Well, one can debate the idea why the population (90+% of which have no clue that such an excercise is coming) has to have fighter jets flying over their heads for xmas...
At LLA we often saw the local fighter jets take off from the shared runway... the noise can be scary to the uninitiated...! Once at DTW I saw the USAF practice escorting commercial jets to the landing, or atleast I assumed it was pratcice.