What's Brewin: Lest We Forget

As we dig into our holiday turkey or ham in the comfort of home and hearth, it would be a good idea time to pause to remember those who serve far from home and comfort.

On Christmas Day, as Americans from Maine to Hawaii open a cornucopia of presents surrounded by family and friends, 143,000 U.S troops in Iraq and another 31,000 in Afghanistan continue to serve in harm's way. This includes 19,000 sailors on the ground in Afghanistan, but it does not include the personnel on the 17 ships that are in the Central Command area of operations. Two of the ships are the USS Theodore Roosevelt, with a crew of more than 5,000, and the USS Iwo Jima, which has a crew of 1,100 and carries almost 2,000 Marines.

Sure, some of the troops will have turkey and all the trimmings in a base camp mess hall. Others, though, will shovel down their meals quickly on a bare patch of earth no one has ever heard of, in the desert dust of Iraq or the mountain snow in Afghanistan.

It's a cliche, but war definitely is hell, terrifying, dirty, noisy, smelly, especially during the holidays and far from home and family. The ache of distance, compounded by the unknowns of combat, becomes a palpable pain at this time of year, and those who serve deserve our thanks and gratitude -- for their aches, pains and service.

Join me in thanking some of those who serve -- or who have served -- in a list that I collected and that appears below, as well as those who go out of their way to honor that service.

'Twas the Night Before -- in Afghanistan

Army Lt. Col. Stephen Jeselink, deputy commander of the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade in Afghanistan, will spend his first Christmas away from his wife, Barbara, in 26 years. But that will not prevent him from continuing a long tradition of reading Clement Clark Moore's classic poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve to Barbara and his children, sons Stephen and Jarod, and daughter, Stormy, all of whom are back home in Louisiana. The long-distance reading comes courtesy of the United Through Reading military program.

Barbara sent her husband a copy of the poem by mail, and he then used a DVD recorder at the USO at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to record him reading the poem. United Through Reading shipped the recording back to Jeselink's family as part of its program to link troops with their children by reading books to them, no matter where they are deployed.

Lt. Col. Jeselink said being able to read the Moore classic to his family, despite being deployed in Afghanistan, may seem like a simple gesture, but he said it "means so much to me and my family." Barbara said, "I felt like we had to do this, even though he is deployed."

Wounded, Yeah, 'but I'm Still an NCO'

That's the approach that Air Force Tech. Sgt. Israel Del Toro takes to his slow recovery from wounds he received around Christmas 2005 while serving with an Air Force forward air control team supporting the Army 173rd Airborne Brigade near Qalat, Afghanistan.

Since then, Del Toro, a patient at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, has undergone 102 operations to treat severe burns. He's determined to stay in the Air Force. "Just because I got hurt, if I excuse that not to go do my job, I think that's a cop-out," he said.

Del Toro has come a long way since 2005. Doctors originally told him he might never walk again and could spend the rest of his life on a respirator. But Del Toro is determined to recover and continue to serve, despite the fact that he still faces another 10 to 15 operations.

Now, do you have any complaints that you did not get an iPhone for Christmas?

DISA Serves, Too

The Defense Information Systems Agency has many people stateside moving digits around to connect military units worldwide. But, DISA also is a combat support agency, which means it has its share of folks in combat zones to support the troops.

Here's a partial list of DISA personnel working Christmas Day in Iraq:

Marine Maj. Jared Voneida, lead project officer for the Iraqi communications coordination element, assigned from DISA Pacific;

Marine Maj. Michael Farrell, DISA support office in Iraq, assigned from DISA SATCOM, teleport and services office;

Air Force Master Sgt. Frederic Crosby, DISA support office in Iraq, assigned from DISA Central Command;

Tech. Sgt. Anthony Caraballo, tactical mission director for DISA in Iraq;

Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles Pesnell, systems control officer for DISA in Iraq;

Samuel Craven, Iraqi communications coordination element, a civilian volunteer to DISA from the Army program executive office, enterprise information systems at Fort Belvoir, Va.;

Robert Simpson, a civilian working for DISA in Iraq and assigned from DISA Special Operations Command;

I hope someone at DISA HQ at 12 Courthouse Road in Arlington, Va., has dispatched a goody pack to these folks.

400,000 Goody Packs

That's the number of gift packages Carolyn Blashek inEncino, Calif., and her "Operation Gratitude" have sent to deployed troops in the past five years. The packages are stuffed with Power Bars, toiletries, key chains and flashlights. She can put together a package for $10.

These are not mass, blind mailings. Blashek once sent 39,000 packages individually addressed to every soldier in an Army infantry unit.

So, forgo an iPhone at Christmas and send the money to Blashek, who works out of her house to cut down on overhead, and you could finance about 15 packages.

Speaking of Gratitude . . .

I can't do my job without the indulgence and assistance of some fine military public affairs officers, who respond to my queries (no matter how pesky) with sometimes more grace than I could muster if the situation were reversed. So, many thanks to:

Jon Anderson, DISA PAO; Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh, Pentagon public affairs; Lt. Col. Martin Downie, Army public affairs; Terry Jones, Military Health System public affairs; and, two PAOs who are such good friends I rely on them for guidance on when to exercise restraint of pen or tongue, Lt. Col. George Wright, Army public affairs; and Capt. Dave Wray, in the Navy Office of Information.