troops out across the world defending our country!! May He keep them safe and bring them home. . . also let’s not forget the scores of police. firemen, EMTs and others who work on Christmas here to keep us safe. Thank God for all of them! We are blessed!! And Merry Christmas to all you faithful readers and commenters on PJ Media on both sides of the aisle.I learn something new every day. . .
To “Amber” – God Blees you and your husband this Christmas. We appreciate his service.
I was on the USS Ranger in the Gulf of Tonkin for Christmas, ’72. My wife and our 4-month-old daughter were in San Diego where letters took 2 weeks to transit – a month out of sync.
I was piloting the only airplane airborne in the Gulf of Tonkin on Christmas Day, trying to establish contact with a friend who had been shot down the day before. The North Vietnamese had been meaconing, (pretending to be the down pilot) in an attempt to lure rescue forces into range of their missiles.
We were loitering above an overcast sky (never comfortable in missile country) at the extreme range limit of the SA-2 SAMs as we attempted contact the downed pilot. When this failed we turned back to the ship and all hell broke loose as warnings of a missile launch rang out from multiple sources. At that range, it never acquired a radar lock so its only impact was an adrenaline rush.
It was surreal returning to the ship. With the dashed hopes for recovering a friend and clamor of the radio warnings for the missile launch still ringing in our ears, we landed on a strangely quiet, almost deserted flight deck in the midst of a Christmas stand-down. We walked into a ship where Christmas “celebration” was in full swing. The normal banter of returning flight crews was missing – instead, we walked silently to our ready room feeling like party crashers – very aware of the bewildered glances of those who didn’t know the ship had any aircraft airborne.
I always thought it strange – it would have been easier to have ignored the fact it was Christmas than to be reminded. Suddenly, there was too much time and not enough family intimacy. The numbness that surrounds you when you are thousands of miles from loved ones was pierced.
To the troops who stand in the boots of those who have gone before, my heartfelt thanks goes out. You are heroes for your service and your sacrifice. You are not forgotten.
Thank you for remembering our servicemen and women serving with the U.S. Navy. Not just on ships far and wide, from the North Atlantic, into the Med, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Straits of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the North Pacific but in duty stations around the world, from Spain to Japan, South Korea, Germany, England, Iceland, Australia and many others. Some of those men and women, particularly in overseas locations, won’t be home for three or four years.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to our Troops.
Merry Christmas to all the Law Enforcement Officers.
Merry Christmas to all the Firefighters and all Emergency personnel.
Many many many will be on duty today like they were yesterday and will be tomorrow, let’s send them our prayers and
God Bless them all.
To the men and women of our Armed Forces,
For all those who Defend, who put Country before Self, who are Always Faithful, and who Above All are Always Ready; I thank you. Your service bought the freedom that we all enjoy. Many on the right and the left take your service for granted. I do not. Many on the right and left feel that your service is unimportant. I do not. And many on the right and left will forget about you when you come home. I will not. You are not and will not be forgotten. Your sacrifice is and will be honored. Out debt to all of you will be paid. Thank you for your service and Merry Christmas.
George Orwell put it this way: “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”
Speaking from my experience as a military veteran, I’d say Mr. Orwell — assuming his generic use of the term “men” was intended to include brave servicewomen as well — got it exactly right.
As a Vietnam veteran, I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the world in a war zone during important holidays, especially Christmas.
I don’t demean those who declined to serve but want to praise everyone who has served honorably in the U.S. military.
Wherever you on active duty may be, all-right meaning people wish you a Merry Christmas and hope for your safe return.
Your cause may be controversial as mine was. But, we do our duty as best as we can. God bless you all.
justasimplepatriot:
God bless you, sir. My dad was Asst Strike Ops Officer on Ranger ’66-68, after two deployments in A-4′s on Hancock. What I remember from my end, of course, was being a little boy at Christmas without a father at home.
I add my voice – Merry Christmas to all who serve. You are appreciated!
Thank you for your kind, thought provoking words. It is always nice to hear our Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors sacrifices do not go unnoticed.
This is my second Christmas away from my wife and children, and it is never easy. Thankfully for programs like Skype, I was able to “be there” to watch the kids open their presents.
Thanks again from COB Speicher, Iraq.
Mr. Hawkins: I have a question for you.
I was born and raised in Iran and I am a Muslim. I married a Catholic American. one of my sons who is 22 years old in in the Marins and just like you said facing enemy not the camera. so here is the question:
Say he saved the live of a few of his fellow Marines. he will then come back home to a heros welcome.
But say if he went A….it and killed a few Marines. is it safe for me to assume that you and eveyone else on this blog will potray him as a Muslim terrorist?
Thank you