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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 12/25/2002 12:01:10 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, my daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep in perfect contentment, or so it would seem. So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.  The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, and I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.  "What are you doing?" I asked without fear "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts, to the window that danced with a warm fire's light then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night" "Its my duty to stand at the front of the line, that separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.  My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December," then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red white and blue... an American flag. "I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home, I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat, I can carry the weight of killing another or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers who stand at the front against any and all, to insure for all time that this flag will not fall."  "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone. To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, to know you remember we fought and we bled is payment enough, and with that we will trust. That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.  Merry Christmas
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This year's memories and this year's pictures won't include us. We have missed all the shopping, the parties and fun. Some of us will miss our children's first Christmas, some of us will miss our parent's last one.
Our spouses will build the bikes, fill the stockings and put together the electronics. They will keep up the sprit and do it alone. As they do so much while we're deployed.
You might ask why do we do it. Why miss the happiest time of the year? Why put our families through such a trial? Why miss the fun? There isn't a draft. We are all volunteers.
We do it because, unfortunately, the world isn't a Christmas card. We do it because each of us believes that the Marines must be ready when the country is least ready. We do it because there are people in the world who would do this country harm, and we simply won't allow it. We do it for much the same reasons that policemen, firemen and nurses miss Christmas: Because it's a job that has to be done.
So Merry Christmas from the 24th MEU out at the tip of the spear.
Thanks, 4.1O dana super trac pak. Excellent find.
KitJ, thank you for taking the time to visit us. How can we possibly thank you and your buddies for the daily sacrifices you make to preserve freedom and liberty in America? I can only offer our heartfelt thanks, and the certain knowledge that you will always have friends here at home that care about you.
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
From Our Family to Yours
For our troops overseas who can't be with their families today, Merry Christmas, and thank you for your selfless dedication to our country!
God bless us, every one.
Click the pic..
Merry Christmas to All and GOD Bless!
I love being politically incorrect..
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