Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tom the Turkey Pays Us a Visit
(SFC Dempsey the "BBQ King" and I with Tom the Turkey)

Greetings from Taji Iraq on this Thanksgiving 2007. For all of you out there I wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving!! Today being Thanksgiving I told my crew at the office that we were shutting down at 1400 hrs today to enjoy and partake in the various Thanksgiving activities. I had volunteered to do some of the food prep and cooking today. Just after 1415 I headed out of the office and came back to the hootch. I changed and I joined SFC Dempsey the Taji National Depot Supply First Sergeant in getting the Thanksgiving Meal ready. He was able to purchase some steaks and his father sent from the US two frozen smoked turkeys that believe it or not were still frozen upon arrival here in Iraq. By the time I got there he was finishing up preparing the marinade for the steaks. We opened the steaks and placed them into the baggies full of marinade and let those babies soak for a while. In the meantime, we got the BBQ ready and enjoyed a nice cigar and some non-alcoholic beer while soaking up some rays. Although it had been cloudy of late, today it was sunny, breezy and a temp of about 74, not bad for Thanksgiving.

At 1600 hrs we lit the charcoal and waited until those briquettes were nice and hot, and the steaks were the first thing on the grill. Some of the other Soldiers at 1630 went to the DFACs to pickup the various condiments, vegetables and other items for the feast. Others had made mash potatoes, dips, desserts and had banana breads and other food items sent from home just for today. After removing some of the steaks from the grill it was time to throw the smoked turkeys (2 each) onto the grill wrapped in foil. By 1730 hours it was time to start eating, I got the honors to carve the turkeys. The Soldiers really enjoyed the steaks and turkey, plus all the food. Right after the first wave had eaten the Aussies arrived and we had to make some more steaks. Soon after Cigars and a bonfire were in store as we all congregated around some of tables and the fire to enjoy everyones company.

Through out the evening you could hear everyone talking about how they celebrate Thanksgiving and wouldn't it be nice to have a nice glass of _____________ (insert your favorite alcoholic beverage) to enjoy with the dinner! I know that for some of the interpreters this was their first Thanksgiving spent with American troops and they were still stuffed from the official Thanksgiving lunch at the DFAC that had the usual Thanksgiving spread just like back home! I passed since one large meal was enough, plus I still had memories of last years Thanksgiving when I ate too much too quickly and thought I was going to burst at the seams! Beside missing the family the only thing missing was the cranberries and pumpkin pie at our feast, plus a nice scoop of breyers ice cream on top of the pie. We all agreed that even though we were far away from our families and friends we had a lot to be grateful for on this day, and the chance to enjoy Thanksgiving with each other was definitely something that would not be forgotten for many years.

This was our second BBQ in two days. Last night the Aussies had a BBQ at their area which is adjacent to ours and we all had a great time over at their place. They are getting close to their departure date so for them it was a nice way to have a nice shindig with us and enjoy each others company. The Aussies have been great help for us here at the Maintenance Depot and the Supply Depot. For most of the Soldiers it has been their first time working with Soldiers from other countries that are part of the Coalition. I have gone full circle, having worked with Canadians, Brits and now Aussies, only the Kiwi's remain.

That is all for today, I have copied below the official proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln which created Thanksgiving Day in 1863 and now 144 years later we are once again a country at war and the parallels are very similar.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless America

The Colonel