A Note From A US Navy Sailor

I received this email today from our friend Jason who is currently serving in the US Navy. I think it has a wonderful message. Jason: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, as well! I can't thank you enough for serving our country! Hope to see you next year! And so this is Christmas……. As I sit here off the coast of Somalia on this Christmas Eve, my thoughts are on home, of course. I miss you all and am thinking about each and every one of you and hoping that you’re all well and having the very best Christmas possible. If anyone had told me 10 years ago that I would be in the Navy someday and spending my Christmas Eve 2008 in The Indian Ocean off of Somalia watching a vessel full of pirates with hostages, I’m sure I would have gotten great amusement out of that thought and wondered how much drugs they had taken to come up with such a thought. But here I am all the same, floating half the world away from all the people that I love. I have to believe that there is a reason I joined the Military. So many people have asked me that question, over the past 9 years that I have served, and I really don’t ever have a straight forward answer. It was really just something that occurred to me one night and so I did it. I know that many bets were placed at the time about how long I would actually last! But I did! And I think it may have been the best decision I have ever made…Even in my first enlistment I didn’t think I would stay in any longer than that first contract but for some reason I keep re-enlisting and all I can say now is God wants me here and someday maybe that answer will be clear to me. After all “Life is what happens when your busy making other plans” I have learned so much about myself and so much about people and the world it would be impossible to even explain these things to someone who has never served….. But the general idea, as once told to me by my mother, as was told to her by her Aunt Leila “Everyone shits on a pot”. Something I try to keep in mind everyday. I thank every one of you for the support and encouragement you give me and want you to know that’s what keeps me going on days like this (Christmas). It’s also what keeps the thousands of other Military men and women who are fighting for this country going whether or not we agree with the decisions the politicians in Washington make or not we are all here to support and defend the USA. I never had a love of country before I joined but I do now know what it means and have great pride in our nation and the young Men and Women who give their lives on foreign soil, far away from their family and friends, every day. Please think of those military personnel who are away from home on Christmas today, for their very first time as well as the families and friends of those who will never get to see their son or daughter, brother or sister, friend or partner ever again. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, (if praying is your thing). And give them the encouragement and strength they need to get through it all and for those who can, to come home safe and healthy and much wiser about the world than they ever new could be possible! Thanks again for your love and support and know that although I am sad about being away from home today I did choose this life for myself and am happy to know that I am in one way or another helping to protect each of you, your children and their children’s freedom! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!