Raul Malo was in the San Antonio, airport recently, surrounded by members of the military traveling home for the holidays. As he listened to the happy din, he happened to catch a closed-caption news report on one of the airport televisions in which a politician was lamenting the U.S. withdrawal of troops. That report filled him with such anger, that he called a friend of his and soon arranged a way to report the individual soldier’s points of view through song.

“It’s just a gift,” said Malo of the video he made of the classic holiday song “I’ll be Home for Christmas” and posted on his website. “It’s not even a gift, it’s a thank you. It’s not to raise money. I just wanted to show that there are people here who appreciate all they have done for us.”