SPONSORED CONTENT -- (StatePoint) October 26, National Day of the Deployed, honors military service members who have been deployed in service of the United States and acknowledges the sacrifices that military families make during deployments. First observed in 2006 in North Dakota, by 2012, every state nationwide was observing this day.

Deployment Challenges

Military deployments – when service members are required to leave their home station and travel abroad – typically last between six and 12 months and can be hard on both service members and families. While deployments don’t always involve combat, they can involve long hours, specialized work, and few of the creature comforts and resources service members might enjoy at their home stations.

For families, staying in touch is often difficult, or nearly impossible, and military families don’t always know where their loved one is. Military spouses must shoulder household responsibilities alone, and children often feel the strain of separation, and sometimes even understand the risks their parent undertakes.

Easing These Burdens

Fortunately, members of the military and their families don’t have to undergo these burdens alone. The USO not only recognizes the importance of the National Day of the Deployed, but seeks to ease the stress and loneliness of service members and their families every day during a deployment in the following ways:

• The USO Care Package Program harkens back to the organization’s early years, when Americans packed boxes full of “tastes of home” to keep deployed service members connected to the people, places and things they cherish. Those small gestures provide the comfort and care that make a difference for service members stationed far from home. In 2024, the USO delivered nearly 350,000 care packages in close to 90 countries.

• Through the USO’s Reading Program, service members can walk into a participating USO location where they are deployed, record themselves reading their child’s favorite story and have that recording emailed to their child – and a copy of the book shipped home. Children can, in turn, record themselves reading a book on camera, add that book to their personal collection and send the recording to their deployed family member.

• USO centers are not just a home away from home for service members – they also host activities, special events, and programs for military families. Programs for military spouses include social gatherings that help them build their community, baby showers that provide a touch of home for moms-to-be away from their families and friends during their pregnancies, educational and professional development opportunities, and financial planning resources. At many USO locations, military children can find kid-friendly activities designed to help them make friends with fellow military kids, or bond with their families, including arts and crafts, family game nights, cooking classes and scavenger hunts.

“This year will be my youngest’s first year of school as a kindergartner and I was super bummed that I wouldn’t be there for the start of it,” said Staff Sgt. Mathew Annis. “The back-to-school event at the USO helped me feel reconnected and involved without physically being there, and now my kids will have a little feeling of Dad there with them for their first day.”

How You Can Get Involved

There are many ways to strengthen the well-being of deployed troops this National Day of the Deployed and beyond. One easy way is to send a message of support at USO.org/2MillionMessages. The USO is collecting 2 million messages of support in 2025 to honor the more than 2 million people serving in the U.S. military and the families who stand by their side. The messages will be displayed at USO centers worldwide in high-traffic, visible locations, ensuring every sentiment makes an impact.

For more ways to support service members and families around the globe, visit USO.org.