Soldiers from the 769th Engineer Battalion of the Louisiana National Guard give thanks before eating Thanksgiving dinner at Bagram Air Base. The Guardsmen joined U.S. and coalition service member Thursday for Thanksgiving -- Afghan style. More than 8,000 pounds of turkey and 14,000 pounds of beef were served. Service members also had nonalcoholic beer and wine to go with their meals. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Reeba Critser
Troops in Afghanistan Get Traditional Turkey Dinner
By U.S. Army Spc. Alfredo Jimenez Jr.
28th Public Affairs Detachment
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Thousands of U.S. and coalition service members fighting the war on terrorism were treated to a warm Thanksgiving meal Thursday afternoon at Bagram Air Base dining facilities.
The holiday season officially got underway when food service specialists, employed by Brown and Root, gathered to serve the most anticipated meal of the year in Afghanistan.
“This is something I’ve been looking forward to since I arrived with Brown and Root in support of the military,” said Ronald Waters, a food service manager from Killeen, Texas. “I know how important this meal is considering I served 21 years in the food service in the military.”
“I’ve been looking forward to this because we have the opportunity to showcase beyond our normal preparation,” said Jerry Gross, a food service supervisor also from Killeen.
Their hard work showed when the dining facility transformed into a homey atmosphere, with plastic glasses, fancy napkins on the tables and festive paper streamers on the wall.
Approximately, 2,000 soldiers were treated to the a menu that included glazed ham, turkey, roast beef, corn-bread stuffing, corn, gravy, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, cheese cake, chocolate cake, blueberry pie. and hot fresh rolls.
“I’m sure they were pleased with this meal,” said Derryel Clarke, a food service worker from Orlando, Fla. “They have something special on this day being away from home.”
Clarke, a retired military veteran, should know.
He was deployed in 1998 in Kuwait as part of a guard force when the holiday arrived. He said he was impressed how the food was presented.
“It’s an honor to be on the other side of the table,” Clarke said. “This is a way I can thank all the service members here for protecting our freedom. They are doing good work because America believes in them.”
ALL THE TRIMMINGS — A U.S. Marine selects fruits from the holiday spread laid out for Thanksgiving Dinner at the North Dining Facility at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, during Thanksgiving. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Alfredo Jimenez Jr.
Coalition Reps in Tampa Show Thanks to Community
By Marine Sgt. Barry Melton
U.S. Central Command Public Affairs
TAMPA, Fla. — Representatives from the 43 coalition countries represented at the headquarters for U.S. Central Command here, along with U.S. forces, donated money and food to Tampa’s Metropolitan Ministries the day before Thanksgiving.
"As we help people in Afghanistan, we realize that there are also people in need here in Tampa," said Belgian Air Force Maj. Jose Gantois, a representative to Operation Enduring Freedom who is currently stationed at MacDill Air Force Base and a member of the Humanitarian Assistance Working Group. "We want to express our gratitude to the local community here in Tampa for their hospitality by helping their needy."
Their contribution totaled more than $1,100 and over 500 pounds of food.
Several of the coalition members traveled downtown, decked in their respective countries' military uniforms, and delivered the donation to the ministries’ holiday donation tent. They shook hands with local volunteers, shared conversation with Metropolitan Ministries President Morris Himtzman and Executive Vice-President Karleen Kos, and toured the facility.
The initiative comes from Kuwaiti Army Col. Sahed Alshelaimi, the HAWG leader at MacDill. In the recent weeks the HAWG has gathered food and money to give to the less fortunate. The HAWG is the coordinating body of all military humanitarian assistance work done in Afghanistan. The group consists of representatives from all coalition countries, and they coordinate and direct a variety of efforts in Afghanistan; hospital renovation, road and bridge rebuilding, and food and clothing, to name a few. Now people here can benefit from their efforts.
“It’s a wonderful gift to the people of Tampa Bay,” said Kos. “It’s also a wonderful opportunity for peace and it shows what this world is all about.
(These donations) give lots of people hope.“It’s overwhelming to think that these representatives, who have people back in their own countries with needs, also care about the people here in Tampa,” said Lesa Weikel, a Metropolitan Ministries spokesperson. “(Gantois) said that the people of Tampa have been good to them and they simply wanted to give back.
22nd Area Support Group (ASG) personnel hand over two of the many turkeys ordered for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner to the 22nd ASG Troop Issue Subsistence Officer. The dinner is held for Soldiers and others on post who will not have the opportunity to be back in the states with their families this year.
U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michael Walkmeyer.
With the motto "Support to win!" the 22d Area Support Group focuses on meeting the base operations needs of soldiers, family members and civilians of the Southern European Task Force (Airborne) -- everything from providing deployment, direct combat and combat service support to taking care of housing and child care. Formed Oct. 16, 1985, the 22D ASG is headquartered on Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy. The ASG consists of two military communities in Vicenza and Livorno and also provides support for U.S. personnel stationed at the NATO headquarters in Verona, Italy. With approximately 10,000 soldiers, family members and civilian employees, the 22D ASG covers an area in northern Italy about the size of Massachusetts. Vicenza (pop. approx. 108,000) lies at the foot of the Dolomites and is a 45-minute drive west of Venice.
Our Mission:
* Command and Control assigned and attached units
* Provide base operations to military communities and transiting units
* Provide aviation, military police and aerial delivery support
* Support contingency operations and missions assigned by Commanding General, U.S. Army Europe
Maj. Michael Means (left) and Capt. Steve Rodriguez stand in front of a two-seat U-2 Dragon Lady. The duo earned the 12th Air Force Aircrew of Distinction Award for their response to an emergency never before encountered in the aircraft. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Cheryl Dixon)
Electrical failure challenges U-2 pilots' skills
by Tech. Sgt. James Brabenec
9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs
11/29/02 - BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- Flying above 70,000 feet in a two-seat U-2 Dragon Lady, the crew had less than 10 minutes to respond to an impending electrical systems failure, an emergency never before encountered in the aircraft.
So began the ordeal of Maj. Mike Means and Capt. Steve Rodriguez in September 2001. Ultimately, the flight would test their mettle as pilots and earn them the 12th Air Force Aircrew of Distinction Award for fiscal 2002.
Responding to emergencies is nothing new to U-2 pilots, who regularly prepare for the unexpected.
"We brief emergency procedures before every flight. The emergencies that we brief prior to each flight are situations that have occurred in the past," said Means, a U-2 instructor pilot with the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron. "Generally, there are standardized procedures to handle each one of these situations." This time, however, no checklist existed to guide the crew to safety.
About four hours into their high-altitude training mission, Means and Rodriguez, an upgrade pilot, encountered an electrical malfunction that caused systems to fail one by one. Digital airspeed and altitude read-outs disappeared, followed by the loss of fuel quantity and gear position indicators, radios and navigation equipment. Even emergency backup systems were not immune.
Sensing an imminent electrical failure, the crew shut down all electrical equipment in an attempt to preserve emergency battery power. While the intercom still functioned, they quickly briefed air traffic controllers, and then turned off the battery.
With only a magnetic compass, Means successfully navigated back to Beale. The failed electrical system began to take its toll on the pilots as the lack of speed brakes and lift spoilers to increase drag demanded a 90-minute descent. Means had to fly the aircraft without the benefit of trim.
"The trim is used to lighten the stick forces that are placed on the flight controls (and) ... basically ease the pilot's workload," Means said. "When our problem occurred, we had a nose down trim situation which meant that we had a very heavy stick and the slower we got, the heavier the stick forces became."
The inability to dump fuel and reduce weight, and lower flaps to decrease speed, also compounded their difficulties.
"These factors caused us to fly a faster-than-normal landing and face a landing rollout that would exceed the length of Beale's runway," Means said.
Lining up on the runway's approach, the crew faced little or no margin of error.
As Means gathered his strength for the landing, Rodriguez, on only his second high-altitude sortie and unable to communicate with his instructor, ran all normal checklists to prepare for the emergency landing. This included manually lowering the landing gear, which relies on gravity and air pressure, to bring the wheels down. Again, the failed electrical system prevented the normal cockpit indications to confirm that the wheels were locked in position.
As the aircraft neared the runway, Rodriguez turned the battery back on. It was dead. Consequently, the aircrew had no intercom for the approach and landing, and no way to communicate with a chase car.
Means settled the aircraft onto the 12,000-foot runway and turned the engine off to help slow the aircraft and minimize the rollout distance. Finally, he dragged a wingtip on the runway to stop the aircraft.
Under normal circumstances, the U-2 is a challenging aircraft to fly and land. Through the pilot selection process, the 9th Reconnaissance Wing picks only the best pilots to fly the Dragon Lady. Pilots say landing the U-2 is like landing a truck on a tightrope. Means said this flight exponentially magnified that difficulty.
"When you find yourself in a situation that's not in the book, you have to rely on training, past experiences and your survival instincts," he said. "You do what it takes to make it happen or what I tell some of my students, 'just be a pilot.'"
In a brotherhood that gathers to swap "war stories," the term used to describe challenging sorties, U-2 pilots have another incident from which to learn.