{"id":1786449,"date":"2022-12-25T06:30:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T11:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1786449"},"modified":"2022-12-25T10:49:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-25T15:49:04","slug":"what-it-is-like-to-spend-christmas-in-combat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-it-is-like-to-spend-christmas-in-combat\/","title":{"rendered":"What It Is Like to Spend Christmas in Combat"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhat-it-is-like-to-spend-christmas-in-combat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1786449&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Nobody likes spending Christmas away from home. Whether you\u2019re in firefights or burning shit in a pit, Christmas in a combat zone can often suck.<\/p>\n<p>But, not always.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We asked Task &#038; Purpose readers to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/taskandpurpose.com\/culture\/christmas-in-combat-stories\/\" rel=\"noopener\">share their stories of Christmas in combat<\/a> with us, and not all of them are depressing. Indeed, there\u2019s often a silver lining in even the toughest holiday conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Take, say, tales of ad hoc decorations aboard a Navy warship, shared with us by long-time reader Brent Leatherman with an invocation of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/images.spot.im\/image\/upload\/v200\/729cab085875e3097e21cf3cb4578fac\" rel=\"noopener\">pathetically adorable Christmas trees of \u2018Charlie Brown\u2019 fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery ship I was on had a few of these guys popping up, here and there,\u201d Leatherman <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/taskandpurpose.com\/culture\/christmas-in-combat-stories\/\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>. \u201cMy mom never understood why I really liked [Charlie Brown]-style trees, decorated with soda can pop tops and tiny Tabasco bottles. Sorry, ma, you had to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not every makeshift Christmas tree is a weak facsimile of more robust displays of holiday cheer back home. Look no further than this metal-as-fuck Christmas tree from Joey Bennett, who spent Christmas in Ramadi, Iraq in 2005.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" data-dimension=\"portrait\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1536\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Ramadi-xmas-tree.jpeg\" alt=\"Ramadi-xmas-tree christmas in combat\" class=\"wp-image-280340\"   style=\"display:none\"><figcaption>A makeshift Christmas tree at OP Hotel in Ramadi in December 2005. (Courtesy of Joey Bennett) <i>(Courtesy of Joey Bennett)<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSandbags for the base and concertina wire for the frame, with linked 7.62\u00d751 mm ammo draped over the concertina wire in a zigzag fashion adding to the tree\u2019s volume and shape,\u201d Bennett, a former Army sniper, told Task &#038; Purpose. \u201cM67 fragmentation grenades with the appropriate green and red tape (for safety, of course) adorned the tree like ornaments from Target, and 50 caliber armor piercing rounds were also hung with care but the piece de resistance was the 5-pointed star made of chem lights that really brought the entire creation into the holiday spirit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Christmas in combat isn\u2019t always a struggle to celebrate the holidays in austere conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a nice easy Christmas morning patrol around the corner from higher up took a 3-hour security halt,\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TaskandPurpose\/posts\/pfbid0ewDY2EXgxCcbUrBPozxqUCNus4WGSGoSV66Y1VmSvNHwFADNQNHDYgXQMGWEduvfl\" rel=\"noopener\">recalled<\/a> Thomas Brenner. \u201cThen came back around the other side of the compound and finished out the day playing Texas Holdem over a lite (sic) post rotation and steaks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then again, sometimes the most dangerous thing downrange is Christmas dinner itself, which Army veteran Mike Barin, unfortunately, discovered during the holidays 15 years ago following a patrol in Baqubah, Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe swung by the COP to grab some dinner plates, and wouldn\u2019t you know it: chicken fucking cordon bleu again,\u201d Barin recalled in an email to Task\u00a0 &#038; Purpose. \u201cThe disgusting meat puck filled with viscous white fluid; lightly breaded.<\/p>\n<p>Barin had just come off raiding a house with his platoon and hadn\u2019t eaten all day, so he \u201cbegrudgingly\u201d ate his Christmas Eve dinner and washed it down with a pomegranate Rip-It before heading back out on patrol, he said.<\/p>\n<p>After finally getting the call to return to base, things went south.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy head was throbbing, [my] skin was clammy, and I felt the uneven pressure of nausea washing over my body,\u201d Barin recalled. \u201cI slapped the guy in the air guard hatch and launched into it before he\u2019s even out of it \u2026 and I projectile vomited all over the sniper glass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A shower and nap later and Barin was still alternating between vomiting and dry heaving. Finally, he \u201cspewed a blood clot\u201d in front of a Navy Corpsman and was sent to the clinic, where doctors decided to medevac him to Camp Anaconda at Balad Air Base.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI come to find out, my body had a violent reaction to chicken cordon bleu, and caused me to rip the pyloric valve between my esophagus and stomach,\u201d Barin recalled. \u201cI spent Christmas Day in emergency surgery to stop my internal bleeding and then doped up on morphine for a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Barin came to on Christmas night, where he saw an unidentified general coming around handing out challenge coins and thanking the different people forced to spend the holidays in the medical ward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019re you here for, son?\u201d the general asked the bed next to Barin\u2019s<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIED, sir,\u201d the service members next to him responded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re recovering well?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then the general turned and looked at Barin: \u201cAnd what about you son?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure what, maybe morphine, caused me to answer him the way I did: \u201cFucking chicken cordon bleu, sir. Blew a gasket.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The general\u2019s aide glared at Barin while the general went slack-jawed for a moment. Then both walked away into the Christmas night.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" data-dimension=\"landscape\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1703\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/7567730-scaled-1.jpeg\" alt=\"What it\u2019s like to spend Christmas in combat, according to US military veterans\" class=\"wp-image-280352\" \/><figcaption>Santa Claus waves outside the window of a C-130 Hercules aircraft as he arrives at the Savannah Air National Guard Base, Savannah, Ga. on Dec. 8, 2022.(U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Caila Arahood)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite the mundanity of military service, other Christmases for U.S. troops abroad are moments for, well, a taste of the finer things in life \u2014 and, sometimes, moments when leadership truly comes through for rank-and-file service members.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Take the experience of retired Air Force Lt. Col. George Crawford, who recounted to Task &#038; Purpose his time spending Christmas overlooking Pristina, Kosovo with the \u200b\u200bU.S. National Intelligence Cell (USNIC) in 2000.<\/p>\n<p>That Christmas couldn\u2019t have come at a tenser time for the pre-9\/11 U.S. military. Serbia had pulled out of the former Yugoslav republic after Operation Allied Force compelled Slobodan Milosevic to agree to the province\u2019s political independence, and NATO\u2019s Kosovo Force had taken control to provide a secure environment for the country to carry out its first free and fair popular vote in recent memory.<br \/><em><br \/><\/em>Crawford\u2019s troops were \u201cinstrumental\u201d in keeping a volatile border region from breaking out into a brushfire war following months of unrest earlier that year, he recalled in an email to Task &#038; Purpose, his USNIC one of several NICs providing intelligence support to KFOR. The base was called Film City, a name selected due to rumors the site was a former pornographic movie studio before it became a sprawling NATO base.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As Christmas approached, the British forces who controlled the area promised a feast \u201cfit for a king\u201d in the dining hall, Crawford recalled. Compounding the anticipation of a raucous holiday meal was a wave of food poisoning that had swept through Crawford\u2019s unit in the weeks leading up to the holiday. Finally, at 11 am on Christmas Day, his NCOIC burst into my office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSir, do you know what they\u2019re serving us for Christmas dinner? SPAM!\u201d the NCOIC spat. \u201cI mean, we didn\u2019t expect much more than turkey loaf\u2026 but SPAM???\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The crisis was immediate to Crawford. In fairness to his British hosts, SPAM was something of a delicacy during World War II as the only meat dish many could obtain in the heavily-rationed British Isles. But on the other hand, Crawford had 30-odd young men and women under his command, many away from home for six months or more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey deserved a bit of civilization,\u201d Crawford recalled.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\" data-dimension=\"landscape\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1334\" height=\"864\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FB_IMG_1671578711462.jpeg\" alt=\"What it\u2019s like to spend Christmas in combat, according to US military veterans\" class=\"wp-image-280355\" \/><figcaption>George Crawford with the troops under his command, December 2000. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>No time to call up the chain of command, themselves at home with their families in Stuttgart, Germany and Mons, Belgium: Crawford made a snap decision and called his NCOs together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need two volunteers. One communications, and one security policeman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two stepped forward.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do. Pack up the vehicles with anyone who wants a real Christmas dinner. Check with everyone, even if they\u2019re asleep. I will take the watch. The three of us (me and the volunteers) will man the NIC. The rest of you, everyone who wants to, you will drive to Camp Bondsteel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fox context: When NATO moved into Kosovo, the United States had leveled a forested mountain outside Urosevac to create Camp Bondsteel, now the largest American installation in Kosovo with a massive exchange, three gargantuan chow halls, a Burger King, and even a Dairy Queen. To Crawford, Camp Bondsteel was \u201ca logistic marvel, where the facilities were frequented by every NATO ally and Russian troops as well \u2026 Seeing it, I understood that America\u2019s capability to move stuff anywhere, anytime is why we win wars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crawford\u2019s NCOs herded around 20 of his troops into vehicles, with his last order to the departing service members \u201cto go straight there and come straight back,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd, I asked, bring something back for anyone who didn\u2019t get to go, if it was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the next six hours, I sat in a quiet intelligence center, watching displays and monitoring message traffic, praying silently that I had done the right thing,\u201d Crawford recalled. \u201cBecause if things went south, I would be the only one to blame. My \u2018career dissipation indicator\u2019 was flashing yellow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When my troops came back later that evening, the expressions on their faces said it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American chow hall had served real turkey. Real ham. Real roast beef. All the trimmings. Pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies. An ice cream bar, replete with over a dozen flavors. They had been fed and fed well. And it had been the right thing to do,\u201d Crawford recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was the best Christmas I have ever had, at home or away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And with that, we here at Task &#038; Purpose wish you the most serene and trouble-free of holiday seasons \u2014 or not, if you\u2019re into that kinda thing. But stay away from chicken cordon bleu or SPAM if you can.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-latest-on-task-purpose\"><em>The latest on Task &#038; Purpose<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Want to write for Task &#038; Purpose?<\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/taskandpurpose.com\/news\/task-purpose-writing-pitching\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Click here<\/strong><\/a><strong>. Or check out the latest stories on<\/strong><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taskandpurpose.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>our homepage.<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nobody likes spending Christmas away from home. Whether you\u2019re in firefights or burning shit in a pit, Christmas in a combat zone can often suck. But, not always.\u00a0\u00a0 We asked Task &#038; Purpose readers to share their stories of Christmas in combat with us, and not all of them are depressing. Indeed, there\u2019s often a &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1786452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[9650,6962,5458,6922,3729,3819,6319,4620],"class_list":["post-1786449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-combat","tag-the","tag-bongino","tag-christmas","tag-like","tag-report","tag-spend","tag-what"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1786449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1786452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1786449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1786449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1786449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}