In Iraq and Afghanistan, there are no holidays. Every day is a duty day.

Military service always entails self-sacrifice, ranging from the loss of holidays to the rugged test of a year-long deployment away from family, to the greatest of all, one's life.

Self-sacrifice is precisely why America's uniformed military personnel, their families and veterans merit special respect.

I am frequently asked the question, "What can we as individual Americans do for our troops, particularly those serving overseas?"

I have two answers and a recommendation. The two answers are to pray for them and to say, "Thank you," when you encounter serving military personnel and veterans.

The recommendation is to "send a few dollars to Operation Call Home."

Operation Call Home is the brainchild of Ladd Pattillo, an Austin, Texas, businessmen, U.S. Army Reserve colonel and personal friend.

Pattillo got the idea in 2003. He agrees that it does answer the question, "What can I do for American servicemen and women?"

"I was occasionally asked that question at my Rotary Club," Pattillo told me. "I had talked to other soldiers and soldiers' spouses. They told me about phone cards. Soldiers want to call home and speak to their loved ones in the holiday season, like everyone else does. But the separation is felt so sharply during the holiday season. So I suggested we buy phone calling cards and give them to our troops."

Pattillo challenged his Rotary Club (The Rotary Club of Austin) to raise the money and organize the program. Alan Forster, another Austin businessman, had worked with AT&T's commercial network services.

"My role was to make sure that 100 percent of the money went to benefit the troops so that we could maximize our donations," Forster told me. Forster decided the easiest way to purchase the cards was through the Army and Air Force Exchange System (the PX system). Continued...