I love my job, but every day I go to work I’m pained to leave my two boys behind. The two year old asks me if I’m going to work and I say, yes, but that that I love him, will miss him and will see him soon. This morning as I left the house in the same fashion I thought about the 30,000 additional troops who will soon be deployed to Afghanistan and will leave their families not for 9 or 10 hours, but for 18 months or more.

This is not a political post. Just a very humble “thank you” to the troops who sacrifice so much to do their duty as prescribed by the government of the United States. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who have to say goodbye without the certainty that a commuter train will bring them back to their loved ones in due time.

I challenge myself to not forget their sacrifice and be reminded of it each day. I hope you will do the same.

This post was created as part of the USO’s Community Strong event at Fort Hood –a day for healing, fun and entertainment to uplift the spirits of the Fort Hood community in the wake of the Nov. 5 shooting incident. You can help show your support for Fort Hood and its more than 349,000 military personnel, family members, retirees and civilian employees by visiting the Community Strong website, Tweeting your support with the #CommunityStrong hashtag, leaving comments on the Official USO Blog and donating to the USO’s ongoing efforts to support our troops.