Month: November 2021

Getting Ready For Your Service Member’s Homecoming

Holiday Leave Is Coming Up

Holiday leave. There is no more perfect combination of words in a soldier’s vocabulary. During the month of December, most military bases offer “block leave” opportunities, where entire weeks are marked off in the calendar for service members to visit home. Right around now, thousands of men and women in uniform are turning in their official leave requests and getting ready for a trip home. Here are some important things to keep in mind if you’re expecting a visit from a service member in your life over the holidays.

#1 – Leave is a Complicated Process

Imagine all the difficulties of planning a trip somewhere far away. Keep in mind all of the packing. Finding an affordable flight, or a safe driving route. Figuring out where you’re going to be staying. And so on, and so on. Whatever you’re imagining, go ahead and assume an extra four or five challenges have to be dealt with before holiday leave is even approved, let alone before your soldier can come home to you. And keep in mind that the army runs on paperwork. Every single step in the travel process doesn’t just need to be figured out, it needs to be documented. This leads to the next point.

#2 – Seeing You Took A Lot of Work

Picking someone up from an airport, especially if you don’t live particularly close to the airport, is never fun. And knowing that someone who you missed all year is in town and isn’t making the effort to come see you is frustrating. You have to keep in mind that it likely took weeks of work for a service member to see you. And a lot of that work had to be done during a soldier’s extremely limited free time. A single day driving to the airport or clearing time in your schedule to go to the place the visiting service member is staying is not that big of an ask. And if you haven’t seen them since they left for basic training, bear something else in mind.

#3 – The Military Changes People

The service member who comes home for a visit might not behave the same way as you’re used to. This can lead to a lot of tension between service members and their loved ones back home. The fact that many soldiers are under the age of 25 heightens that dramatically. You won’t get to be around to see them changing, and it might catch you off guard. Be sure to keep in mind that, even if they’ve changed, they are still fundamentally the person you love and were excited to have come home for holiday leave.

#4 – Not Everyone Gets to Go Home

Although the military does make an effort to let service members go home for the holiday, sometimes it just isn’t possible. There could be any number of reasons. They could be deployed somewhere where they are needed in December. Paperwork snafus can happen. They might not have enough leave days or money saved up. When that happens, your soldier is probably at least as bummed about it as you are, if not more. Why not show them you care over the holiday with one of My Hero Crate’s Care Packages? Our Christmas Gift Set is a perfect way to let your veteran know that you’re thinking of them and want to wish them a very Merry Christmas.

 

Whether you are seeing your family this year, or are stuck on base, all of us at My Hero Crate would like to wish our men and women in uniform a Happy Holiday.

Thanksgiving on Base

The Holidays Are Starting On Base

 

Military Life Between The Holidays

When you’re enlisted, you go where the military sends you. That isn’t even a rule, so much as a fact of life. Sometimes you get lucky, and you wind up getting a duty station relatively close to home, but just as likely you can wind up on the other side of the country, if not the other side of the planet. This can be really exciting sometimes. Being stationed far away from home is the perfect opportunity to expand your horizons. You can learn what people are like in other countries. You can try foods and restaurants you had never even considered before. You might even pick up a few words in a foreign language. All of that is fun. And then Thanksgiving starts inching closer.

 

Ain’t No Place Like Home

Even if you do have an opportunity to take leave for Christmas, and you don’t always have that opportunity, you probably won’t have enough leave days or money to go home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Especially if you’re lower-ranking, it can take just as much time to save leave days as it does to save up vacation money. And without time or money, you’ll be spending Thanksgiving on base. Often the base is hundreds or thousands of miles away from your family. It’s not even possible to drive home for a weekend away. That can be a depressing experience to deal with.

 

Bringing Home To You

However, it’s also a time that really highlights the camaraderie and culture of life on base. All around you, your fellow service members go out of their way to ensure everyone who lives there gets to celebrate the holiday. The cooks put in extra work to make sure every soldier can eat their favorites from home. Decorations are hung all over the dining facility to make it look as festive as possible. All of the base’s administrators work double-time to make sure no service member is forced to miss out on the joy of Thanksgiving.

 

A Day Of Gratitude

Officers don their dress uniforms and serve the soldiers. Good officers show their gratitude regularly, but Thanksgiving is probably the most sincere and human gesture of gratitude higher-ranking service members offer to lower-ranking members all year. They make speeches commemorating the soldiers’ hard work and dedication over the course of the year. 

 

Above & Beyond The Call Of Duty

The service members lucky enough to have their families living on or near the base go even further than that. Many of them invite fellow service members into their homes to join their family’s festivities. These soldiers, uncoerced and without obligation, open up their homes to ensure that none of their brothers and sisters in arms have to go without. Many young soldiers have found themselves embraced whole-heartedly by the families of their squad members. For many service members, Thanksgiving on base can be safer, more comfortable, and less stressful than the Thanksgiving they knew growing up. Everyone is given a seat at the table, both metaphorically and literally. All are welcome. All are loved. All are members of the family.

 

Ringing In The Season 

Being on the base over Thanksgiving is a challenging experience when the base is nowhere near your family. And the beautiful thing about that is that that is when everyone living on base works a little bit harder to make life better for everyone. It’s a phenomenal show of generosity that perfectly heralds in the Christmas season.

 

Thanksgiving Is For Gratitude

Our service members give up so much for us. They make phenomenal sacrifices for their fellow countrymen every day, but especially around the holidays. If you would like to show our men and women in the service how grateful you are for their service this Thanksgiving, My Hero Crate is happy to give a little bit of the holidays back to service members who can’t get home for Thanksgiving. Simply purchase a Thanksgiving Care Package to ensure that a service member can have a little taste of the holiday, no matter where they are in the world.

Happy Veterans Day!

Here are some ways to observe Veterans Day! 

November 11th is Veterans Day! There are many different ways to observe and celebrate Veterans Day. It only takes a few minutes out of the day to give thanks to military veterans both past and present so here are just a few ways to show your gratitude! 

 

In the Workplace

1. Hanging posters or flags- putting up posters and American flags around the office can be a great way to remind coworkers and employees how important this holiday is for so many. 

2. Hold a meal- hosting a workplace meal can be a great way to show support for military family members and veterans that are a part of your organization. Getting people together for a meal and discussing the importance of the holiday can also be a great educational tool for those who may not have personal experience with the military. 

3. Organize a moment of silence- adding a point in the day to have a moment of silence for veterans and other military members can help remind people in the workplace how important this holiday is for so many. 

 

In the Community

1. Donate food and clothes to veterans charities- help show your gratitude for those who have served as military members by donating to various veterans charities. Many of these charities will take canned/boxed food donations, clothing donations, and monetary donations. 

2. Attend a Veterans Day celebration- most communities and towns will host a celebration of some sort to commemorate veterans and their families. Attending these celebrations is a great way to connect with your personal community of veterans as well as show them gratitude for their service. 

3. Send a care package- creating or sending a care package to servicemembers overseas is a great way to show your appreciation for their service. We have plenty of gift sets and care packages available for you to send!

 

In the Household

1. Take the family to a VA Hospital- teaching your family about the importance of Veterans Day can be a highlight of the holiday. Taking the family to visit a VA hospital can be an incredibly educational experience for everyone and there will be plenty of helpful people willing to give out information. 

2. Fly the flag appropriately- there is a proper way to display the U.S. flag. Researching how to display it and going through the process together can be a great way for your household to show military support. 

3. Participate in the VA’s #BeThere campaign- this campaign was created as a way to remind military members and veterans that their community is there for them. If you know a veteran, be sure to do something kind for them on this day. You can make it a family affair by baking a treat for them or creating a card and delivering it all together. 

 

Veterans Day is a holiday dedicated to showing our veterans and military members just how grateful we are for their service. Send them a care package with us to show your gratitude! We have many different offers available, so check some out here

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