(NBC) – U.S. troops overseas during the holidays are doing everything they can to get into the Christmas spirit.
It’s America’s largest deployment in Europe since the end of the Cold War, welcomed by Poland to deter Russian aggression.
Threats don’t take a holiday which means Major Diana A’xaymac won’t be home for Christmas.
She’s been in Poland for three months, her second deployment overseas.
At the Christmas market near the military base, she and fellow soldiers try to get into the holiday spirit, buying gifts for loved ones thousands of miles away.
A’xaymac said, “It is tough to be away from home. What I look at is this is it the job I signed up for and I knew this is what I was doing but I also know that my family didn’t sign up for this.”
Back home on Fort Riley in Kansas, Aunt Sylvia watches over Major A’xaymac’s youngest daughter, Kariana.
With mom in Poland and step-dad deployed to Kuwait, this year is extra tough. Her daughter said, “It hurts a lot because you like… you want the special moment to be with your family but sometimes you don’t like, get it and then this is kind of one of my first Christmas without my mom, so it’s gonna be really hard dealing with that.”
America’s military is in more than 150 countries around the world, from hotspots like Ukraine to Afghanistan and the Korean peninsula.
For Major A’xaymac, serving overseas and away from family during the holidays is the tradeoff for answering the call of duty. She said, “In life, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices to your family, you gotta make sacrifices for yourself but you’re not going to be happy in your job unless you’re doing something that you love.”
It’s all a reminder of the service and sacrifice made by American soldiers and their families celebrating the holidays far from home.
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