Overseas Soldiers Receive Some Love From Home For The Holidays

When my brother joined the Marines over three years ago it was pretty obvious he would be going into war.

Sure enough he was deployed to Iraq last year. In the spring, after a year there, my brother came back to the states. After talking with him about his time over there, one thing that stuck out to me was how he stressed how important care packages are to soldiers. It reminded me of when he came back from bootcamp and talked about how important letters are to keep them going.

Although it is important to send care packages year long, the holidays can be especially tough on soldiers. Even though my family has never been big on holidays, I could tell that being overseas last year during Christmas had a large impact on my brother. My mom asked my brothers and I this year if we just wanted to skip giving each other presents and my brother responded with, "I was in Iraq last year, can we please just have Christmas?" For those families who are especially big on holidays, I'm sure it can be really tough.

But my story did not stem from those moments, rather from a clip of an event I saw going on in Auxvasse where the Auxvasse Creative Arts Program was holding a night where kids could make cards for the soldiers overseas. Despite the story idea not stemming from my own background, I do feel that my experiences helped to push the story in the right direction and provided me a little extra insight into how these families felt.

I plan on doing an extended version of this story next week. I have five extra interviews - three from soldiers serving now, one from a veteran and another from the Auxvasse Creative Arts Program founder that I would like to include. Once I have that done, I will definitely post it! For now... B1 package two:

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As thousands of troops prepare to leave home for the holidays, some families are already missing loved ones. In this season marked by family gatherings, many are finding ways to bring a big of home to soldiers. Watch to see what one family is doing and how a community is showing their support.

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On a lighter note, my website is now up and running! I had a few problems, but everything seems to be fixed. I've got a year and half until I graduate, so there will be lots of time to improve and lots of time to gather more work!

Check it out by clicking on the picture below!