Home for Christmas
By Rep. Kristi Noem
From the time that I was a little girl, Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” has been one of my favorite Christmas songs. I remember singing along with it while it played on the radio and I admit that I didn’t grasp the song’s true weight until I got a little older.
The lyrics were originally written in 1942 – just months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many of our young soldiers wouldn’t make it home for the snow or mistletoe that year. They would be spending Christmas away – many of them for the first time.
This year, 162 soldiers from the Rapid City and Wagner-based 155th Engineer Company of the South Dakota National Guard will be spending Christmas in sandstorms instead of snowstorms. In August, they left for a one-year deployment to Kuwait. These families are in my thoughts and prayers every day, but especially in this holiday season. I can’t imagine that this time of year is easy for them.
Despite the sacrifices, thousands of South Dakotans stand up each year in service to our country. I’m always humbled by the fact that our state has one of the highest National Guard service rates in the entire country. It’s a tremendous testament to the courage and sense of duty that is instilled in South Dakota’s young people. And like in so many other areas, when South Dakotans do something, we do it well.
The 114th Fighter Wing, for instance, is one of the nation’s premier flying units. The Sioux-Falls based “Flying Lobos,” as the 114th is called, has been nationally recognized for its accomplishments. It has an excellent safety record, experienced airmen, and the unwavering support of the Sioux Falls community.
Over the next year, the U.S. Air Force will be looking for the next units to assign the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Because the 114th has consistently been recognized as one of the top flying squadrons in the country, it seems like the ideal location. I – alongside Senators Thune and Rounds, Governor Daugaard and Adjutant General Reisch – reached out to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James earlier this month about this. We encouraged her to base the new technology within one of the nation’s most elite squadrons: the South Dakota National Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing.
We are still a few years off from a final decision and the F-35s won’t be shipped to the selected Guard units until 2022 or beyond, but I’m hopeful the 114th will be able to play a leading role in this new demonstration of military strength.
South Dakota has a proud history of service with the National Guard. The sacrifices made – the holidays that have had to be missed – will not be forgotten, nor will they go unappreciated. Thank you to all who have served and to the families who have made the sacrifices alongside them. I am incredibly and sincerely grateful for all that you do in service to our country.
This holiday season, I hope you join me in keeping all our service members, their spouses, their parents, and their children in your hearts, minds and prayers.
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