What is your most memorable Christmas while deployed?

Dec. 25th 1971 off the Vietnamese Coast. We were refueling another Ship when our steering went out. The ships rammed and hoses and cables were flying everywhere. Took two days to repair all the damage and we were ready to send a avgas to the Enterprise. Not much of a Christmas but we got the job done.

2003 while at Victory Base, Baghdad. I spent Christmas Eve out on a guard tower to let an enlisted soldier have the time off. Christmas day dinner I was invited to spend with the Australian contingent. It was a great time and will never forget it.

Sad to say I don't remember a Christmas Deployed. At the Very Least I know that I was in Diego Garcia for at least One Christmas. Actually now that I think about it. Christmas in Pearl was pretty cool. The Christmas Spread at COMSUBPAC Pearl Chow Hall was wonderful.

I was in Iraq in 2003, and although I wasn't able to see them in person, some of the WWE wrestlers came to LSA Anaconda. I got to watch the show on tv.

Christmas 2004 Camp Ramadi. S BTRY 5/11 3rd Plt attached to 2/11. They gave us two beers and one of those airline bottles of rum or vodka per person. And you can guess there was a bunch of trading. Everyone trying to get booze from from the fellas that didn't drink and the beer only and liquor only folks haggling. Was a good day.

Canned Turkey in Cu Chi and watching some Korean all girl band playing "I want to go Home" and getting hit by 122 mm rockets that night

Being in South Korea and having my friends want to go out to "karaoke". I chose to stay in and call home to my family. When they got back and told asked to borrow money because they were robbed by hookers, I knew I made the right choice.

OIF 2006. Our tree

Spent Christmas Eve '71 stuck at Ft. Hood on CQ duty with relief at midnight. Knowing I was to be deployed to Vietnam in January I was certain this might be my last Christmas. Having grown up in Dallas, less than 3 hours away I called home to tell my father I'd be home for Christmas. Once off duty I caught a cab to the Belton Grey Hound bus depot. Having never experienced bus travel I bought a ticket to Dallas. The bus left Belton around 1 am and i could smell the bacon my dad was frying in his cast iron skillet. As I mentioned this was a bus depot and I had grown up in Texas traveling all over the state. What I experience over the next 15 hours in route to Dallas was an Almanac view of almost every city with less than 500 citizens between Killeen and Dallas. I watch people come and go the entire time wondering how much longer before I would see the Dallas skyline on the horizon. When the bus stopped for lunch in Waco I began to realize the enormous mistake I had made. We pulled into the same bus station that I consumed a box lunch in the day I got drafted...at 5 pm Christmas Day! When i checked the return schedule to Killeen I quickly realized that if I was going to report for duty the day after Christmas I had no choice to catch another bus in less than an hour. I called home to find to Army friends who were stationed with me celebrating Christmas with my family. I told everyone the dilemma, wished them the best, and hopped the bus. I spen t my next Christmas at Camp Stanley, outside of Oijonbu South Korea. Having been pulled from RVN in December '72 I was redeployed to Korea. I have profound respect to the vets who fought there during the Korean War since 1951 was the coldest winter in their history....and while the jungle was the jungle those vets fought up one granite mountain after another. I did make it to Korea in time for the Bob Hope Christmas show at 2nd Inf command in Tong Du Chon. Since I was coming off the DMZ we got front row center stage. I do remember it being so cold that even with two parkas we were all freezing.

1990, Operation Desert Shield, pulling TOC duty NCO with Deuce-and-a-half's crawling through our Battalion camp with the cargo canvases rolled up on the sides and outlined with improvised Christmas lights from home (thanks to the motor pool electrical genius who rewired them from 120VAC to 24VDC !). In the backs of those trucks were the CSM, staff officers and firing battery lieutenants singing carols. About half the battalion was having dinner that night with Saudi Aramco employees courtesy of the Host A Soldier program, so the ones in camp on Christmas eve were the ones who were hosted for Thanksgiving (1SG's made sure nobody double-dipped on both). Those singers all were hoarse the next day from having to sing at max volume over the engine noise !