After months on the front lines in Iraq, soldiers from all walks of life have returned home to their families, hopefully for good, and are finding a new appreciation for the meaning of Christmas.Separated by half a world from mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children and friends, the holiday season can be one of the toughest, loneliest times a soldier can face.
For Sgt. 1st Class Scott Jackson, a National Guardsman of the 214th Military Police Company based out of Alexander City, who completed his tour of duty in May of this year, the biggest gift he will get this year is the peace of mind and new-found appreciation he has for being with his family.
"There really isn’t a way to describe what it feels like," said Jackson, a married father of two young boys. "It gives you a real appreciation of what you’ve got. You appreciate every holiday and every birthday — especially when you wake up in the morning and watch the news and you see what’s going on. You just thank God you made it back."
Jackson, an accountant who lives in Sylacauga, said missing Christmas with his family last year was a terrible thing for both he and his family.
"Missing Christmas last year was hard on everybody," he said. "It was a bad time. It wasn’t Christmas. No one really wanted to put any emphasis on it. Everyone was so homesick. We treated it like a typical day because we were so homesick."
Scott’s wife, Wendy, said getting through the holidays without her husband was immensely difficult.
"There was no way to be happy when he was gone," she said. "Whether it was a birthday or Christmas, we were either thinking about him not being here or we were worried about his safety. It was awful. You didn’t imagine, of all holidays, not to spend Christmas together. Scott has always been such a family person."
Another resident of Sylacauga, Lt. Col. Glenn Winter, a U.S. Army reservist with the 110th Chaplain Detachment, said that while he cherishes being home with his family this year, his heart and prayers are with the soldiers who won’t have the comforts of hearth and home.
"It has made me appreciate being with the family even more," Winter said. "Being away helped us appreciate that the gift of being together is a very precious thing, but I know my heart will still be split because there is a big part of me that is focused on folks that are still there."
A married father of four who serves as chaplain at the Coosa Valley Medical Center, Winter, 50, recalled another chaplain he is friends with who is currently serving in Mosul, the site where a missile attack on a mess hall Tuesday left many dead and dozens more injured.
"I have a chaplain friend serving in Mosul where the mess hall got hit yesterday," he said Wednesday. "I don’t know if he’s OK or not. I haven’t heard from him, but I know he’s going to be tremendously overwhelmed with the grief of soldiers. A lot of my thoughts are going to be with him and certainly the soldiers who are over there."
Staff Sgt. Freddie Turrentine, an Army reservist of the 360th Transportation Company out of Carson, Colo., has been home since December of 2003, but said he knows the feeling of missing family and friends and the loneliness that is part and parcel of serving overseas.
"I’m tickled to death to be home with my family, but I know what it’s like to be sitting there waiting and wondering what it’s like if you’re going to come home for Christmas or not," Turrentine said. "What I appreciate most is being here at Christmas time with my family. What saddens me is that I’ve got friends I was over there with who have already gone back that won’t be there with their families."
Still, Turrentine, a sergeant with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department and a married father of three, said he believes in what the country is fighting for and has learned to appreciate the freedoms Americans enjoy even more than ever.
"It made me more appreciative of living in America, and knowing that we, in America, are very blessed to live in this country," he said. "I wouldn’t hesitate a minute to go back to defend our country."
Winter said that, perhaps most of all, it is time for everyone to remember the true meaning of Christmas and the teachings of the man whose birthday we are celebrating.
"More than ever, I appreciate the meaning of what the angels proclaimed when they were with the shepherds," Winter said. "Peace on Earth and good will towards all men.
"After seeing how far we need to come still in that direction, it makes me long even more for their message to be fulfilled."
