112609 Thanksgiving in Iraq

112609 Thanksgiving in Iraq

Yesterday was another Thanksgiving in Iraq. Here are some pics above.
The meal was much better than usual meals but not without some flaws.
For example there were two lines into the DFAC and I think the idea
was to let in groups of 5-10 or so at a time in order to keep the
crowd outside and not inside. Well, one line went a lot faster since
the SGT there seemed to decide to let in groups of 10-20 or so. Which
meant the line I was in went a LOT slower. Poor coordination. The
DFAC is run by Pakistani, Nepalese and Philippino and in these
countries 'colored rice art on the floor' is evidently pretty popular.
So there were many areas one could not walk and it made for congestion
inside. The English language is not a strong point among all the
workers either so no matter what you asked, the answer was always
"Yes, yes sir!" ('Does that turkey suck?' reply - "Yes, yes sir!") I
had a piece of pumpkin pie but when I bit down, 'crunch'! The pie was
not fully defrosted - Urgh.
But overall it was really nice. There was also a lot of carved fruit.
The peacock in the pic above is covered with fruit loops too. On
holidays it's 'traditional' that Army officers serve food so you'll
see that as well. And the 'bar' was just stocked with canned eggnog
and sparkling juice. Just another Thanksgiving in Iraq.
R/Chris