Extending a hand: Bringing holiday cheer to all

Col. Robert Kane
86th Airlift Wing commander


***image1*** Thanksgiving traditionally marks the beginning of the holiday season each year.

It’s a chance for us to get together with friends and family to say thanks for all of the good things in our lives. It almost seems fitting that we celebrate it overseas in a land other than our own. After all, the pilgrims were far away from anything familiar, struggling for survival, yet still found it within them to gather to give thanks.

We in the 86th Airlift Wing have much more than the pilgrims did to be thankful for. Though most of our families live thousands of miles away, we have built a close knit family of our own here in Germany. I am proud to count each and every one of you as my extended family and I hope each of you feels the same way about each other.

With our ex-tremely high operations tempo during this time of conflict, it is important that we all take time to reflect on our many blessings.

If you see someone who might be left out, extend a hand and invite them to participate in some holiday cheer.

To the men and women of the 86th and Team Ramstein, thanks for all you do every day. You are standing on the front lines of conflict so that others may have the blessings of democracy, individual rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness that we enjoy as Americans. God bless and Happy Thanksgiving.