For scores of Moray’s military families this Christmas will bring a mixture of emotions, as they celebrate the season while loved ones serve their country abroad.
More than 100 RAF Lossiemouth personnel were deployed to Cyprus at the beginning of the month, to take part in air strikes against the IS terrorist group in Syria.
They joined numerous servicemen and women already stationed overseas at bases in the Middle East and the Falkland Islands.
For their families, this will mean unwrapping Christmas presents and taking in the bells on Hogmanay without those most precious to them.
Lossiemouth mum, Karen Cox, says she knows all too well how it feels to spend the festive period with a spouse abroad.
In 1998 Mrs Cox’s husband Rob was deployed to Kuwait, to take part in activities following Operation Desert Fox, leaving her home alone with two young children – and another on the way.
However, Mrs Cox says that although it could be especially hard being parted from her husband at Christmas, it was an aspect of military life common to many.
She said: “Every family in the air force will have spent at least one Christmas alone, some more than that.
“You feel proud that your partner is doing their job, sometimes in very tough conditions, but it is hard at a time of the year that is so focussed on spending time with family.
“At that time I was pregnant with our daughter, and we had two young children as well.
“It’s never easy but for families like ours it becomes something you get used to.”
The mum-of-three said that the support military broods offered each other helped them make the most of the season.
She added: “There’s always someone else who has gone through it, who lets you know how they coped and what they did.
“I know some of the partners who have been left behind following the most recent deployment are planning to get together.
“There are a lot of people experiencing the same feelings, and they support each other.”
Mrs Cox explained that some military families stage only modest celebrations on December 25, and choose to stage their own makeshift Christmas when their partners return home.
It has even been known that squadrons eager to make up for missed time will stage Christmas parties at the Moray airfield in February.
Mr Cox, who was a corporal with 12 Squadron over Christmas in 1998, was able to return home in time for the birth of the couple’s daughter Natalie the next July.
The veteran recently ended 26 years in the air force, and took up a role as a full-time reservist.
Mrs Cox, who lives in Lossiemouth, has devoted herself to raising funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund in recent years.
RAF families lonely this Christmas
