Spending the Holidays Deployed: Interview with an Airman
What do troops over seas do for the holidays?
"The branch of service that runs the base usually tries to do some morale booster events in which we all look like grade school children playing stupid relay games and shit like that."
Do you see many other Holidays, besides Christmas, being celebrated?
"There is a lot of diversity in the military which means you see a lot of holidays and being celebrated. You also see many personal family traditions from other families that you never thought to see on the holiday that you celebrated which is really cool. You also see how cultures from host nations try to accept your holidays and also how they don't. It just depends on the host nation."
What kind of gifts to soldiers receive?
"While over there we tend to stick to asking for candy and other non-perishable items from back home but it's mostly books and puzzles and some board games as well as necessities like socks, work shirts, underwear, toothpaste and what not. Again we get treated like school children."
What is the hardest part of being away from home for the holidays?
"The hardest part for me about being gone was not getting to booze. At the time I was single and that is how me and my friends celebrate. But obviously the hardest part is deviating from your normal life: being away from family, not getting to go to the mall, having to walk 100 yards to take a [pee]. All the things you took for granted here you really miss it over there."
Does it seem to be harder on the older soldiers or the younger ones? Perhaps equally hard but for different reasons?
"I will say that not the "old guys" but the combat experienced ones take it better. In my flight there were a couple of Non-Com's (Sergeants) that had never been deployed before. So there I was with guys that have been in for 6 or 7 years and have no clue what is going on, just like me. Then we have some Non-Com's who have been in for 19 years (and while we there [I] figured it out) have spent of 9 years of their enlistment deployed. They are the ones we really look up to. But even myself, I am coming up on my two year mark in a few days and already have more combat experience then half the guys I work with here in the states. Almost all of them being some sort of Sergeant. They come to me for advice on what to do and what to bring and ask me questions as if I'm some sort of old war hero with all kinds of medals. It's a good feeling but at the same time that is what is wrong with our Air Force today."
Published by Ainsley Patterson
Ainsley is a highly motivated individual, who never finds her hunger for knowledge satisfied. Ainsley enjoys researching and writing about a wide variety of topics. She especially enjoys, however, utilizing... View profile
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18 Comments
Post a CommentI did not find his comments disrespectful at all. In fact I have a few people I know over there and non of them took offense to this. So he talked about what he missed. We all miss different things when we are thrown in situations and we all react differently to those situations. He is right about the fact that some sergeants do not have combat experience while other lower ranking members do have. No disrespct there. I was laughing at the " school children" remark. I remember coming home and screaming at my husband " They treated me like a two year old". So at least they made it to rank of school children. I never seem to get off toddler rank. Great article.
Interesting article and not offensive at all. You did an interview and reported what your friend said - it was honest and showed his feelings. Nothing wrong with that. Freedom of speech is what America is all about - unfortunately a lot of Americans don't seem to understand that :(
Dissent, is a great example of freedom. I'm surprised to see so many comments deleted. Was that intentional? Momie T. makes an excellent point. My earlier comments commended the young man's service to his country, as well as some observations reflective of spoiled segments of our society. When one publishes an article equipped with a "comment" board- be ready for the comments. Good job for provoking debate! Perhaps, thicker skin is in order?
People were offended not by Abby but by Rudy, the person she interviewed. His comments could have got him into trouble, especially the ones about the Sergeants. They make him seem very disrespectful and ungrateful, and they are very offensive to the people who send gifts over and to the troops who appreciate the morale-boosting events. That he complains about missing booze would be infuriating probably to someone who had to miss the birth of a child. The boy just really didn't make himself or his comrades look very good.
Thank you for showing insight into how our military spend the holidays. It must be horrible being so far from loved ones on Christmas.
I read this after seeing the apology in the forum and I don't see why people were offended. You simply reported the opinion of one soldier and as a writer, you did your job. I interrpret his opinion to mean the sort of morale boosting stuff that many civilian employers do, the stuff that seems really silly to the employees. That's my best guess, and what's so shocking about criticizing that?
This sounds just like most of the young single sailors and soldiers I know! I think it's harder on the family guys; my brother's in Afghanistan til February, and though he was able to come back for a brief visit in October, his wife and kids are going to have their second Christmas without him this year. Next year, there's a good chance my oldest son will be deployed somewhere too, and because of my husband's frequent short deployments we can't visit him this year. Christmas is hard on all our military people right now, deployed and families alike.
It's not like she had the option NOT to leave his opinions up. She could, however, have left up the comments expressing how her readers felt about his opinions.
It's nice to read an uncensored interview with a military guy. Brave of both of you to publish this.
Where did all your comments go?