After twenty years of war, there are thousands upon thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have spent Christmas in a combat zone. Many have spent multiple Christmas Days overseas over numerous deployments; still, fewer have had the poor fortune of missing two Christmases back-to-back in the days of eighteen to fifteen-month deployments, unexpected extensions, and rapid turnarounds (let us not forget the record-setting 22-month deployment by the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry). 

But fewer still, I would wager, can brag of having two Christmases serve as the bookends to a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. This, you see, is exactly what happened to me. 

When I tell people this, the reactions are usually the same: “Oh man, that is so sad!“ ”That had to suck!” and “What’s an Afghanistan?” But this is usually met with a shrug, because the honest truth is that holidays in a combat zone barely register beyond a slightly better meal and a few more minutes on the MWR phones, desperately reaching out for a touch of home. Most soldiers are so busy, the significance of the day barely registers — or, at least, that’s how I remember it.