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A message from retired Brig. Gen. J. Roy Robinson, the NGAUS president:
For most Americans, the holiday season is a time to gather with family and friends to share joy and make memories. We who wear the cloth of our country are no different, although sometimes duty calls.
This year, about 20,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen are mobilized around the globe. Some are overseas in places like Kuwait, Kosovo, the Sinai Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. Others are busy training to replace them.
If you are among them, thank you for your service. Many of us have been where you are. We know how challenging this is for you and your family. But keep in mind that our nation is stronger and safer for what you are doing.
For the rest of you who know what it’s like to be away at this time, take a moment and remember your holidays spent overseas or in some faraway training center, and be sure to cherish that this year, you get to be home with your loved ones.
I know many of you will do just that. Separation has taught you — as it did me — that family time should be measured not in how many hours you have, but in the quality of those moments. And that is a blessing.
Kelly Hokanson, the wife of Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, put it well at a recent White House event for Guard families when she said deployments are both a sacrifice and "a gift of compassion, service and unfathomable strength and resilience."
Better than most, you and your families understand time is to be treasured and never taken for granted.
As the year ends, appreciate the small moments — sitting with a son or daughter watching football on New Year's Day. Taking a walk with your spouse on Christmas morning. Roughhousing with the dog in the back yard or the living room.
I wish your family and our larger National Guard family a merry Christmas, happy holidays and the blessing of quality time.
