Home for the holidays, a US military member from Arkansas discusses his time overseas

Little Rock, Arkansas – Some families will not be spending the holidays at home as others plan to congregate. Since many current military personnel are stationed or deployed far from home, spending Christmas with relatives isn’t always possible.

“There’s always going to be something missing regardless if you’re not at home with your family for the Holidays,” United States Air Force, Crew Chief, Cody Osborn said.

These military members have a variety of titles, including friend, sibling, son, daughter, father, and many more. Without counting individuals who are still serving in the United States, around 200,000 members have been recorded as being away from home and deployed abroad.

One Arkansan who was stationed in London and had to deal with two deployments had the opportunity to return home for the holidays and shared his thoughts.

“If I didn’t do it, someone else had to do it for me… who had a family, a wife a kid. So, you know, I was like, You know what, I’m still gonna go and I’ll tough it out. When I come back. It’ll make it even better when I do get to see my family again,” Osborn said.

Many people who are serving all around the world experience an increased level of loneliness and despair over the holidays.

Although this US Air Force soldier loves the opportunity to serve, he admits that it can be difficult to miss important occasions with his loved ones.

“I’m very family oriented, so being gone for that long. It’s tough. And here recently this last deployment I was on… in ’21… about a month before I deployed my grandfather, my dad’s dad, he passed away,” Osborn said.

The experience of having their kid home for the holidays was described by his family.

“We’re just happy to have him here I mean, we weren’t sure if he was going to make it he had to get it approved. He didn’t have a lot of leave time,” Father, Darrell Osborn said. “We’re just blessed to God has blessed us to be able to have him here,” Step- Mother Cari Osborn added.

Osborn expressed his appreciation for being back in the US as well as his thoughts for his fellow US military service members who are deployed.

“They’re going to be coming back at some point. It’s tough right now, but it’ll be so much better for when they do return. Just you know, be there for them in the season,” Osborn said.

“Don’t forget about us. I don’t know like check up on us every now and then. Regardless of how close you may be… you can be close. And you think, you know, this guy, he’s always happy. He’s always smiling comedian. He could be gone to stuff, you know, 6000 miles away from home and you just don’t know it,” he added.

According to USO.org, you may express your gratitude to military personnel for their service by performing deeds of kindness throughout the year, including volunteering, making donations, and sending care packages.