AMAC Foundation

Sometimes a card or letter from home can lift the spirits of a deployed military member when they have to be away from home… The following is a little story for your consideration.

It was a cold, dark September; the weather was cold and dark too. Depressing in the first case because a new father was to deploy to the middle east. Depressing in the second sense because the grey weather cast a shadow over the next four months; a period that would cover Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day; all things a family should be together for.

We cried together before I left. Hugs all around. I turned, faced my fate, my mission, and my duty, and stepped away.

Video communications was still in its infancy and was fairly rare, and confined to one small building on the base surrounded with sand instead of snow. Hundreds of our nations heroes waited in line to see their families. The pain of being away was dull, the pain of hanging up after a few minutes conversation was sharp. My wife sent me a small Christmas tree. I set it up in my room and I was both very joyful and sad at the same time. My respite was my work. I did what I could to be totally absorbed in mission accomplishment so that I would not lament my absence from home during the holidays, but downtime was hard, especially when a heartstring yanking Christmas song came on the radio and made me think of home.

But we had each other, those of us who deployed together, and we made the best of it. We talked about our families, and our kids for those of us who had them. There was no end to the resourcefulness and creativity from which homemade Christmas trees, ornaments, and other decorations sprang.

A Connection with Home

From time to time we would receive “care packages” from home, those were like silver, and the contents were shared for the most part. Not everyone got a package, but the sharing made up for it somewhat. A card or letter was like gold though, and not everyone got those either.

So, this season, if you have a minute, share one of the original gifts of Christmas, a card or letter is as treasured as gold to a deployed Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, Guardsman, or Guardian. Follow one of these links to find out how, or you can always reach out to the AMAC Foundation Veteran Outreach Program for more information.