US Troops in Kabul, Afghanistan
Celebrate Thanksgiving
It was Army Sgt Keith Wells first
Thanksgiving Day away from his
family and despite a cornucopia of
food provided for the troops, his
taste buds were craving his wife's
macaroni and cheese back home.
"My
wife's a foodie — you know the Food Network, cooking shows.
Everything
she makes is golden," Wells of Charlotte, NC, said
Thursday at a large
international military base in the Afghan capital,
Kabul.
The
dining hall served up mac-and-cheese along with traditional
Thanksgiving Day fixings. Wells was thankful for the good food,
but he
still missed his wife's home-cooking.
Huge
hunks of beef greeted the estimated 2,500 diners as soldiers
lined up
in the dining hall. Red-white-and-blue decorations filled
the room.
Brochures titled "Learn about combat stress" served
as table
centerpieces.
There was roast
turkey, sliced turkey, ham and rib-eye steaks.
The troops were served
steaming side dishes of dressing, corn,
collard greens, yams and mashed
potatoes and gravy that some
lapped up with spoons. For dessert, there
was a massive cake
with a turkey etched in icing, pumpkin spice cookies
and scores
of pies.
A short walk from the dining hall, service members were playing
a modified version of American football. American
guys in sweats
tossing the pigskin, a scoreboard, a coin toss to start
the game.
But on this military
base, concrete barriers surrounded the field.
The referees wore
camouflaged shirts and the spectators carried
rifles. The artificial
turf was frayed and so dusty that when one
player spiked the football, a
puff of dirt rose from the field.
The players used a regulation football, but the game was a mix
of football, soccer and rugby to fit the short field.
Some soldiers commented about the 11-year-old war that has claimed the lives of 2,029 American service members.
Army
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chuck Minton of Monroe, Ga.,
who has traveled
extensively across Afghanistan, was optimistic.
"It's been progressing
here, getting better. The Afghans have
taken over more missions," Minton
said.
President Barack Obama
pulled 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan
in 2011 and 23,000 more this
year, leaving about 66,000 American
service members still deployed in
the country. Nearly all
international combat troops are to withdraw by
the end of 2014
when Afghan forces will be fully in charge of securing
the nation.
Army Maj. Rodney
Gehrett of Colorado Springs, Colo., said
he was surprised that the war
was barely mentioned during the
last U.S. presidential election —
evidence that some Americans
had tuned out the news from the front line a
half a world away.
"The war in Afghanistan wasn't even brought up
as a topic of conversation" during the election, Gehrett said. "It was a little
surprising to me. Hopefully, that will change and people will
realize that we still have troops here and they are
fighting every day."
Army
Sgt. Adam Draughn of Denver, Colo., said some people back
home have the
impression that the Afghan people don't want
American troops in their
country.
"Honestly, I think
the biggest misconception in my opinion is that,
you know, we actually
are loved here," Draughn said. "The
nationals do care about us. They do
want us here to help them.
We're not here uninvited."
Most of the holiday chatter, however, was focused on family.
Taking
a break from the game, Army Capt. Robert Mikyska
of North Aurora, Ill.,
pulled out a photocopied photo that was
taken of he and his wife just
before he deployed to Afghanistan
nine months ago.
"Hi, honey!" Mikyska said, looking at the picture. "In a couple
weeks, I'll be home. I can't wait to be back."
"My
family's here," Army Spc. Ricky Clay, also of Monroe, Ga.,
said as he
smiled and embraced his teammates on the
sidelines of the football
field.
