I interviewed a friend of mine, Kiera Duncan, whose dad is in the military. I asked her a few questions about what her family does during the holiday season if he is away.
How many times has he been overseas during the holiday season? He was gone about 5 different times. 2 years were in Okinawa, 1 was in Turkey, another was in Kyrgyzstan, and one just holiday season was in South Korea.
How long was he gone during the time of year, and could he visit? He was gone for around 6 months each time. But while he was gone he could not visit.
What did you do to celebrate? We celebrated without him but were able to communicate with him. When he would return we would have a little get-together with people and he would open the presents he did not get while over there.
Could you talk to him, how was it? Yes, the connections were spotty sometimes but we could talk for a while, as long as we wanted to.
Was it hard during the time he was gone? It was okay, I had some sad days and some happy ones. It was kinda in the middle, on a scale of 1-10 it would be around a 5.
Is there a time or story about one Christmas you would like to share? The time he was in South Korea, we called him Christmas Morning and talked. While we were on the phone we could hear gunshots. My mom was worried and said we could talk later, but he said it was all good. At the time he was near the border between North and South Korea. The cause of the gunshots was someone trying to escape and get over from North Korea to South Korea.