3RD BCT Prepares for Thanksgiving Day

Shafique Islam, a cook from the Timimi contracting company, carves a fish into a watermelon, Nov. 20, in preparation for a Thanksgiving Day dinner at Forward Operating Base Hammer, Iraq.

By Sgt. Natalie Rostek
3rd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – More than 6,100 miles away from friends and families, Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team are preparing to bring a taste of home to Iraq and celebrate Thanksgiving with their military family.

The 3rd BCT, 3rd Infantry Division has more than 800 Soldiers living in combat outposts and patrol bases within the Mada’in Qada, located southeast of Baghdad, the brigade’s area of operation.

According to Sgt. 1st Class Rory Williams, from Columbus, Ga., non-commissioned officer in charge of the dining facility on Forward Operating Base Hammer, the Hammer dining facility’s Thanksgiving Day menu will consist of the traditional holiday spread of turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, cornbread, and pies.

Williams said the meal will also contain some untraditional yet favored foods such as roast beef, crab legs, shrimp, and macaroni and cheese.

“It’s hard being away from home,” Williams said. “Thanksgiving is a happy time! It’s a time to celebrate and we want to try to bring a little taste of home. We may not be with our family, but we are with our military family.”

The decorations in the dining facility are what you might find in a fancy restaurant. Williams explained that a contracted food service has already begun carving ice sculptures and constructing Styrofoam decorations.

“The building and the cakes are already decorated,” Williams said. “I think we all did a great job with the decorations.”

Although the combat outposts and patrol bases are not as equipped to handle a full spread like the dining facility at FOB Hammer, each is creating the holiday festivities in different ways.

“The COPs and PBs don’t have the equipment like we have at FOB Hammer so some of the food is already pre-cooked,” Williams said. “This makes it easier for the cooks to prepare the foods.”

While FOB Hammer has contracted cooks to prepare a full holiday spread, Soldiers at the COPs and PBs rely solely on Soldiers to prepare their Thanksgiving Day meal.

According to Sgt. Jimmy Bolden, from Pine Bluff, Ark., dining facility manager at COP Cahill, Soldiers will be treated to a meal including steak, shrimp, turkey, and ham cooked in many different ways. He said he is also planning on having some of the traditional foods.

“There is really nothing difficult about this meal,” Bolden said. “I just recently took over the dining facility, so I’m doing things my way. I love my job.”

A traditional Thanksgiving Day meal is important in creating the holiday-at-home feel, but according to Sgt. Eric Stallings, from Kansas City, Mo., non-commissioned officer in charge of the dining facility at COP Cashe-N, togetherness and family are what makes Thanksgiving special.

Although most of the units in the 3rd BCT are having their Thanksgiving dinner early, Stallings said the Soldiers at COP Cashe-N will be sitting down as a family after most of the Soldiers are finished with their daily tasks and missions.

“We are one big happy family here,” he said. “After everyone comes off their missions, we are going to sit down as a team and have Thanksgiving dinner.”

Camaraderie is what will get many Soldiers through this holiday season, according to Pfc. Salem Auclair, from Burrillvill, R.I., Company B, 1-15 Inf. Regt., who resides at COP Cleary.

“It’s hard being away from our families, especially during the holidays,” Auclair said. “But it’s good to have your buddies here with you.”

The 3rd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. is has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom V since March.