BARAKI-BARAK, Afghanistan (AP) — Between patrols on the snowy peaks in Afghanistan, U.S. Army troops are getting a taste of home this Thanksgiving Day.
The 10th Mountain Division troops started their work day with a 6-mile cold-weather slog aimed at helping equip some village schools that lacked windows and desks.
And they're ending it with a feast of ham basted in brown sugar and honey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and other traditional treats. That's in addition to five turkeys bought from a local farmer weeks ago.
A special version of the feast is also being helicoptered in to a handful of soldiers posted on a nearly 7,000-foot high observation perch.
It's a bleak landscape with barren field and compounds, but the camaraderie is strong. A staff sergeant from Connecticut nods to his fellow troops when he says, "We're with our family, just like we would be at Thanksgiving back home."
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<<APPHOTO KAB115 (11/26/09)>>
: U.S. soldier Mike Greenberger, left, organizes Afghan children into a line as he prepares to distribute clothing on Thanksgiving Day outside the U.S. base of Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. Greenberger distributed some clothes, which were sent to him by his family from the United States to be given to local children.
<<APPHOTO AFDL123 (11/26/09)>>
: Troops belonging to the Able Troop 3-71 Cavalry Squadron stand in line at the mess hall to get their Thanksgiving dinner at the Joint Combat Operations Post in the town of Baraki-Barak district, Logar province, Afghanistan Thursday Nov. 26, 2009.
<<APPHOTO AFDL120 (11/26/09)>>
: Staff Sgt. Charles Hough, from Dexter, N.Y. and assigned to the Able Troop 3-71 Cavalry Squadron, checks to see if the oil in his pot is hot enough for deep-frying turkeys as he helps cooks prepare a Thanksgiving dinner at the Joint Combat Operations Post in the town of Baraki-Barak district, Logar province, Afghanistan Thursday Nov. 26, 2009.
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