Posted on Nov 28, 2015
What is your most memorable Christmas while deployed?
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We sure didn't have the wherewithal all to decorate our hooches like this in Vietnam, but one of the parents of one of my men owned an Italian restaurant in Indianapolis and they sent all the table decorations and stuff to make a helluva Christmas dinner. I and my driver stole a case of frozen steaks from the ration break down point at Long Binh and I horse traded at the mess hall for a lot of other "necessities". The young man who had grown up working in the family restaurant worked his buns off setting it all up and we had a very Merry Christmas despite missing friends and family at home. The leftovers (and they were ample) were donated to an orphanage at Ton Son Nhut. We also stuffed stockings for the orphans with everything we could find as well as small gifts our families sent from home. It became a contest to see who could make the biggest stocking. Have you ever stuffed an Army issue wool sock? They expanded so large that most were taller than the kids. That was Christmas 1967. The Tet Offensive began less than two months later...
We sure didn't have the wherewithal all to decorate our hooches like this in Vietnam, but one of the parents of one of my men owned an Italian restaurant in Indianapolis and they sent all the table decorations and stuff to make a helluva Christmas dinner. I and my driver stole a case of frozen steaks from the ration break down point at Long Binh and I horse traded at the mess hall for a lot of other "necessities". The young man who had grown up working in the family restaurant worked his buns off setting it all up and we had a very Merry Christmas despite missing friends and family at home. The leftovers (and they were ample) were donated to an orphanage at Ton Son Nhut. We also stuffed stockings for the orphans with everything we could find as well as small gifts our families sent from home. It became a contest to see who could make the biggest stocking. Have you ever stuffed an Army issue wool sock? They expanded so large that most were taller than the kids. That was Christmas 1967. The Tet Offensive began less than two months later...
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 175
Sarajevo and the Balkans with IFOR and SFOR.
Midnight mass, gifts for the orphanage, thousands of bullets being fired over the city daily, almost quiet that night. Time with my team mates.
Midnight mass, gifts for the orphanage, thousands of bullets being fired over the city daily, almost quiet that night. Time with my team mates.
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CPT Jack Durish
That sounds surreal. I can't imagine a sadder sight than Sarajevo at war with itself
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Christmas 1972 on the USS Saratoga CV60 in the Tonkin Gulf, Yankee Station. I have a picture somewhere of myself and PH3 Frank Devance at the duty desk in the ship's photo lab under a clock that read "How Time Flies When You're Having Fun." Christmas day in the Navy at war was trying at best.
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We deployed right before Christmas (December 9th for me, my second deployment) 09-10. Morale was OK, I wouldn't say good at that time even though our unit was good. The Chaplains and Assistants came up with the idea to pack up all the mail, care packages, and the best chow we could find on FOB Shank and bring it out to the outlying COPs. The Brigade leadership jumped on board and we got the command birds to fly around in for two days. We hit my unit (1-503rd) and a few others on Christmas eve and the rest on Christmas day. I ended out the day covered in chocolate ice cream, exhausted from heaving mail and food around for 8 hours, and felt pretty good about myself. The picture is from that day.
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Christmas Time 1968. Vietnam with Bravo 5/60th, Third Platoon, 9th ID at Rach Kien. I was lucky enough to be chosen to attend the Dong Tam Bob Hope Show. It was his first time in the deep Mekong Delta. We had a miserable couple of months so the news was uplifting. There was a time during the show that an Alpha Sierra took place and Bob Hope headed for the bunker bunker built for the show people, saying "Call off the war General Ewell!!!" The troops were cracking up. Ann Margaret was sensational. Miss World was there (Penelope Plumber), Rose Greer (what a blast), the Band of Renown's, and others. In the crowd of hard a$$es, there was laughter, good cheer, and an occasional tear.
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Most memorable I'd say was 2009. "No shit, there I was. . ."
I was deployed to the southern Philippines, part of Joint Special Operations Task Force-SULU. We had basically 2 squads there, one on Mindanao at the Lanao Agricultural College, and my team, located at Barangay Kagay on Jolo island. Our means of communication with "the world" was a sat phone call, about 10 - 15 minutes every couple days.
I took a few minutes to make my call, it was probably around the 20th or so, and from that earpiece came the piercing, screeching voice of my wife.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE GETTING EXTENDED?! RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!! ASSHOLE!!!"
Hell of a way to start the call, yea?
So, what had happened was. . . Dod-durned spouse network. My best friend (we called him Bear) was in Afghanistan with his Seabee battalion, and had taken over as battalion safety officer after the Chief had to be evac'd to Germany due to illness. He happened to be waiting on his monthly safety report for the CO to print off when the CO retrieved his papers. Skipper looked at it, asked if Bear knew anyone in NMCB 1 (my battalion), and said, "Well, your buds are getting extended it looks like."
So, Bear told his wife. His wife told my wife. Bear's wife had also talked to another friends girlfriend who happened to be in my battalion, which was deployed to Okinawa. She told Angie (Bear's old lady) that they received word about being extended as well.
Pretty easy to figure out how my wife knew. I didn't. I left with my detachment on 01AUG, and Pres. Obama had just ordered the surge, which threw deployments into whack. My Chief and det OIC were planning on coming out the next day, but after the debacle with my old lady, I called him back in Zamboanga and told him what I'd heard, & he confirmed it, and that he & the CPT had planned on delivering it in-person when they came out.
I let them two break it to my crew.
However, as memorable as that part is, the next piece is better.
Now, we had been building a school in Barangay Kagay, and two Soldiers from an ODA that shall not be numbered out of respect were killed on 29September (VOIED) literally 200m from the entrance to the camp. The villagers - all Muslim - cried for our two Brothers. Not only did they give us the most sincere, warmest Christmas, with cheap souvenir T-shirts as gifts, but the absolute sincerity and love with which they did it was overwhelming. Our project wrapped up a couple days before Christmas, and we were due to leave the site the day after. On Christmas eve night, when we received our presents, they showed us a plaque they had made in honor of our two Brothers, that they wanted placed in the front of the school. Ghani, the Barangay Captain, and his brothers-in-law made the plinth for the plaque themselves, but had never told us why.
Those Muslim villagers had collectively decided to name the school after two Christian men: one black, one white, with an honorable mention of a third, PFC Jerwin Estrada, part of the Philippine Marine Corps Bn Landing Team SIX, who died supporting the construction of it.
The school we built - still untouched by extremists in the Southern Philippines to this day - was named the "J. Martin & C. Shaw Elementary School of Barangay Kagay".
THAT, Brothers & Sisters. . . THAT is the absolute best & most memorable Christmas I have ever & will ever have: being shown true, heart-felt love from Muslims, who named a school for two men from another country, another religion, and differing ethnicities, and who honored us by celebrating a holiday with us that was not their own.
I was deployed to the southern Philippines, part of Joint Special Operations Task Force-SULU. We had basically 2 squads there, one on Mindanao at the Lanao Agricultural College, and my team, located at Barangay Kagay on Jolo island. Our means of communication with "the world" was a sat phone call, about 10 - 15 minutes every couple days.
I took a few minutes to make my call, it was probably around the 20th or so, and from that earpiece came the piercing, screeching voice of my wife.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE GETTING EXTENDED?! RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!! ASSHOLE!!!"
Hell of a way to start the call, yea?
So, what had happened was. . . Dod-durned spouse network. My best friend (we called him Bear) was in Afghanistan with his Seabee battalion, and had taken over as battalion safety officer after the Chief had to be evac'd to Germany due to illness. He happened to be waiting on his monthly safety report for the CO to print off when the CO retrieved his papers. Skipper looked at it, asked if Bear knew anyone in NMCB 1 (my battalion), and said, "Well, your buds are getting extended it looks like."
So, Bear told his wife. His wife told my wife. Bear's wife had also talked to another friends girlfriend who happened to be in my battalion, which was deployed to Okinawa. She told Angie (Bear's old lady) that they received word about being extended as well.
Pretty easy to figure out how my wife knew. I didn't. I left with my detachment on 01AUG, and Pres. Obama had just ordered the surge, which threw deployments into whack. My Chief and det OIC were planning on coming out the next day, but after the debacle with my old lady, I called him back in Zamboanga and told him what I'd heard, & he confirmed it, and that he & the CPT had planned on delivering it in-person when they came out.
I let them two break it to my crew.
However, as memorable as that part is, the next piece is better.
Now, we had been building a school in Barangay Kagay, and two Soldiers from an ODA that shall not be numbered out of respect were killed on 29September (VOIED) literally 200m from the entrance to the camp. The villagers - all Muslim - cried for our two Brothers. Not only did they give us the most sincere, warmest Christmas, with cheap souvenir T-shirts as gifts, but the absolute sincerity and love with which they did it was overwhelming. Our project wrapped up a couple days before Christmas, and we were due to leave the site the day after. On Christmas eve night, when we received our presents, they showed us a plaque they had made in honor of our two Brothers, that they wanted placed in the front of the school. Ghani, the Barangay Captain, and his brothers-in-law made the plinth for the plaque themselves, but had never told us why.
Those Muslim villagers had collectively decided to name the school after two Christian men: one black, one white, with an honorable mention of a third, PFC Jerwin Estrada, part of the Philippine Marine Corps Bn Landing Team SIX, who died supporting the construction of it.
The school we built - still untouched by extremists in the Southern Philippines to this day - was named the "J. Martin & C. Shaw Elementary School of Barangay Kagay".
THAT, Brothers & Sisters. . . THAT is the absolute best & most memorable Christmas I have ever & will ever have: being shown true, heart-felt love from Muslims, who named a school for two men from another country, another religion, and differing ethnicities, and who honored us by celebrating a holiday with us that was not their own.
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Definitely a memorable Christmas 1969 at Bien Hoa AB, Vietnam. My wife never failed to send me a letter, card, or package every single day for my entire 2nd tour in that country. This particular year, she mailed a box in November to make sure I got it before Christmas, which I did. It contained every single thing needed for a good Christmas dinner to serve about 8 people. Of course, everything was canned, in a jar, or dry bagged. The menu was ham, green beans, potatoes, and brownies for dessert. All was good except the bread had some signs of 'green mold' which we cut off and ate the rest. It was still better than the chow hall on that particular day. Several of us sat around a big table in our Barracks Bar, having some great food that was warmly prepared, and watched a live presentation of the Bob Hope Show from Long Binh. AFN televised it for the very first time, so there was no need to sit in a hot humid field for entertainment. Besides, I saw the show in '68 at Cam Ranh Bay when Ann-Margaret was on the tour. It was a good day for being in RVN. Then on December 26th, the rocket attacks picked up where they left off 2 days before... just another war day at the office !!!
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While on leave from Northern Iraq in DEC 2003, a S3 NCO buddy and I went on our own Band of Brothers tour in Europe. Landed in Germany, drove to Nimaggen, then Normandy, Bastogne and Christmas in Garmisch.
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CAPT (Join to see)
I couldn't imagine a more beautiful Christmas than in Garmisch. I saw it in Feb '87 & stayed @ the Gen. Patton hotel. Gorgeous scenery.
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2008 with USFOR-A in Kabul. I took the opportunity to visit the 101st HQ in Bagram and work with my counterpart their. They put me up for the week, we reviewed ongoing plans, revised some, and I got to know the subordinate command team (BG McConville). My former boss, Mark Milley, (now CJCS) was a new BG and returning from leave during the same week. So, I made certain to be sitting at his desk, with my tanker boots (he hated them) propped up on his desk when he arrived. It was the best way to greet a former boss and jerk his chain a little. Best meal I ever had at a Division HQ.
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I was on yet another war deployment and we'd been given some downtime to Rest Reload and Regroup. we Arrived in France for a short stay and I immediately put in for leave for the entire visit because we'd be there on Christmas day. I got a hotel room a hot shower and lots of food! I talked to my wife and kids on Christmas and that just made the entire deployment worthwhile for me. I got to tour the city of Marseilles, and the whole city was filled with lights people having a really good time. Put a lot of things about this life back into perspective. But we had a good time!
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1974 USS Independence CV62, walking the line to get food and looked up to see the skipper of the ship serving. I looked at him and said thank you skipper and Merry Christmas.
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How the hell did you get to see Bob Hope? I was there in 69 and he never came close to anywhere I was. I don't remember christmas as it was just another workday.
And houches? We only had GP mediums. I thought you Marines roughed it!
Oh Well!!!!
And houches? We only had GP mediums. I thought you Marines roughed it!
Oh Well!!!!
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It was Christmas Eve1964 at Pleiku, Vietnam. I was a corporal with the 560th Military Police detachment. Bob Hope landed at Camp Holloway, 52nd Aviation unit. It was an unplanned stop, but due to weather, which forced half of the show to fly somewhere else. It was try and organize some sort of security fast. I was patrolling with my Thompson .45 sub machine gun at the rear of the spectators. I had 5 or 6 MPs at various locations. The perimeter fence consisted of two stands of wire. Vegetation grew up to the edge. There were probably 200 or so GIs in the audience. Hope naturally quipped about where was Pleiku? Everything went off all right, they did an abbreviated show with all the performers, but most of the production crew and musicians had been on the other plane. Pleiku was attacked on 7 February 1965. Both the II Corps Advisory compound where we were billeted and Camp Holloway were attacked. That was really the start.
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I had to make a run by truck to Long Binh 1970 Christmas and inside the base was a Christmas Tree made from sand bags with lights that I took a picture of. I thought it was the greatest thing that I saw that day.
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Christmas 2009. Got a half day off and spent the morning with my daughter who was deployed with us as the BN intel analyst,
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Christmas 1969 at NSA DaNang. Christmas Eve at Deep Water Piers, our division Bos'n dropped off a pallet of Colt 45. Needless to say we all got hammered. I remember waking up on Christmas morning majorly hung over and home sick (I was 28 days away from going home). We were all pretty sick that day. Worst Christmas ever.
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I was on guard in our squads night logger at midnight on Christmas eve 1970. Everyone was sleeping and I had the PRC225 radio. There was usually nothing to hear on night watch but we had to be able to be contacted, just in case. About 5 minutes till midnight soft Christmas music started streaming from the headset. As I listened I felt a wonderful warmth fill my heart. I thought about the radioman on the other end of the line and how he though about putting some Christmas songs out to us that did not get out of the bush to see Bob Hope.
SP4 Jack Walker US Army Ret.
SP4 Jack Walker US Army Ret.
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Christmas 1971, Phan Rang AB, Vietnam. I was with OSI,responsible for gathering intelligence about possible attacks of the enemy, strange sightings, etc. We were not amused with military TV, set on auto-control Christmas Eve, showing soap-opera TV shorts that were 10-15 years old. Horseplay ensued to better occupy our time. I concocted a phony "Enemy sighting" I sent to the Base Commander, to the effect of, "A sighting was made of a strange man dressed in red and white, out of shape physically, and singing to himself as he drove a sleigh across the rice paddies drawn by several caribou. The intelligence community suggests we respond with a helicopter gun-ship prepared to meet the enemy, probably disguised as a jolly old man so as to catch us off guard in these holiday hours. Our Air Base is manned with 200 Air Force personnel without aircraft, as our planes were prematurely sent to Cam Ranh Air Base. 200 other personnel are at Long Binh Army Post for the Bob Hope show. To be blunt, we need Army or Marine support ASAP. Our only weapons carrier has a flat tire. " It was lucky for me that the Base Commander had a good sense of humor and ignored this important message!
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10 hour and 20-minute combat flight on Christmas day. Enjoyed an in-flight roast beef on crumbly bread and a small chocolate milk. Same as I had on Thanksgiving and New Year day. It helped tp be doing something on those special days away from my family.
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SP 5 Bruce Waltz
Christmas in Viet Nam. The Bob Hope Special was great, Enjoy the entire show surrounded by men and woman serving our country. However, after the show went back to my hooch and into immediate depression... All alone. Crasher on my bunk....laid there for about an hour, when someone knock on my door, it was the mailman on Christmas Day. I was so surprised, I told the specialist I didn't expect anyone to be working, he said to me, that this was his greatest joy, delivering packages to his fellow GIs... He handed my a large box, as I opened the box I found fresh apples, oranges, tons of candy and cookies. All sorts of salami too and a letter from my family. Seconds after I opened the box my hooch started filling up with guys from my unit... I shared all the goodies with everyone. It was great, giving/sharing simple things (apples, oranges & candy) to those homesick men, seeing them enjoy a few moments of the world back home. We all had a wonderful time and a great blessing sharing food and stories of home. We all knew we had each others backs.
God I love my country and those fighting for her.
Christmas in Viet Nam. The Bob Hope Special was great, Enjoy the entire show surrounded by men and woman serving our country. However, after the show went back to my hooch and into immediate depression... All alone. Crasher on my bunk....laid there for about an hour, when someone knock on my door, it was the mailman on Christmas Day. I was so surprised, I told the specialist I didn't expect anyone to be working, he said to me, that this was his greatest joy, delivering packages to his fellow GIs... He handed my a large box, as I opened the box I found fresh apples, oranges, tons of candy and cookies. All sorts of salami too and a letter from my family. Seconds after I opened the box my hooch started filling up with guys from my unit... I shared all the goodies with everyone. It was great, giving/sharing simple things (apples, oranges & candy) to those homesick men, seeing them enjoy a few moments of the world back home. We all had a wonderful time and a great blessing sharing food and stories of home. We all knew we had each others backs.
God I love my country and those fighting for her.
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My Christmas in the ‘Gulf
The day before Thanksgiving onboard USNS SHUGHART - a Military Sealift Command Ship off the coast of Dubai - we learned “All liberty was canceled” during morning Quarters. Threat Condition Bravo had started. Effective immediately, there would be no going ashore for the planned Thanksgiving Party. We heard the ship engines change sound, & soon found we were headed out to sea.
Thirteen of us were US Navy, the rest of the crew – Civilians or as we called them “Civ-Mars” meaning Merchant Marine Sailors. We lived on a ship the size of an aircraft carrier, loaded with military equipment.
Christmas was approaching soon & since hostilities began, there was no personal mail. Everything was reserved for operational necessities. Although spaces were decorated, it would be a rather somber Christmas.
As the Admin – Postal – Supply - Chief, the role of Morale, Welfare & Recreation fell to me. I thought about the rather Spartan Christmas we would be experiencing. Since I had to go ashore & the opportunity presented itself to do a little shopping. I loaded up on candy, nuts, little goodies and trinkets & stuffed them into my bag along with other supplies.
Back onboard, I scrounged for colored paper, tape & glue. One of the CivMar’s wandered into my lair & was commandeered into Elfdom, gluing Christmas Cutouts from wrapping paper onto the construction paper. By zero dark thirty on Christmas Eve, all fifty four bodies onboard had personalized, gaily wrapped cornucopias hanging from their doorknobs along the passageways.
Finally, a poem was taped to the bulkhead across from the Galley & job finished, tired but satisfied; we stumbled off to our respective bunks to sleep.
The next day was great. Grown men gathered in the galley with their goodies happy as little boys with Christmas Stockings! The spirit of Christmas could not be denied. Operation Desert Fox notwithstanding.
The day before Thanksgiving onboard USNS SHUGHART - a Military Sealift Command Ship off the coast of Dubai - we learned “All liberty was canceled” during morning Quarters. Threat Condition Bravo had started. Effective immediately, there would be no going ashore for the planned Thanksgiving Party. We heard the ship engines change sound, & soon found we were headed out to sea.
Thirteen of us were US Navy, the rest of the crew – Civilians or as we called them “Civ-Mars” meaning Merchant Marine Sailors. We lived on a ship the size of an aircraft carrier, loaded with military equipment.
Christmas was approaching soon & since hostilities began, there was no personal mail. Everything was reserved for operational necessities. Although spaces were decorated, it would be a rather somber Christmas.
As the Admin – Postal – Supply - Chief, the role of Morale, Welfare & Recreation fell to me. I thought about the rather Spartan Christmas we would be experiencing. Since I had to go ashore & the opportunity presented itself to do a little shopping. I loaded up on candy, nuts, little goodies and trinkets & stuffed them into my bag along with other supplies.
Back onboard, I scrounged for colored paper, tape & glue. One of the CivMar’s wandered into my lair & was commandeered into Elfdom, gluing Christmas Cutouts from wrapping paper onto the construction paper. By zero dark thirty on Christmas Eve, all fifty four bodies onboard had personalized, gaily wrapped cornucopias hanging from their doorknobs along the passageways.
Finally, a poem was taped to the bulkhead across from the Galley & job finished, tired but satisfied; we stumbled off to our respective bunks to sleep.
The next day was great. Grown men gathered in the galley with their goodies happy as little boys with Christmas Stockings! The spirit of Christmas could not be denied. Operation Desert Fox notwithstanding.
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Its Christmas! but the show must go on.
Doctors, nurses, fireman, Police, Power plant workers, Truck drivers, essential workers and all of the workers that keep Christmas shining and wonderful though their efforts, I thank you. Being in a base camp 20 miles north of Saigon in 1968 Christmas eve Christmas day does not stop the advance of threat or harm to a Combat unit. In the fields of combat where life a death is a toss-up depending on the circumstances of the moment, a combat company would deploy for the night, ambush squads of mostly 10 men to protect the main companies night time position. Most of the time they were called Tiger Alfa Teams in my unit C co 3/7 199th Light infantry Brigade. The teams would assemble just before dust and move out to their coordinated positions for the night. This was a daunting task for any night but Christmas eve and Christmas night and being 20 years old and an Army Staff Sergeant in charge of 3rd platoon with the choices of who goes out on ambush and who stays in on Christmas eve and Christmas night Is the one tough decision we know sergeants in similar positions need to make. Here is the most inspiring and courageous part. When I assembled the platoon and spoke. I said “Listen up! we have command orders for one squad for tiger alfa duty for Christmas eve and Christmas night”. I figured I start by asking for volunteers then look at my rotation list to see who was next for tiger alfa duty. I said. “Listen up my beauties, do we have any volunteers for tonight’s and tomorrow night’s Tiger Alfa’s”? Incredibly, the hole Platoon raised their hands. Now we know sergeants never twitch but there was a tear in my eye. No worries no one saw it. I went to my rotation list which always included me and off we went to do our jobs for Christmas eve and Christmas night.
Veterans Listening Post. Vlpost.com
Coach Chris Uzzi.
Doctors, nurses, fireman, Police, Power plant workers, Truck drivers, essential workers and all of the workers that keep Christmas shining and wonderful though their efforts, I thank you. Being in a base camp 20 miles north of Saigon in 1968 Christmas eve Christmas day does not stop the advance of threat or harm to a Combat unit. In the fields of combat where life a death is a toss-up depending on the circumstances of the moment, a combat company would deploy for the night, ambush squads of mostly 10 men to protect the main companies night time position. Most of the time they were called Tiger Alfa Teams in my unit C co 3/7 199th Light infantry Brigade. The teams would assemble just before dust and move out to their coordinated positions for the night. This was a daunting task for any night but Christmas eve and Christmas night and being 20 years old and an Army Staff Sergeant in charge of 3rd platoon with the choices of who goes out on ambush and who stays in on Christmas eve and Christmas night Is the one tough decision we know sergeants in similar positions need to make. Here is the most inspiring and courageous part. When I assembled the platoon and spoke. I said “Listen up! we have command orders for one squad for tiger alfa duty for Christmas eve and Christmas night”. I figured I start by asking for volunteers then look at my rotation list to see who was next for tiger alfa duty. I said. “Listen up my beauties, do we have any volunteers for tonight’s and tomorrow night’s Tiger Alfa’s”? Incredibly, the hole Platoon raised their hands. Now we know sergeants never twitch but there was a tear in my eye. No worries no one saw it. I went to my rotation list which always included me and off we went to do our jobs for Christmas eve and Christmas night.
Veterans Listening Post. Vlpost.com
Coach Chris Uzzi.
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Christmas 1980, Nurenburg, FRG. Christmas in Germany was extra special as we had the worlds best and largest Kriskringel Markt in the Nurenburg town center. Truly awesome at night with all the Christmas lights, stalls set up with handmade toys, fresh bakery items and especially the smell of spiced wine simmering in large vats. Tasted great too. It just felt so traditional and not commercialized like back in the world! I miss Germany, and I miss being in the Army that allowed me that chance to be stationed in Western Europe!
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My most memorable Christmas deployed? Waking up my first morning in Vietnam, and seeing the Replacement Detachment in daylight for the first time. Moved on to Can Tho on the 26th. Christmas 1969.
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Spent Christmas of 67 in Nam but was on R&R in Bangkok for Christmas of 68.
Don't remember how I pulled that off but enjoyed the crap out of it for sure.
L/Cpl Robert J. Burke
Don't remember how I pulled that off but enjoyed the crap out of it for sure.
L/Cpl Robert J. Burke
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I was driving up from Navstar to Cedar II and it had been raining all day. I saw a Bulgarian convoy who only had second hand body armor hanging over their trucks as protection from IEDs. We RPed at C II and the parking lot was a sea of mud. When I jumped down, i sank up to my hip, we slogged inside to the DFAC and they had Christmas dinner ready, it was dry and warm and it wouldn't have mattered if the food sucked,[it didnt] this was December 2005..
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Spent one Christmas with the Air Attaché to Guatemala. Flew C130 in to Guat City on 22 Dec. Blew a prop seal. Weather crumped. Relief aircraft with new prop and maintenance people couldn’t get in until 26 Dec. We stayed in hotel downtown but it wasn’t safe for North Americans at the time. Invited to Colonels home for Christmas dinner. His wife and two domestic servants put out a great meal for our aircrew of 7. Flew back to Howard AB on 27th.
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Dinner while doing guard duty on the USS Gaudal Canal Christmas 1990. The turkey had none and they had a rib roast. All you could eat.
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