Life on the Vine

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.  Hard to believe that this time last year I was in Iraq celebrating Thanksgiving in Baghdad's International Zone.  Now here I am in Germany.  Tom and I will be spending our second Thanksgiving apart but he will be spending the long weekend with Maxwell and I'll be here getting things ready to move into our apartment.  So, we have many things to be thankful. Here at U.S. Africa Command the Public Affairs Office is very diverse.  There is a U.S. Air Force major and staff sergeant; an Army colonel and major; a Navy lieutenant and petty officer, civilians, contractors and a language specialist from Morocco, who speaks English, French and Arabic.  The Navy lieutenant and his wife have invited those of us in the office with no plans to come over to their home for Thanksgiving dinner.  Should be a great time. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Happy Thanksgiving from Iraq! Well, operation eat till you drop has been a success. I have enjoyed two Turkey Day meals :) The dining facilities (DFAC) always put out a lot of effort into making the holidays nice during a deployment. During my first deployment to Iraq in 2004-05 I experienced Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. I'll enjoy the same holidays this deployment. For lunch, members of our command group, including our commanding general and command sergeant major, served the meal. I thought I'd load some pictures of the decorations. We're normally not allowed to take pictures inside the dining facilities. Holidays are really the only time it is okay. The top photo shows the whole middle row of the DFAC taken up with the decorations. I loved the fact that scripture was incorporated into the decorations at the DFAC closest to my office. I have many things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. Not the least of which is all of you ...