In another thread
Who Wants Dubya's War I alluded to the presence of the military among us and what that means.
The War on Terror is not far away in some strange land.
The Homefront is as important an aspect of the war as the warfront. This city is where the Western Pacific Fleet is based, the Marines are about 20 miles or so up the road - Camp Pendleton. Though it is true that many of the servicemen/women live on base, most do not. They have families and live amongst the general population.
They are very much a part of our community - they are not strangers in our midst about whom we care little. We care deeply.
A grass roots organization has grown up called "Operation Homefront." It was started by ordinary citizens and is now heavily sponsored by both local radio and tv stations here. It works like this....
When a military family needs something they come forward and the community tries it's best to provide it. The father is leaving, but the child needs a wheelchair, the word goes out, and someone either donates the money to buy it, or it is provided by the company that makes it. A transmission needs fixing - a transmission shop offers help. A wife needs to have the family moved to a new house, people volunteer a truck and help to move. Sometimes it is a computer so the family can send e-mails and pictures to a ship at sea. Sometimes it is as simple as clipping food coupons from the newspapers to give to military families to help with the cost of buying food.
You don't get to hear much about this on the national media.
When a ship leaves we have extensive coverage of the event, the pain, the loss, as we all wave goodbye. When we look out over our harbor and see all the empty spaces - we know why those spaces are empty. And, the community is there to greet the returning ships and planes, too.
Yes, they are volunteers, but that doesn't lessen their importance - just as it doesn't lessen the importance for firemen, or police - anyone who does a dangerous job.
We don't send these people off lightly to war.