video can be seen here.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A perk usually reserved for those on the field of play, not on the battle field, has been bestowed upon a local soldier and several other troops who are popping up in packs of football trading cards.
Sgt. Mark M. Middlebrook has never played in an NFL game, but the soldier from Ponte Vedra is now being featured in packs of football cards.
The soldier's father told Channel 4 the picture of his son on his trading card was taken in Baghdad right after a sniper incident.
Middlebrook, a Nease High School graduate, is one of 11 military men and women that Topps Football Cards has inserted in packs along with football stars.
Middlebrooks' card represents the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"He's a huge fan. He just lives and breathes Jaguars. He'd be out on tough combat mission, and then he'd call late at night and say, 'What happened with Jaguars?' That's all he cared about," said the soldier's father, Mark Middlebrook.
Middlebrook's dad has collected about 20 of his son's cards so far. He said the family is excited for their son.
"It's a big deal. It's really nice," Middlebrook said.
The troops trading cards were not the first time the Ponte Vedra soldier has been in the public spotlight. On Memorial Day, he addressed a crowd downtown about what it means to be a soldier.
Middlebrook has served two tours in Iraq so far, and may have another left. He is current at Fort Bragg.
"This is great. It's a real honor to see him on football card. You can actually buy him on eBay. He's a commodity," Middlebrook said.
So, as young people collect football cards in search of their favorite sports hero, they just might end up with a different type of hero in the palm of their hands.
Copyright 2008 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
All The News That's Fit To Print
The Topps set of 440 N.F.L. cards has 11 Armed Forces Fans of the Game.
From the Nov. 30 New York Times
Topps Salutes the Troops With Trading Cards
By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI
Published: November 29, 2008
This year’s Topps N.F.L. card set includes two Tomlinsons: LaDainian, a running back with the San Diego Chargers; and Wyat, a staff sergeant based at the United States Army Recruiting Battalion in Kansas City, Mo.
“It’s an unbelievable thrill,” said Wyat, a Kansas City native who grew up rooting for the Chiefs. “Some of the guys here have been teasing me about it. They’re now calling me Rookie Card.”
Sergeant Tomlinson, 29, is one of 11 Armed Forces Fans of the Game nominated by their home teams. Their cards are among the 440 that make up the Topps set. Randomly placed in packs of 10, the armed forces cards have become collector’s items.
“We wanted to pay tribute to our soldiers in some fashion,” said Clay Luraschi, the director of product development for Topps. “We went to the N.F.L. and they were totally on board with it, and immediately began asking teams to nominate soldiers from their respective cities.”
The other Topps trading card troops are Capt. John C. Cochrane Jr. of the Navy (nominated by the Jets); Col. Marc Hendler, New York Army National Guard (Giants); Lance Cpl. James A. Lenihan, Marine Corps Reserve (Cincinnati); Specialist Mark M. Middlebrook, Army (Jacksonville); Maj. Sean Ryan, Army (Denver); Sgt. Philip LaBonte, Michigan Army National Guard (Detroit); Cpl. Ryan M. Lenser, Marines (Green Bay); Senior Airman Gabriel Bird, Louisiana Air National Guard (New Orleans); Sgt. Christopher Ames, Marines (Arizona); and Sgt. Traci Williams, Army Reserve (Seattle).
The rest of the story is here:
I will have a part two to this story tomorrow. That's Mark at the bottom of the illustration.
Monday, December 8, 2008
This shouldn't happen
Mother's donations stolen
By Denise Nix, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/03/2008 04:05:08 PM PST
Linda Ferrara wanted to do something for soldiers like her son who sacrificed his safety for others.
So in the year since Army Capt. Matthew Ferrara was killed in Afghanistan, his mother has dedicated hours collecting clothes and crafting handmade blankets for wounded soldiers overseas.
The Torrance resident had planned to ship the goods Wednesday to an Army hospital in Germany.
Instead, she's despondent over the weekend theft of hundreds of socks, sweat shirts, pajama pants, boxers, blankets and other items.
"I don't want to let them down," Ferrara said. "This wasn't just stuff, this was going to wounded soldiers."
The items were being stored in the Ferrara family's RV, which was
parked outside their Bay Cities Italian Bakery on a dead-end street among industrial buildings near California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Ferrara and her family suspects someone was watching as they stockpiled the goods and expect the thieves will try to sell the items.
She estimates that at least $6,000 worth of clothes were stolen, along with the priceless patriotic fleece blankets she and other volunteers spent hours sewing. At one point, they auctioned three of the blankets for $410, which they then used to buy fabric for 30 more blankets, she said.
Matthew Ferrara, 24, graduated from West Point Military Academy before he was shipped to Afghanistan. He was killed, along with five others, on Nov. 10, 2007, when insurgents ambushed their patrol.
Two of his brothers also graduated from the prestigious academy, while another brother is in the ROTC program at USC.
The Ferrara family's deep roots in the military were only strengthened after Matthew's death, his mother said.
People from around the world have contacted them to share stories about her son's life and the circumstances of his death.
"It brings you closer to the whole rest of the world," Ferrara said.
So in the year since Army Capt. Matthew Ferrara was killed in Afghanistan, his mother has dedicated hours collecting clothes and crafting handmade blankets for wounded soldiers overseas.
The Torrance resident had planned to ship the goods Wednesday to an Army hospital in Germany.
Instead, she's despondent over the weekend theft of hundreds of socks, sweat shirts, pajama pants, boxers, blankets and other items.
"I don't want to let them down," Ferrara said. "This wasn't just stuff, this was going to wounded soldiers."
The items were being stored in the Ferrara family's RV, which was
parked outside their Bay Cities Italian Bakery on a dead-end street among industrial buildings near California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Ferrara and her family suspects someone was watching as they stockpiled the goods and expect the thieves will try to sell the items.
She estimates that at least $6,000 worth of clothes were stolen, along with the priceless patriotic fleece blankets she and other volunteers spent hours sewing. At one point, they auctioned three of the blankets for $410, which they then used to buy fabric for 30 more blankets, she said.
Matthew Ferrara, 24, graduated from West Point Military Academy before he was shipped to Afghanistan. He was killed, along with five others, on Nov. 10, 2007, when insurgents ambushed their patrol.
Two of his brothers also graduated from the prestigious academy, while another brother is in the ROTC program at USC.
The Ferrara family's deep roots in the military were only strengthened after Matthew's death, his mother said.
People from around the world have contacted them to share stories about her son's life and the circumstances of his death.
"It brings you closer to the whole rest of the world," Ferrara said.
The rest of the story can be read here.
By Denise Nix, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/03/2008 04:05:08 PM PST
Linda Ferrara wanted to do something for soldiers like her son who sacrificed his safety for others.
So in the year since Army Capt. Matthew Ferrara was killed in Afghanistan, his mother has dedicated hours collecting clothes and crafting handmade blankets for wounded soldiers overseas.
The Torrance resident had planned to ship the goods Wednesday to an Army hospital in Germany.
Instead, she's despondent over the weekend theft of hundreds of socks, sweat shirts, pajama pants, boxers, blankets and other items.
"I don't want to let them down," Ferrara said. "This wasn't just stuff, this was going to wounded soldiers."
The items were being stored in the Ferrara family's RV, which was
parked outside their Bay Cities Italian Bakery on a dead-end street among industrial buildings near California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Ferrara and her family suspects someone was watching as they stockpiled the goods and expect the thieves will try to sell the items.
She estimates that at least $6,000 worth of clothes were stolen, along with the priceless patriotic fleece blankets she and other volunteers spent hours sewing. At one point, they auctioned three of the blankets for $410, which they then used to buy fabric for 30 more blankets, she said.
Matthew Ferrara, 24, graduated from West Point Military Academy before he was shipped to Afghanistan. He was killed, along with five others, on Nov. 10, 2007, when insurgents ambushed their patrol.
Two of his brothers also graduated from the prestigious academy, while another brother is in the ROTC program at USC.
The Ferrara family's deep roots in the military were only strengthened after Matthew's death, his mother said.
People from around the world have contacted them to share stories about her son's life and the circumstances of his death.
"It brings you closer to the whole rest of the world," Ferrara said.
So in the year since Army Capt. Matthew Ferrara was killed in Afghanistan, his mother has dedicated hours collecting clothes and crafting handmade blankets for wounded soldiers overseas.
The Torrance resident had planned to ship the goods Wednesday to an Army hospital in Germany.
Instead, she's despondent over the weekend theft of hundreds of socks, sweat shirts, pajama pants, boxers, blankets and other items.
"I don't want to let them down," Ferrara said. "This wasn't just stuff, this was going to wounded soldiers."
The items were being stored in the Ferrara family's RV, which was
parked outside their Bay Cities Italian Bakery on a dead-end street among industrial buildings near California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Ferrara and her family suspects someone was watching as they stockpiled the goods and expect the thieves will try to sell the items.
She estimates that at least $6,000 worth of clothes were stolen, along with the priceless patriotic fleece blankets she and other volunteers spent hours sewing. At one point, they auctioned three of the blankets for $410, which they then used to buy fabric for 30 more blankets, she said.
Matthew Ferrara, 24, graduated from West Point Military Academy before he was shipped to Afghanistan. He was killed, along with five others, on Nov. 10, 2007, when insurgents ambushed their patrol.
Two of his brothers also graduated from the prestigious academy, while another brother is in the ROTC program at USC.
The Ferrara family's deep roots in the military were only strengthened after Matthew's death, his mother said.
People from around the world have contacted them to share stories about her son's life and the circumstances of his death.
"It brings you closer to the whole rest of the world," Ferrara said.
The rest of the story can be read here.
Deployment information
From the Fayetteville Observer
3rd brigade combat team on the ramp again
By Henry Cuningham
Military editor
Pfc. Roberto Rizo is using crutches because of a leg injury, but he left Fort Bragg on Friday on his way to Iraq because his unit needs him.
The 24-year-old supply clerk from Nicaragua was among about 200 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team who departed Friday afternoon for a year in Iraq. The deployment of 3,500 soldiers began before Thanksgiving, and about half the soldiers are gone. They hope to be back for Christmas 2009.
“I have a light injury on my leg, I have a fracture,” Rizo said. “But I volunteered to go and try to do my job and serve the country.”
Capt. Clay White, his company commander, said normally somebody with that kind of problem might stay behind.
“He recognized how much we need him on the team,” White said. “He volunteered to come forward with us.”
In an adjoining passenger shelter on Friday, about 200 soldiers of the Illinois National Guard’s 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team waited to fly to Afghanistan to train and mentor the Afghan army and police. After mobilizing, the guardsmen trained at Fort Bragg for about 60 days. They expect to return to Fort Bragg by early September.
The 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers flew out of Pope Air Force Base’s Green Ramp on their way to Kuwait. While waiting in the passenger shelter, they talked on cell phones, snoozed on rucksacks or went outside for a few last puffs on cigarettes.
They will spend about a week in Kuwait before moving on to Baghdad. Rizo will be able to get good medical care in Kuwait, White said.
You can read the rest of the story here.
3rd brigade combat team on the ramp again
By Henry Cuningham
Military editor
Pfc. Roberto Rizo is using crutches because of a leg injury, but he left Fort Bragg on Friday on his way to Iraq because his unit needs him.
The 24-year-old supply clerk from Nicaragua was among about 200 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team who departed Friday afternoon for a year in Iraq. The deployment of 3,500 soldiers began before Thanksgiving, and about half the soldiers are gone. They hope to be back for Christmas 2009.
“I have a light injury on my leg, I have a fracture,” Rizo said. “But I volunteered to go and try to do my job and serve the country.”
Capt. Clay White, his company commander, said normally somebody with that kind of problem might stay behind.
“He recognized how much we need him on the team,” White said. “He volunteered to come forward with us.”
In an adjoining passenger shelter on Friday, about 200 soldiers of the Illinois National Guard’s 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team waited to fly to Afghanistan to train and mentor the Afghan army and police. After mobilizing, the guardsmen trained at Fort Bragg for about 60 days. They expect to return to Fort Bragg by early September.
The 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers flew out of Pope Air Force Base’s Green Ramp on their way to Kuwait. While waiting in the passenger shelter, they talked on cell phones, snoozed on rucksacks or went outside for a few last puffs on cigarettes.
They will spend about a week in Kuwait before moving on to Baghdad. Rizo will be able to get good medical care in Kuwait, White said.
You can read the rest of the story here.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Off topic: The strange tale of Mr. Hobbs
Mr. Hobbs
I can't exactly recall just how old Mr. Hobbs is but he's been around the block a few times.
Gayle adopted him when she found him huddled under her car when she was picking up some awards at the Trophy Man. Mr. Hobbs was a little handful and had been abandoned by his mother. As she has been doing all her life - herding stray cats - she scooped him up and brought him home.
She nursed him back to health and by most measures he was a pretty happy cat. But he was the third cat, the only tabby in a herd of black and white cats. A few years later, Gayle found another kitty that had been left by the side of Mayport Road, a heavily traveled highway that leads out to the St. Johns River ferry. Again, it was barely a handful of a kitty. But this kitten was black and white. So we had three black and whites and a tabby.
Mr. Hobbs was outraged. He couldn't deal with an aggressive black and white kitten (who, by the way, is still a major pain) so he started hanging out at the neighbor's house across the street.
One day, a little VW beetle with Alaska license plates showed up at that neighbor's house. After about a month, the VW disappeared and so did Mr. Hobbs. We looked around the neighborhood for weeks but could never find him. We weren't on speaking terms with our neighbors so we never asked them what may have happened.
Fast forward four years.
The VW beetle shows up and so does Mr. Hobbs. Out of the blue, he bolted across the street and back into our yard. He has never left since.
Soooooo. We believe he spent four years in Alaska - he may even have met Sarah Palin. But regardless of the number of black and white cats we have, he is not leaving our yard or the Florida sunshine ever again.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
From today's Washington Post
A Lifeline Abroad for Iraqi Children
Army Doctor, Colleague Create Nonprofit To Link Young With Badly Needed Care
By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 3, 2008; Page A09
BAGHDAD -- A couple of months after Capt. Jonathan Heavey, a Walter Reed Army Medical Center physician, arrived in Baghdad, an Iraqi doctor handed him the medical file of a 2-year-old boy with a life-threatening heart ailment. The doctor said the boy couldn't get the care he needed in Iraq.
Heavey decided to help. He e-mailed a copy of the child's electrocardiogram and other information to a former colleague at the University of Virginia, who agreed to treat the boy for free. Then Heavey began the many-layered process of applying for U.S. visas for the boy and a female guardian. Among other things, Heavey had to provide proof that the guardian wasn't pregnant. Two months into the process, the boy died.
"It was pretty crushing," said Heavey, a 33-year-old battalion surgeon assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. "It was incredibly disappointing to know there are academic facilities back home willing and able to help. But there were just too many logistical hurdles."
Appalled by the state of Iraq's health-care system and frustrated by rules preventing military doctors from treating Iraqis, Heavey and a colleague, Capt. John Knight, 36, began arranging for sick Iraqi children to receive free medical treatment abroad. During their year-long deployment, which ended last month, they created a nonprofit organization that has sent 12 children overseas for medical care, funded by $17,000 that Heavey and Knight have contributed from their own pockets and raised from family and friends.
Heavey, who is so polite and soft-spoken that he seems out of place among gruff infantrymen, and Knight, 36, a physician assistant, worked at a small aid station inside the high walls of Forward Operating Base Justice, a U.S. military base in the Kadhimiyah section of northern Baghdad.
For the rest of the story, click here.
FYI, Camp Justice is in the same area of Baghdad in which SGT Mark patrolled.
Army Doctor, Colleague Create Nonprofit To Link Young With Badly Needed Care
By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 3, 2008; Page A09
BAGHDAD -- A couple of months after Capt. Jonathan Heavey, a Walter Reed Army Medical Center physician, arrived in Baghdad, an Iraqi doctor handed him the medical file of a 2-year-old boy with a life-threatening heart ailment. The doctor said the boy couldn't get the care he needed in Iraq.
Heavey decided to help. He e-mailed a copy of the child's electrocardiogram and other information to a former colleague at the University of Virginia, who agreed to treat the boy for free. Then Heavey began the many-layered process of applying for U.S. visas for the boy and a female guardian. Among other things, Heavey had to provide proof that the guardian wasn't pregnant. Two months into the process, the boy died.
"It was pretty crushing," said Heavey, a 33-year-old battalion surgeon assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. "It was incredibly disappointing to know there are academic facilities back home willing and able to help. But there were just too many logistical hurdles."
Appalled by the state of Iraq's health-care system and frustrated by rules preventing military doctors from treating Iraqis, Heavey and a colleague, Capt. John Knight, 36, began arranging for sick Iraqi children to receive free medical treatment abroad. During their year-long deployment, which ended last month, they created a nonprofit organization that has sent 12 children overseas for medical care, funded by $17,000 that Heavey and Knight have contributed from their own pockets and raised from family and friends.
Heavey, who is so polite and soft-spoken that he seems out of place among gruff infantrymen, and Knight, 36, a physician assistant, worked at a small aid station inside the high walls of Forward Operating Base Justice, a U.S. military base in the Kadhimiyah section of northern Baghdad.
For the rest of the story, click here.
FYI, Camp Justice is in the same area of Baghdad in which SGT Mark patrolled.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving is over
SGT Mark is slogging his way back to Ft. Bragg on one of the busiest days for highway travel of the year. A cold front is hugging the coast so he should have lousy weather all the way to Fayetteville.
No family pictures this year. Dad, in his old age, left his camera at the house when we visited Mike and Tara for Thanksgiving.
Spent a good chunk of the weekend following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai when I was advised by my soldier that if I watch, they win. So I quit and indulged in Rivalry Saturday (Virginia lost, Florida won).
No family pictures this year. Dad, in his old age, left his camera at the house when we visited Mike and Tara for Thanksgiving.
Spent a good chunk of the weekend following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai when I was advised by my soldier that if I watch, they win. So I quit and indulged in Rivalry Saturday (Virginia lost, Florida won).
Friday, November 28, 2008
$$$$$
You will notice a new gadget at the top of the page today. It's link to our other blog La Florida. It's also a shameless ploy to drive traffic to that site, on which Google places ads. So far, we've earned enough money to buy a Starbucks coffee :) (I don't drink coffee anyway)
News from Afghanistan
NBC aired a piece on "the other war" last night. You can watch it here. The commercials takes 29 seconds.
Off topic: Britain's Got Talent - Kate Nicholas and Gin The Dog
We are a border collie family. Enjoy.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Christmas a month early
Fayetteville Observer photo by Raul R. Rubiera
Capt. Matthew Canada, who will deploy to Iraq next week, celebrated Christmas early with his wife, Kristi, and three daughters. From left are Elise, Emily and Eden.
From the Fayetteville Observer:
Holiday, any day: A military family adapts
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
Kristi and Matt Canada tried to stick with family holiday traditions this year even as he was set to deploy to Iraq before Christmas.
On a Saturday three weeks ago, Kristi Canada closed all the blinds in her home to shut out the rest of the world.
Her husband, Capt. Matthew Canada — a self-described “little boy at Christmas” — cranked up the holiday music and got to work with his three young daughters: Emily, Elise and Eden.
Inside the four walls of their beige and brick home, Santa Claus himself would have had to check his calendar.
Boughs of holly raced up the staircase handrail. Wreathes hung above the sofa.
And Daddy was home for Christmas.
The war in Iraq has been pushed off Page 1 for many families in America, behind Barack Obama’s election and concerns about the faltering economy. But here in Fayetteville, for Fort Bragg families, it’s still a part of their daily lives.
You can read the rest of the story here.
Thanksgiving, part 3
Recreation of Ft. Caroline, the first French settlement along the St. Johns River.
From The New York Times
Op-Ed Contributor
A French Connection
By KENNETH C. DAVIS
Published: November 25, 2008
TO commemorate the arrival of the first pilgrims to America’s shores, a June date would be far more appropriate, accompanied perhaps by coq au vin and a nice Bordeaux. After all, the first European arrivals seeking religious freedom in the “New World” were French. And they beat their English counterparts by 50 years. That French settlers bested the Mayflower Pilgrims may surprise Americans raised on our foundational myth, but the record is clear.
Long before the Pilgrims sailed in 1620, another group of dissident Christians sought a haven in which to worship freely. These French Calvinists, or Huguenots, hoped to escape the sectarian fighting between Catholics and Protestants that had bloodied France since 1560.
Landing in balmy Florida in June of 1564, at what a French explorer had earlier named the River of May (now the St. Johns River near Jacksonville), the French émigrés promptly held a service of “thanksgiving.” Carrying the seeds of a new colony, they also brought cannons to fortify the small, wooden enclosure they named Fort Caroline, in honor of their king, Charles IX.
In short order, these French pilgrims built houses, a mill and bakery, and apparently even managed to press some grapes into a few casks of wine. At first, relationships with the local Timucuans were friendly, and some of the French settlers took native wives and soon acquired the habit of smoking a certain local “herb.” Food, wine, women — and tobacco by the sea, no less. A veritable Gallic paradise.
You can read the rest of the story here.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thanksgiving part 1
From the Fayetteville Observer:
Feeding a small army
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
The ovens in the 3rd Brigade mess hall stayed on from Monday night to Tuesday morning, cooking enough food to feed a small Army.
From 6 p.m. until 7 a.m., 22 cooks prepared 823 pounds of turkey, 526 pounds of ham and 319 pounds of pot roast, not to mention the boatloads of gravy, stuffing and all sorts of Thanksgiving fixings. And that was just for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s mess hall, one of several on Fort Bragg that will feed more than 13 tons of holiday feast food to soldiers this week.
Cornucopias in the center of the room — facing a fridge full of pumpkin pies — overflowed with grapes, bananas, walnuts and M&Ms.
In about five hours, officers in their dress blues shoveled mashed potatoes, meats and more onto the plates of about 3,000 soldiers.
Soon after mealtime began at 11 a.m., a line snaked outside and around the corner of the mess hall, a building that may see a lot less traffic come next week. That’s when the 3rd Brigade Combat Team — about 3,500 men and women who make up part of the 82nd Airborne Division — will deploy to Iraq.
Three such soldiers — all in the Brigade Support Battalion, Alpha Company — sat around a table Tuesday afternoon, the food on their plates tipping over onto their green trays.
They said the food was juicier than the usual fare, with more down-home flavor. And seeing the bosses doing the serving was an added treat.
Pfc. William Benis said sharing a Thanksgiving meal with Pvt. Lorne Russell and Pfc. Angela Santos seemed fitting.
“We’ve been in the same place, going through the same stuff for a year and a half,” Benis said. “This is family after a while.”
Feeding a small army
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
The ovens in the 3rd Brigade mess hall stayed on from Monday night to Tuesday morning, cooking enough food to feed a small Army.
From 6 p.m. until 7 a.m., 22 cooks prepared 823 pounds of turkey, 526 pounds of ham and 319 pounds of pot roast, not to mention the boatloads of gravy, stuffing and all sorts of Thanksgiving fixings. And that was just for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s mess hall, one of several on Fort Bragg that will feed more than 13 tons of holiday feast food to soldiers this week.
Cornucopias in the center of the room — facing a fridge full of pumpkin pies — overflowed with grapes, bananas, walnuts and M&Ms.
In about five hours, officers in their dress blues shoveled mashed potatoes, meats and more onto the plates of about 3,000 soldiers.
Soon after mealtime began at 11 a.m., a line snaked outside and around the corner of the mess hall, a building that may see a lot less traffic come next week. That’s when the 3rd Brigade Combat Team — about 3,500 men and women who make up part of the 82nd Airborne Division — will deploy to Iraq.
Three such soldiers — all in the Brigade Support Battalion, Alpha Company — sat around a table Tuesday afternoon, the food on their plates tipping over onto their green trays.
They said the food was juicier than the usual fare, with more down-home flavor. And seeing the bosses doing the serving was an added treat.
Pfc. William Benis said sharing a Thanksgiving meal with Pvt. Lorne Russell and Pfc. Angela Santos seemed fitting.
“We’ve been in the same place, going through the same stuff for a year and a half,” Benis said. “This is family after a while.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)