The Spanish military who are celebrating the Christmas 2024 far away from home

Christmas is here again, a celebration in which families have a tradition of getting together, but not all of them can do so.

These days, thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen are serving Spain far from their homes and loved ones. They will spend this Christmas with their other great family, the one they have in their colleagues in the Armed Forces. These lines are dedicated to them:

• The members of the XXXVIII Antarctic Campaign of the Army, the civilian scientists who accompany them and the crew of the ship "Hespérides" of the Navy, who are sailing towards Antarctica.
• The sailors on Navy ships that are at sea.
• The soldiers deployed to EUFOR Operation Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• The soldiers deployed in Operation enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) and in the Nasams Anti-Aircraft Defense Unit in Latvia, in the eFP XVI contingent.
• The soldiers deployed in Romania, with the Tigru and Paznic Detachments, in the Reinforced Air Surveillance (eAP) mission, and with the FIMAR R-I of the Tercio de la Armada.
• Soldiers of the Nasams Air Defense Unit deployed in Estonia.
• The Army contingent deployed in Slovakia, as part of the ground deployment on NATO's eastern flank.
• Soldiers deployed in NATO's Operation Support Turkey at Incirlik Air Base.
• Soldiers deployed in Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq.
• Airmen from the 53rd Contingent of the "Orion" Detachment in Djibouti, within the framework of Operation Atalanta.
• Sailors from the frigate "Santa María" F-81 assigned to Operation Atalanta in the Indian Ocean.
• Soldiers from the BRILIB XLII contingent deployed in Lebanon in Operation Libre Hidalgo with UNIFIL.
• The soldiers deployed in the EUMAM Mozambique mission in that African country.
• Soldiers deployed in the EUTM Somalia mission.
• Soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic within the framework of the EUTM RCA operation, in Bangui.
• Airmen from the "Ivory" Detachment deployed in Senegal, on a mission to support Mali.
• Soldiers stationed at the UN Mission in Colombia.

I would also like to remember other people who will spend these days serving Spain, their respective countries and their fellow human beings:

• Ukrainian soldiers in Spain are training with Spanish personnel in order to return to their country to defend it against the Russian invasion.
• The diplomatic staff, military attachés and National Police officers who are deployed in the various Embassies, Consulates and other Spanish delegations abroad.
• The military personnel on duty in barracks, ships, air and naval bases, air control centers, air surveillance squadrons and in military hospitals.
• The military personnel from other countries stationed in Spain, in different military bases and as defense attachés in diplomatic delegations.
• The agents of the National Police Force, the Civil Guard and the local and regional Spanish police forces, as well as the police forces and border guards of other countries who are on duty watching over the streets, on the roads, in our mountains, ports, airports and customs.
• The healthcare personnel and nursing home staff, who look after our health and care for our sick and elderly.
• Th Firefighters and Civil Protection personnel on duty these days, waiting for any emergency and even saving lives.
• All the civilians working these days, looking after our infrastructure and transport, providing basic services to our society, and also prison officers.
• And as always, with special affection, the missionaries, priests, military chaplains, religious and collaborators, who help those most in need, care for the sick, give spiritual assistance to our military and watch over us with their prayers.

I leave the most important thing for last: a special memory and a hug to the families of the military and police officers who died this year in the line of duty.

Thank you all for your service and your example and a big hug.

Merry christmas!

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Photo: Estado Mayor de la Defensa. The frigate "Santa Maria" F-81 sailing alongside the ship "Dolores" of the World Food Program, in a photo published on December 23, 2024.