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Thanksgiving meal gives deployed members a taste of home

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kia Atkins
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar --  Thanksgiving is a time of year where most Americans sit down for a nice meal with family and friends to give thanks.

Deployed servicemembers may not be able to spend Thanksgiving with their families, but the 379th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron does their part each year to make them feel more at home by supplying them with a Thanksgiving feast.

“They’re away from home and they’re not with their families, so it’s important that we provide them with a good meal,” said Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Carreiro, 379th EFSS Independence Dining Facility assistant manager. “I think it’s important to provide everyone with a sense of belonging and a taste of home here, and we hope to do that with this meal.”

The meal doesn’t just magically appear at the dining facility though, it takes months of preparation.

“All the food that we order specially for Thanksgiving is airlifted here from back home and that has to be done months in advance, and preparing the food is done about a week in advance,” said Staff Sgt. Ronnie Drake, 379th EFSS day-shift supervisor.

More than a couple thousand pounds worth of food was ordered for deployed servicemembers to enjoy which included more than 400 turkeys.

“We want to make sure everyone has a taste of Thanksgiving,” Drake said. “Which is why over here at the Independence Dining Facility, we are serving it from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m., so that everyone has a chance to enjoy all of this food that we have prepared.”

Throughout the day, senior leadership did their part by volunteering throughout the day to serve meals to servicemembers at the three base dining facilities.

“Events like this are why I love being in my career field,” Carreiro said. “It gives me the opportunity to give back to the Airmen, soldiers, sailors and marines that are out there doing an amazing job and are very deserving of a great Thanksgiving meal like this.”

The efforts of the 379th EFSS did not go unnoticed, as many deployed servicemembers were very grateful for the meal that they had prepared.

“The decorations and the atmosphere were amazing,” said Senior Airman Micheal Asbridge, 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron. “I enjoyed getting to experience a great Thanksgiving meal with my military family.”