National Day of the Deployed

As military families, we all know too well how challenging each and every deployment can be for both the service members who are deployed, as well as for the military families left on the home front.  I was raised in a military family and I am still the wife of an active duty service member, as well as the mom of an active duty service member.  After 5 deployments as a wife, at least one (that I can remember as a child) and now one as a mom, I never realized that there was a day that was just for the deployed.  It’s called the National Day of the Deployed and it’s is every October 26th.  Due to my ignorance about this national day, I did some research and here is what I found out for some history about this day.

In 2006, North Dakota resident, Shelle Michaels Aberle decided to take action in order to honor United States military service members whom are currently deployed. This came about because of her cousin, LTC David Hosna, who had been deployed. She petitioned the North Dakota Governor (at that time) John Hoeven to proclaim the first official “Day of the Deployed” on Oct. 26, 2006, which also happened to be her cousin’s birthday.

Soon after, the Day of the Deployed celebration spread to other states throughout the nation, and in 2011, Hoeven (who by then had become a Senator) led the efforts to establish it as a national day of recognition, thus honoring all deployed military service members and their military families. In 2011, the U.S. Senate passed an unanimous vote to make the day a national day of honor. By 2012, all 50 of the United States celebrated this special day every year on October 26th.

I think this is a really awesome thing that was started by a military family member.  It just goes to show you that whether you’re a spouse, child, parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, or grandparent, that there are ways to honor not just your family’s military service member, but all deployed service members!

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