Soldiers in Afghanistan enjoy turkeys they raised

BARAKI-BARAK, Afghanistan — As daylight faded and the winter cold set in, soldiers huddled inside a crude wooden hut to tuck into Thanksgiving turkeys the unit itself had fattened and to give thanks for having survived a year of combat in Afghanistan.

"They become your family and being able to eat together like this, to break bread together is a highlight," said 1st Sgt. Gonzalo Lassally of soldiers from Able Troop, 3-71 Cavalry Squadron sitting down to the traditional turkey plus ham basted in brown sugar and honey, five varieties of pies and nonalcoholic beer. A stack of local flatbread added an Afghan touch.

A much-scaled down version of the feast was helicoptered to a handful of soldiers in an observation post perched on a 6,900-foot spur.

"We're thankful for all still being here. We've been lucky, on the lower spectrum when it comes to casualties," said Lassally, a father of three from Deltona, Fla., who has spent four Thanksgivings, three Christmases and "quite a few birthdays" away from home.

The American holiday began with a 25-man patrol and ended with another unit heading out for night surveillance of several villages in this remote district of strategic Logar province, located just south of Kabul.

"Just another day, another mission," several soldiers said as the first patrol prepared for a 6-mile slog to aid village schools without windows, desks and other basic necessities.

Others let sentiment seep through their matter-of-fact, stoic shells.

"We're with our family just like we would be at Thanksgiving back home," said Staff Sgt. Ben McKinnon, of New Haven, Conn.

As the humanitarian mission was under way, three cooks on the Joint Combat Operations Post scurried to prepare the meal. Putting a turkey on a soldier's Thanksgiving table isn't always easy in Afghanistan.

To enjoy the fresh thing, soldiers a month ago bought six turkeys at $20 apiece from local farmers, built a special pen under one of the guard towers, and fed them cornbread, crackers and even chicken. The unit's mechanics converted a 55-gallon drum into a smoker and Staff Sgt. Charles Hough, of Dexter, N.Y., who is otherwise charged with the unit's mortars, volunteered to supervise deep frying three of the celebratory birds.

Spc. Seth Breesawitz, of Springfield, Mo., who supervises two other army cooks on the outpost, said that to feed some 150 soldiers the local turkeys were supplemented with four pre-baked and seasoned ones airlifted from the United States and then trucked to Baraki-Barak.