Remember soldiers during the holidays

My View, byAmy Menerey

It's the holiday season, a time of cheer and family gatherings. For many families this year, it will be a homecoming unlike any other -- like the Hall family of Wasilla, it is a time of honor, gratitude and thankfulness. Tyler Hall came home for the holidays after serving six months in Iraq. He was injured when a home-made bomb exploded under his personnel carrier and has been recuperating in a Washington, D.C., hospital. Though permanently injured, he is alive, and for that he and his family are thankful.

Navy Petty Officer Tim Simmons, a former student of Pioneer Peak Elementary School, will be welcomed home this Christmas with cards and letters from students of the school. In addition, several local businesses donated items to make Simmons' return home more enjoyable.

For many of these men and women, this is their first time home since being deployed to the Middle East. I, too, am thankful to be celebrating a homecoming. My 21-year-old son Jeremy is also returning home for the holidays. Jeremy served in the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry 1-64 Armor, Charlie Company during the war in Iraq. But to say he -- or Hall, or any other soldier -- served during the "war," and that this "war" is over, is a misnomer. On May 1, President Bush claimed victory in Iraq with the fall of Baghdad. I am proud to say that my son was one of those young soldiers who drove their tanks into Baghdad, leading the way for others. The operation was a success. Americans rejoiced in this victory.

From the start of the Iraqi invasion on March 21 most of us were glued to TV screens watching the events unfold. Military families waited in nervous anticipation for news of their loved ones as day by day battles were displayed in our living rooms. Yellow ribbon ceremonies were held, we gathered to talk about the difficulties of families left behind and the impact of this war on they psyches of those fighting. After Baghdad was taken, the duties of many of these soldiers changed -- rather than fighting in open battles, my son and many others fought a concealed enemy, one that would sneak in from the shadows.

Upon his return to U.S. soil, Jeremy could not sleep, he told me. He lay awake at night waiting in anticipation for the shooting, the missiles -- the unexpected had become expected. He is learning to relax now.

We have all learned to relax a little more. Perhaps we have grown numb to the fighting already. Occasionally I still see a yellow ribbon proudly displayed, but most have disappeared.

But the battle abroad has not ended -- the "war" on terror continues. Since May 1, there have been 201 hostile fatalities of U.S. soldiers and many more wounded while carrying out orders in Iraq and the Middle East, according to the Department of Defense. While the capture of Saddam Hussein is heralded as a reason for Americans to celebrate our country's ability to oust an undeniably evil dictator from his reign, it is also seen by Hussein loyalists and other Arab nations as another intrusion by a country too big for its britches. The uprising we are currently seeing continues to put our soldiers at risk. Nearly every day I receive the electronic DOD releases I signed on for while trying to track my son's whereabouts in Iraq: "DOD identifies [branch of service] casualty."

So while I and other families celebrate the homecoming of our loved ones, I am reminded of the men and women who will not be coming home this Christmas.

I hope that everyone in our community not only recognizes our Valley men and women serving in the armed forces and celebrates their homecoming, but remembers that the conflict continues. Each day these people -- our children, brothers, sister, mothers and fathers -- put their lives on the line for us.