Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Troops feast, but work goes on

For most of the U.S. service members around the world, Thanksgiving meant a better meal, but no break from their duties.

QAIM, Iraq - Cpl. Brian Zwart set out his turkey, stuffing, corn and mashed potatoes on a makeshift picnic table - the hood of a Humvee - before going out to patrol the Syrian border Thursday to watch for foreign militants sneaking in to join Iraq's insurgency.

"Serving my country is important, but losing friends makes me more thankful for what I have and for what I used to take for granted," the 20-year-old Marine from Fruitport, Mich., said as American fighting men and women celebrated a third Thanksgiving in Iraq.

From his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President Bush said Thursday that he's thankful for troops serving in a time of war as he made Thanksgiving Day phone calls to 10 members of the U.S. military services stationed around the world.

"He thanked all of them on behalf of the American people for their service," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "He's very proud of them and thankful for them."

Talking to troops has been a tradition for Bush on Thanksgiving. He often makes such phone calls, but in 2003 he went further, surprising soldiers serving in Baghdad by showing up unannounced in their mess hall for the holiday meal.

U.S. troops around the world marked the holiday in a variety of ways, serving a traditional turkey meal to Serb schoolchildren in Kosovo, dining on food ladled out by senior officers in Afghanistan and staging a parade of makeshift floats in Kyrgyzstan.

For many of the 140,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in Iraq, Thanksgiving was another work day - albeit with special holiday meals. Troops in Baghdad and elsewhere turned out for 3-mile fun runs called "Turkey Trots" before resuming security patrols and other duties.

"We feel like we're protecting our friends, family and loved ones back home," said Lt. Col. Guy Glad, a military chaplain from Colorado Springs, Colo. "On the other hand, the holidays can be a somber, sad day for soldiers away from home. Many young soldiers are away from home for the first time."

"I could be sitting on the couch at home watching football with my dad. Instead I'm driving in Iraq," said Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Maxwell, 21, of Petaluma, Calif., who spent his first Thanksgiving away from home serving in Qaim on Iraq's border with Syria.

Hundreds of Marines along that frontier are living in new bases without hot food or showers.

In the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, a choir sang religious songs before soldiers dined at tables decorated with candles and flowers.

In Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, soldiers set up a "fallen comrade" table for those killed, laying plates and lighting candles on a black tablecloth in front of several empty seats to remember the soldiers killed during their tour.

At Forward Operating Base Speicher north of the capital, country singer Aaron Tippin performed for soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.

Senior officers served the holiday meal to the lower ranks at Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan. Soldiers, some with their weapons slung over their shoulders, lined up for turkey and the trimmings, pumpkin and custard pies and fresh fruit.