News

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – “I got involved with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, Tracks Santa 10 years ago, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Christine Garcia, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, or DEVCOM, said. “You get to take calls from all around the world and from different people calling in asking where Santa is.”

NORAD has been tracking Santa since 1955 after a young girl dialed the wrong number and put a quick-thinking U.S. Air Force Colonel on a spot brighter than Rudolph’s nose.

“In 1955, a young girl accidently dialed an unlisted number, which ended up going to the Continental Air Defense Command operation center in Colorado Springs, Colo.,” Garcia explained with a brightness that could only be matched by that little girl. “The girl thought she was calling Santa Claus after seeing a promotion in the local newspaper!”

That Colonel, Col. Harry Shoup, on hearing the hope in the girl’s voice, assured her that he was in fact Santa, and a new tradition was born.

Since 1958, on every Dec. 24, hundreds of volunteers work in one or two-hour shifts to answer over 100,000 phone calls from more than 200 countries asking where Santa is, as well as an assortment of questions to satisfy their curiosity.

“’How much does his sleigh weigh? What’s the speed of his sleigh? How do we track him? Where do the elves live? Do planes ever intercept Santa?’ We get a lot of fun questions, and every caller has their own answers to some of these questions,” Garcia said, while laughing. “My answer for, ‘How do we track Santa,’ is that we track him by Rudolph’s red nose.

“When they ask, ‘How does Santa get down chimneys or houses without chimneys,’ we say we don’t have definite information to explain the magical phenomena. We say that Santa’s sleigh is a versatile, multipurpose, all weather, short take off landing vehicle. We say that he’s a great pilot!”

“’How much does his sleigh weigh? What’s the speed of his sleigh? How do we track him? Where do the elves live? Do planes ever intercept Santa?’ We get a lot of fun questions, and every caller has their own answers to some of these questions,” Garcia said, while laughing. “My answer for, ‘How do we track Santa,’ is that we track him by Rudolph’s red nose.”

The quick thinking and ability to find answers in a way that is easy to understand are skills that Garcia has been able to use while serving as a human resources specialist for DEVCOM.

“In human resources, you deal with a variety of personnel and a variety of issues, and even if we aren’t dealing with issues, we get a lot of different questions that people are looking for answers from,” Garcia said. “I have always believed in giving the customer the service that you would want.

“I was a supervisor at a Soldier Readiness Processing site at Fort Carson, Colo., and that was the main thing that I would ask of my employees.”

Though Garcia enjoys answering phone calls from around the world, it’s the spirit of helping others that she wants to pass on to her children.

“I look forward to volunteering every year, but this year, my son is going to be joining my daughter and I,” Garcia said. “That’s what makes us feel like we’re doing a good deed for the community of the world.”

Unlike Santa, however, the Garcia family enjoys doing good deeds beyond Christmas Eve.

“On Thanksgiving we’ll take extra food and give it to the Soldiers at the gates of Fort Carson,” Garcia explained. “I want to teach my children that not everybody can be home with their family for the holidays. “We also help families in need at Christmas time.

“That’s something I’m trying to instill in my kids and people around me: to continue being a good person, because we need good people in the world.”

“That’s something I’m trying to instill in my kids and people around me: to continue being a good person, because we need good people in the world.”

Whether through customer service or service to hopeful children around the world, Garcia is a believer in being as good of a person as possible.

“We’re too quick to criticize and not help others, and if we can provide help, let’s do it.”

To track Santa on Christmas Eve, visit www.noradsanta.org, call (877) HI-NORAD (44-66723), or download the NORAD Tracks Santa app for mobile devices.

—

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, is home to thousands of Army scientists, engineers, technicians and analysts working around the globe to leverage cutting-edge technologies and empower the American warfighter with the data and abilities to see, sense, make decisions and act faster than our adversaries – today and in the future.

As part of Army Futures Command, DEVCOM takes calculated risks to find new technological solutions each day. Our experts drive innovation, improve existing technologies and engineer solutions to technical challenges. Our work goes beyond theory to simulation and prototyping. We take potential science and technology solutions from the lab “into the dirt” for experimentation alongside Army Soldiers. DEVCOM prides itself as a global ecosystem of innovators, from world-class universities and large defense contractors, to small, minority-owned businesses and international allies and partners.