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Washington Commanders to honor veterans at halftime this weekend
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- Washington Commanders to honor veterans at halftime this weekend
Miles for Military
This holiday season, some military service members will want to fly home to be with their families, but may not be able to afford their plane ticket.
The Washington Commanders are partnering with an organization to help get those service members home, and they are honoring four active-duty junior enlisted service members this weekend as part of their Salute to Service Programming.
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"As a lifelong Commanders fan, it's great to be doing this Salute to Service game with them. They've been kind enough. The Commanders, Laramie Tunsil and his team, have been kind enough to have four of our service members who are participating in our program. They're flying home for Thanksgiving, and all four of them from Quantico are going to be at the game," said Miles for Military Executive Director Windle Jarvis. The soldiers will get signed jerseys, be on the field and be honored at halftime.
"When our service members are in this stadium and the entire stadium is cheering for them and thanking them for their service. That is a special moment, and so we're really grateful for them to be able to do that. And then on top of that, they're going home for the holidays to see their families, and many of them have been separated from their families for a year or more. So it's an incredible opportunity for them on both fronts," said Jarvis.
Junior enlisted military members can make about $26,700 annually in 2026, according to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service . Airlines are also raising their prices in response to more expensive oil and gas. Tickets are estimated to cost 31% more for Thanksgiving and 23% more for Christmas this year.
"They don't exactly have enough money for a $1,000 plane ticket," said Jarvis. " It's especially not cheap with the ticket prices. So, you know, we just have to get really creative with the way we buy the tickets."
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Miles for Military will pay up to $1,000 for a domestic flight or $1,500 for an international flight. But Jarvis said many of the service members won't accept a free flight.
"If you talk to any veteran or any former senior military official, they'll tell you that everything the military has earned, and so, for this program, we've had veterans and active-duty say, 'I don't want a handout. I want a hand up, and I'd like to earn this,'" said Jarvis.
To earn that flight home, service members have to complete 25 hours of volunteer service with an on-base, community, nonprofit or faith-based organization, according to its website .
So far, the organization has given back over 117,000 hours of community service, over half of which have supported veteran organizations like the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars.
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For fans who see the service members coming home this weekend, Jarvis had a simple message:
"I hope they understand at a deeper level the sacrifices that our junior enlisted are making. They're the low men on the totem pole, and they're working their way up and chasing the American dream, and I hope that the fans who see this are inspired by that and choose to support it."
