Fort Meade soldier deployed to Djibouti using tech to ‘go home’

Army Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Metzgar’s favorite Christmas song is “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays.”

Every time he flew home for the holidays, he made sure to listen to it.

This year, he’ll be blasting that song, as well as other Christmas songs during the winter holiday, but Metzgar will spend Christmas several thousand miles away from his family.

Metzgar, who is stationed at Fort George G. Meade, deployed to Djibouti about a week ago, although the deployment process took a bit longer, which meant he also missed Thanksgiving with his family.

It is his third deployment and fourth time overseas. His fourth Christmas away from home.

“I don’t know if it gets easier,” Metzgar said. “I know what to expect emotionally going into this,” he said adding he knew Christmas would be a rough day.

The base Metzgar is stationed at is a little bit more developed than some of the others he has spent Christmas. He’ll call his family using Wi-Fi and Whats App. His family will pass around the phone to whoever is there so that he gets to talk to each of them. He just has to figure out the right time zone math.

His family will wait until he is on the phone to open the gifts he purchased for them. That took a bit of planning, he said, but as soon as he found out he would be deployed he started shopping.

Being at the base he’s at is easier than his deployment to Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011. That deployment saw him in the middle of nowhere with only a couple phones available for everyone to call home.

Thank goodness for technology, he said. That applies to service members who are deployed or at U.S. bases away from their families. This year, it also applies to many families who are not gathering due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those celebrating apart for the first time, Metzgar recommended calling or video chatting while opening each other’s gifts. His family also shared recipes for Easter, which could be done at Christmas as well, so they could try to all eat the meal they normally would.

“It’s funny because I honestly think now with folks going through COVID that folks have a little bit better understanding of some of the disconnect at the end of it,” he said. “I mean, the mileage between folks is a little bit different, but the general concept, the not being there’s definitely, like I said, thank goodness for technology. It makes things a heck of a lot easier.”

During the Christmases spent at home, Metzgar and his family will wake up in the morning and open gifts. By 1 p.m. the extended family will have arrived for the Christmas dinner. Metzgar said he’ll miss the meal, which usually is turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry salad, mac and cheese, fruit salad, yams and rolls. For dessert, there are pies and a pumpkin Swiss roll with cream cheese frosting.

“That I’m going to miss,” he said.

When Metzgar is deployed, his family always tries to make the next Christmas a little bit bigger to make up for the one where they were apart. When he cannot purchase gifts due to a deployment, he tries to go all out the following year.

At the base, Metzgar and the others stationed there try to make sure there is some holiday spirit. On Christmas Eve, they had a little festive party with a raffle, darts, beanbag toss and some other activities.

On Christmas, Metzgar will blare Christmas music. He and some members of his unit will attempt to put together a gingerbread house using a kit one of them received from home.

The kitchen staff will put together a festive meal.

So the soldiers will do their best to keep the holiday spirit. In a way, they have all become each other’s family away from home, Metzgar said. So while he might not get to spend Christmas with his mom and dad and extended family, he does get to spend it with a new makeshift one.

Still, it is not quite the same as being home. It is harder to keep up the Christmas spirit when it is 80 degrees, he said. People had some ugly Christmas sweaters on earlier Thursday, but that did not last long due to the heat.

“It’s weird,” he said. “I guess, if I had to pick one word, weird is definitely [it]. It just, it doesn’t seem like to me, especially since it’s like 80degrees out, it doesn’t seem like Christmas. But you kind of force it to.”

“It’s weird. I guess, if I had to pick one word, weird is definitely [it]. It just, it doesn’t seem like to me, especially since it’s like 80 degrees out, it doesn’t seem like Christmas. But you kind of force it to.” — Army Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Metzgar