Today is THE DAY for Camouflage Christmas – mailing day. The unofficial count is 4585 Christmas cards that are being sent in this year’s campaign. WAHOOOOOO!! How exciting!! This means that since 2007, 21,007 Christmas cards have been/are being sent to military serving overseas. 21,007! Katie and I are busy working on several draft posts detailing the highlights from our adventure. On my end, the news is on in the background as I’m working on my post. Everything quickly comes to a screeching halt.
What was that?!? The news was reporting that “some child advocates” have taken issue with the Official NORAD Santa Tracker. Apparently, NORAD (a multi-national, governmental agency) has added fighter jets to welcome and escort Santa as he traverses over North America.
Apparently, some child advocates, who were NOT identified in the Boston Globe Article, think this is “out of line”.
This is not a post debating whether or not Santa is real. My kids and I thoroughly enjoyed tracking Santa over the years. We also knew that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”, so Santa was embraced as a fun part of our culture, but was not our focus.
I search Google for articles to learn more and quickly become outraged. First, who are these people that have an issue with this? Yes, one child & family psychologist that runs a PAC is quoted, but is he the voice of “some child advocates”?
The most disturbing line from the article to me is:
“[S]ufficiently indoctrinated”? Huh? No, I am not a military brat, but my kids are. Of all the people I know that were/are in the military, they did not join because of indoctrination from the government. They joined because their father/mother served in the military, or they joined for the many opportunities serving affords. Mostly, the ones I know that joined the armed forces, joined because of the former. They wanted to be heroes – like their military parent.
Okay, so maybe this is indoctrination. Gosh, it’s such a horror to want to grow up to be a HERO like mommy or daddy and serve in the military.
Yes, being in the military is kind of joke after all. There’s no real sacrifice. Those serving in the armed forces aren’t facing a year or more away from family. Serving in the military is as easy as baking a cake. Civilians are the ones indoctrinated, or dare I say oblivious. Your commute to work isn’t mine-laden, so the typical service person in Afghanistan wouldn’t have to worry about that either.
Yeah, service men and women shouldn’t receive any recognition. No, let’s not share our appreciation or respect for these people. They’re delusional after all. They drank the militant kool-aid because they saw a few fighter jets in the sky along with Santa.
POPPYCOCK! I say!
The No. 1 question I get every single Camouflage Christmas is: WHAT DO I SAY/WRITE in the card? Here’s what I write:
Camouflage Christmas 