A Christmas Salute to Those Serving Away From Home

ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Christmas traditionally has been a time celebrated together with family, but for some men and women in the United States Armed Forces, their service to our country comes first. Today they are far from the cozy comforts of home as they wake up on a far-away military base in another part of the world.

Adding to the melancholy of being away from home for the holidays, this year the COVID-19 pandemic has left many deployed military members with an even greater sense of isolation. Travel restrictions have been imposed, visitations have been restricted on many bases, group gatherings have been limited and very few options to blow off steam and enjoy life remain when opportunities arise to go on leave from the base.

Back in the Ohio Valley, Bobbi Jo Rauschenberg said she and her husband, Robert, have not seen their youngest son, Hunter, since he left Pittsburgh International Airport in January 2019 for deployment.

A 2018 graduate of St. Clairsville High School, Hunter Rauschenberg enlisted in the U.S. Army straight out of high school and has since graduated from basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Gordon in Georgia. Currently, he is an E-4/Specialist serving with his "brothers and sisters" in Charlie Company 207th Expeditionary Signal Battalion at Fort Richardson, part of the Army and Air Force Joint Base Elmdorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

Long deployments complicated by pandemic restrictions can be challenging for many service men and women -- especially those who are young, single and spending their first holiday away from home.

But those in the military are tough and resilient. Their families back home, however, often have the most difficult time dealing with the empty seat at the table.

"It's been hard on everyone," Bobbi Jo Rauschenberg said, noting that last year, Hunter had slipped on ice, fractured his shoulder and was not able to come home for the holidays.

This year in the midst of coronavirus dilemmas, Hunter was unable to come home to attend his older brother Nathan's wedding.

"I'm hoping he gets a request for leave approved for January or February and can come home for two or three weeks. He has tons of days built up that he hasn't taken."

When hearing about some of the struggles to keep morale from sinking in the wake of the COVID restrictions on base, Bobbi Jo helped organize a special Christmas treat for Hunter's military family. A member of the National Road Quilt Guild, Bobbi Jo and the talented group members from both sides of the Ohio River worked to create handmade stockings for many members of Hunter's unit.

The Rauschenberg family and the quilters filled each stocking with care package items and holiday gifts — 30 in all with 22 specifically for the men and six for the women. Boxes of packages were shipped to Alaska for Hunter to play Santa and deliver to those on the base on Christmas Eve.

The boxes were shipped weeks ago, but one box in particular — Hunter's box, with some extra gifts from the family and a Santa hat included for him to wear during his stocking delivery — did not arrive with the other boxes and was lost in the mail until it finally arrived two days before Christmas Eve.

To put Fort Richardson's location and setting into perspective, if you travel by car heading northwest and stopping only for fuel, it would take about two days and 20 hours to get there. Way in the northern hemisphere more than halfway to the North Pole, it is particularly cold and dark this time of year in the land of the frozen tundra, with lots of snow and wind, daily highs below freezing. There's an average daylight of around five-and-a-half hours per day during this week notorious for offering the shortest days of the year.

"Even without all the separation, Alaska can already be a hard place to live," Hunter said during a long-distance interview this week. "The winters are long, cold and dark, and that can get to a lot of people, and then you throw in separation from friends and family during the holidays and that can really bring some people down."

He said when the COVID-19 pandemic began, life on the base remained relatively normal, but as time progressed, things started getting more strict.

"As of now, we don't allow any civilians without proper base ID on," he said. "The majority of offices and shops on post have to follow strict guidelines, and all soldiers have strict and very specific orders and guidelines to follow. It hasn't been fun as of late, but it's all for our safety and readiness as soldiers."

Hunter said he has always embraced the opportunity to give back to his community, and this year especially, he wanted to do something for the fellow service members in his company, particularly the single folks who could use an extra holiday boost.

"That's when this idea came up, and I thought it would be great for them to still feel that love and appreciation even when separated from their home, family and friends," Hunter said. "Being able to deliver these stockings is going to be the highlight of my Christmas. Just being able to spread a little joy and love during the holidays is all I need to have a worthwhile Christmas."

Hunter thanked his family and the National Road Quilters Guild for playing Santa's elves and making these very special holiday care packages.

"They all put in a lot of time, work and money for this to happen, and for that I am grateful, and I can guarantee that they'll have a lot of appreciative and happy soldiers thanking them, as well," he said.

He added that probably the best part of his holiday season will be the fact that 2020 was finally coming to an end.

"I think we are all a little tired of this long year and ready to start fresh, and hopefully 2021 will deliver," Hunter said.

Those who keep servicemen and servicewomen in their prayers — and especially people who take the time to send care packages to those who are deployed around the world during the holidays — are truly blessed with the spirit of Christmas. The effort of the Raushenbergs and the National Road Quilt Guild is just one example of the spirit of the holidays being spread around the world today, in the face of a most difficult year for many.

"I would just like to thank everyone back home for all the love and support they always give," Hunter said. "I'd say the things I miss the most from the valley are those rolling green hills and all my childhood friends and family. The valley will always be home to me no matter where I am, and I can't wait to see St. Clairsville and everyone there again.

"It's been long overdue."