Ah, Father’s Day.  A time to relax; to sit back, and enjoy a special day.  A time for wives and families to recognize an important member of the family.  I said in an earlier column that families add stability and continuity to our military readiness; dads are (obviously) part of the family and part of that stability. Dads are important.

As you make coffee for dad this weekend or light off the grill, please remember how blessed you are to have him at home. Not all are so fortunate. So many fathers/husbands (and mothers/wives) are deployed, whether on the ground in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa, Guantanamo Bay, at sea or with deployable squadrons. 

What’s important as we spend this weekend celebrating one half of an equally important family whole is that we not lose sight of the folks who can’t join us. As they support us by taking the fight and our nation’s defense to places far from home, we must support them.

How do we support them?

First, don’t forget them. It is far too easy for us to remain caught up with concerns closer to home and lose sight of our deployed shipmates, neighbors, and friends. Out of sight doesn’t have to mean out of mind and out of touch. Take care of them. Send them e-mail, send them letters, but foremost, keep them in your thoughts. That leads me to the second way to support those who are deployed. Take care of each other.

Make sure they have what they need, whether it’s emotional support, child care, a hot meal. A phone call is a great idea. Often, just the act of asking is enough to make a family know they’re connected.  Third, take care of your neighbors and shipmates. If you’re fortunate enough to be a family where dad isn’t on deployment, open your home to those whose loved ones are away.

Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, you’ve already decided on (and purchased) the perfect gift for dad. But, if you haven’t, with apologies to David Letterman, I’ll share my top 10 list of the WORST Father’s Day gifts to receive:

Annual subscription to Martha Stewart Living

Old Spice cologne

Soap on a Rope

CD of Tiny Tim’s Greatest All Time Hits

Gift card for Bed Bath & Beyond

Tickets to the opera

Plunger

Spa treatment

Nose hair trimmers

And the number one worst Father’s Day gift:

Ballroom dancing lessons.