Many of us look forward to the holiday season every year, but if you're in the military on deployment over the holidays, it can be a very difficult time away from family and friends.

Sgt. Patrick Porter is the Wing Chief Warrant Officers Assistant at 15 Wing and has been on a holiday deployment not once but twice in his career with the previous one in 2018.

Sgt. Porter explains more about what the holidays are like on deployment.

"The Forces definitely tries to make it a bit of a special time because they know it's difficult for you to be away from your family. So both the Forces and several charitable organizations try to make it feel like the Christmas holiday and give you a morale boost. The MFRC (Military Family Resource Center) supports our troops and sends out 'morale boxes' while you're out there."

Sgt Porter knows first hand how difficult it can be, as he was deployed during 2018-2019 to the Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE (United Arab Emirates). 

"We also tend to get letters from school children and you can actually do it online now," says Sgt Porter, "A lot of schools tend to send you letters from their classes which is really nice."