THEY CALL TODAY ALL SAINTS' DAY

To the observant, All Saints' Day celebrates those who have died, gone to heaven and now see God face to face. A primarily Catholic holiday, it is not generally observed in the United States. But if it were, those at the McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida yesterday, may be forgiven for mistaking that they had gotten a sneak preview of some real saints in the flesh, one day early.

“At the MNF-I change of command ceremony a few weeks ago,” he bellowed in a suitably military voice, “ I said that history will regard him as one of our nation’s great battle captains. He is the preeminent soldier, scholar, statesman of his generation and precisely the man we need at this command at this time.”

This was US Defence Secretary Robert Gates's description of General David Petraeus at the change of command ceremony for the United States Central Command. The West Point Class of '74 gathered as they honoured two of the most successful among them, General Petraeus and his predecessor at Centcom, Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey.

Tributes were also paid to the women behind these two military leaders. Deanie Dempsey has moved 19 times, since she married her high school sweetheart, into Lieutenant-General Dempsey's 34-year army career. In that period, she had helped care for wounded veterans, and assisted at Centcom.

Holly Petraeus, the daughter of an Army general herself, established the BBB Military Line, an advocacy group to protect the rights of veterans and their families.

“Many late nights and empty chairs at the dinner table, and sometimes on holidays and during family reunions, one less hand to hold.”

That was how one of the speakers described the sacrifices of an army wife.

Their husbands are traditionally the ones receiving the accolades but today, the women behind these two immensely successful military men, stood up and took a bow.

And last night at Thanksgiving, they had that one hand to hold under the dinner table.