Twas the fright before Christmas and I must confess, every soldier was praying, oh what a mess!

In late 2009, more than one hundred 278th Tennessee National Guard soldiers departed Ashland City on several buses from the highway twelve 278th Armory. I was there by way of an invitation of Captain Mc Grail to speak to the formation of brave young soldiers. I wished them luck, encouraged them, said farewell, and saw them off to war. These brave young men were being deployed to Camp Shelby Mississippi for a serious crash course in warfare and military tactics, just before their overseas Iraq deployment to go to war.

The plan and promise by the Military was to deploy the troops to Camp Shelby by bus for the critical last minute training, then to bus them back home so they could celebrate Christmas with their families, and finally bus them back to Camp Shelby for deployment to the South Western war zone after Christmas.

Well guess what? Upon the completion of their training, the powers that be in the military decided not to keep the return home for Christmas promise, The buses were canceled. Transportation back home for Christmas was now out of the question and was not going to be paid for by the government. The revised plan was to deploy the soldiers overseas immediately upon the completion of their training. There would be no long-awaited buses arriving to return them to Ashland City for Christmas! It just wasn’t going to happen!

Oh dear, God forbid! I just could not, for the life of me imagine or even contemplate a scenario of more than one hundred troops, strung out along the highway with their thumb held high, strode out between Camp Shelby, Mississippi and Ashland City, Tennessee, just praying to God to catch a ride in time to spend what could very well be contemplated as their last Christmas with the family. The next concern would the opposite scenario, trying to catch a ride back to Camp Shelby in time to muster out and make the overseas departure before being declared AWOL at the least and a deserter at the worst.

In some strange way God answered those soldiers’ prayers. It must have been perceived as miracle when those chartered buses appeared. The trip was furnished from there to here, and from here to there at no cost to the soldiers! Thanks Anchor Bus Lines!

Well, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”!