22/12/2019
This time last year I was in Afghanistan and still had four more months left on my deployment. We were growing frustrated with our situation, dealing with critically injured patients on a daily basis, not really knowing what our purpose was, and being away from home for the holidays. It sucked, but it's supposed to suck, there's nothing nice about war.
Now that I'm back home fighting through crowds of people at the various shopping centers around town, I find myself thinking that in some ways being in Afghanistan during the holidays is better than being home. It makes you realize what's important and what the holidays are about. It's not about spending X amount of money on gifts, sales, getting drunk on New Years, etc…It's about enjoying what you have, being thankful for being healthy, and the people around you. I guarantee you if you asked the families of any of the guys we treated what they wanted most for Christmas, they would say that they wanted their Airman/Marine/Soldier home for the holidays.
For me the greatest gift for the holidays is just time with people I care about or even just some alone time to relax. Do we really need the newest iPhone or any other gift? At the end of the day, material possessions don't mean anything when we take our last breath.
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- by Roman Gonzalez
Courage Forward
