Holidays Past

For the past several Xmas Holidays, I've been lucky enough to spend most of them with family and friends in the States, but I look back fondly at my time in the Air Force when we carried on the Holiday Spirit far from home, though we had to put the mission ahead of personal druthers in the interest of National Security.

My unit in Korea had a great support system led by the unit's officers and senior NCOs, but quarterbacked by outgoing players like Brad here, leading the squadron Christmas Party as Santa Claus.


Some folks, like my buddy Joe, had their families with them, but most were far from home and family, like another buddy Kevin, who'd reported to the unit right before the holidays. Everybody pulled together and ensured no one wallowed in the loneliness that can strike at this time of the year. On my last tour, I was already "relieved of duty" after my retirement ceremony, but on my previous tour, I was a Master Sergeant on the production flight that had the duty on both Christmas and New Years Day. Custom was that family guys would get time off on Xmas and single folks would time off for New Years. I was a single MSgt freshly arrived to the unit, so I worked both days, because that's what Senior NCOs do. Back in Arizona just prior to the whole Y2K scare, I was home alone on New Years Eve on telephone stand-by just in case the unit's aging computerized alarm system failed due to the Y2k bug. Sounds kinda sad, but I was at home, while my boss, a newlywed Captain, manned the facility himself to ensure security was not compromised by the Y2K bug. Neither my Korean or my Arizonan units were in combat zones like Iraq or Afghanistan, but I'm entirely confident that the traditions of the service are taking care of the young troops away from home and family.