CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE

To all my family and friends....

For anyone who has ever served in our country's military know this is the hardest time of the year to be stationed away from family and friends. It tugs at the pure soul of a man or woman serving.... tugging hard to get back with their loved ones... but knowing they can't. It is NOT asking to much of every American of this great nation to hold these brave men and women in their hearts and minds during this amazing time of the miracle birth of Christ. A wonderful friend sent this to me and I am asking that you take a moment, even if you have never forwarded anything before, to send this to as many grateful and perhaps, not so grateful friends to help them remember who has sacrificed so that we may live in peace and free. Just highlight all the text below, click "copy" and then paste it into an email, or copy and paste the link to this web page shown at the top of your web browser.

God Bless you all and Merry Christmas!

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
 I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. 
 My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
 My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
 Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
 Transforming the yard to a winter delight. 

 The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
 Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. 
 Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
 In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
 So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
 But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. 
 Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
 My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
 And I crept to the door just to see who was near. 

 Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
 A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. 
 A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
 Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
 Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
 Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. 

 "What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
 "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! 
 Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
 You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
 For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
 Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
 Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, 
 I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
 "It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
 That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
 I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. 
 My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
 Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
 My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
 And now it is my turn and so, here I am. 

 I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
 But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. 
 Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
 The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
 I can live through the cold and the being alone,
 Away from my family, my house and my home. 

 I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
 I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. 
 I can carry the weight of killing another,
 Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
 Who stand at the front against any and all,
 To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall." 

 "  So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
 Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
 "But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
 "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
 It seems all too little for all that you've done, 

 Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
 "Just tell us you love us, and never forget. 
 To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
 To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
 For when we come home, either standing or dead,
 To know you remember we fought and we bled.
 Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, 
 That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

 PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many 
 people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our 
  U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
 festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people 
 stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. 
  LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
 30th Naval Construction Regiment
 OIC, Logistics Cell One
 Al Taqqadum, Iraq 

"Real Integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that no body's going to know whether you did it or not."

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO TOP OF THE PAGE