Each year at Christmas, a soldier’s version of a beloved children’s poem circulates on military social media groups. In The Soldier’s Night Before Christmas, Santa drops in on an American soldier curled up alone on a poncho in some far-flung locale. The soldier is spending Christmas deployed without his family.
This year, Santa might have similar encounters with other American forces — not all on ponchos, but definitely far from home. Some 214,277 service members are serving around the world this year, including as many as 18,700 in combat zones in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
American troops are also in Africa, South Korea, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other land bases, as well as aboard ships in oceans around the globe.
For Jordan Huffman, 37, it will be the second Christmas without her husband, Marine Corps Maj. Aaron Huffman, who is stationed in Spain. It will be the first time their children, Grady, 5, and Anna, 3, will not have their father home for the holidays.
This assignment is different since the children are “prime Christmas age,” Huffman said. “But it’s so great because I feel like compared to other military families, we’ve had it lucky because we have so much extra support. We’ve got grandma and grandpa. I’m not necessarily on my own.”
While Iraq and Afghanistan deployments are not as common as they were in years past, troops are still putting their lives on the line. The death of Sgt. 1st Class Michael James Goble in Afghanistan on Monday is a stark reminder of that, Heritage Foundation foreign policy analyst James Carafano told the Washington Examiner.
“The loss of every American life is tragic, particularly this time of year. It just reminds us that, not just in Afghanistan, we have men and women around the world every day, not just on Christmas, that put their life in harm’s way for our interests, and we’re really blessed to have them,” said Carafano, an Army veteran.
Huffman, who works for veterans service organization Hope for the Warriors, asked the American public to recognize the sacrifices military families make, “but that we don’t necessarily need your sympathy, but empathy.”
“I feel honored that I am in a position where I get to support my husband and that my kids get to grow up understanding that I am in a position where I get to support our country,” Huffman said, adding that there are many families not as fortunate as hers.
“Really think of those people and wrap your thoughts around them, this time of year especially.”
Overseas deployments at Christmas are particularly difficult for families, notes the Pentagon, but are necessary because “threats don’t take a holiday.”
In the poem by Bruce Lovely, a tearful Santa contemplates other service members cold and alone around the world on Christmas Eve. The soldier wakes up to find Saint Nick standing over him. Says the soldier: “Carry on Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all is secure.”
