New Year’s Video Salute to our Troops
Saturday, December 31st, 2005The new year is only a day away and as always, we wish a Happy New Year to our friends and family. As a military family, we have spent many New Years apart (Christmases, Easters, anniversaries and birthdays as well). As an Army wife, knowing too well the feelings that accompany deployments and separations during such occasions that would otherwise be festive, I cannot help but think of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families.
Soldiers live their every day lives in a way that is foreign to the average civilian. Their’s is a life of obedience, submission, physically taxing work, sacrifice and danger. They don’t whine; they leave that to state side partisan debates. They don’t cower; they face their fears head on. They don’t run from responsibility; they run headlong into it. They spend their lives training for war, weathering the elements of cold and heat.
Then they spend their lives living in war, facing the dangers of relentless enemies, both foreign and domestic, who are armed with either guns or a microphone. They understand that the erroneous things being said back home about their mission and their leaders, while hurtful, is democracy in action, and that’s what they’re fighting for both in their own country and around the world.
They are heroes, pure and simple. They suck it up, they lay down their lives, and they wish for their families. So while we’re toasting at 11:59 pm New Year’s Eve, say a blessing and a toast to the valiant soldiers of the United States military who make it possible for the rest of us to remain at home and celebrate in peace.
I have created this slideshow for them in their honor using exclusive 82nd Airborne Division photographs from the expeditionary phase fo the war in March 2003 through February 2004 when my husband, SFC Proctor, was there. (exception: Saddam’s capture was compliments of 4th Infantry Division)
The slideshow is large, 29.4 MBs, and takes about 1 minute to download/open using DSL. I hope you find this tribute as enjoyable to watch as it was to make. WATCH IT HERE
HOOAH & Happy New Year!
Cross-posted at Amy’s Blog