Once again, thousands of families will spend Christmas away from their husbands, wives, daughters, and sons.   In our case, our third son was in the U.S. Army and spent four holiday seasons away from home.

We appreciate these families.  I remember how emotional it was to salute the young people in our church who made it home for the holidays.  It was quite an impressive scene with all of those elegant uniforms as well.   

We appreciate the ones  serving the country, from Iraq to Afghanistan to the Korean peninsula to the fleet protecting the oil flow in the Straits of Hormuz.  They are doing very important work.   

Here a few details about military families:    

More than 1.3 million men and women currently serve in the U.S. military. 

Of those, roughly 55 percent are married and 43 percent have children.

Remember that more than 52,000 U.S. service members have been wounded in action since 9/11!   Many more have suffered from combat-related stress, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.  Often, the military family is impacted directly by this.

It goes without saying that the world is safer because our armed forces are defending freedom.

If you can, salute a military family in your neighborhood.  They will appreciate it a lot.  They may not show it but there is an empty chair at the Christmas table this year.

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