Overseas warriors get a taste of home on Thanksgiving



[ad_1]

The Pentagon will continue its decades-old tradition of making sure troops deployed overseas, including war zones, taste home with all the trimmings this Thanksgiving.

In a press release released earlier this week, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) which manages the Pentagon’s global supply chain as the national combat logistics support agency revealed:

This year, service members around the world received an estimate:
• 9,000 whole turkeys
• 51,000 pounds of roast turkeys
• 74,000 pounds of beef
• 21,000 pounds of ham
• 67,000 pounds of shrimp
• 16,000 pounds of sweet potatoes
• 19,000 pounds of pies and cakes
• 7,000 gallons of eggnog
• And many other holiday treats

Army Col. Eric McCoy, director of DLA troop livelihoods, said in a statement:

The food is touching, and this year more than ever, it’s so important that DLA troop support gets turkeys, hams, and all trimmings to our troops wherever they are stationed. Our supply chain takes vacations very seriously. Our troops are far from home, and they look forward to this meal. Disappointing them is not an option.

While the coronavirus pandemic changed the way service members consumed their meals, it hasn’t stopped Thanksgiving, one of America’s greatest traditions.

DLA noted:

This year, Thanksgiving will be different for our men and women of service around the world. While meals may be substituted with take-out food instead of large group gatherings in restaurants, the Defense Logistics Agency’s troop support supply chain is ensuring that fighters from the whole world can have a home cooked meal with all the trimmings. these holidays.

DLA Troop Support Commander, Brig. General Gavin Lawrence has acknowledged that the Chinese virus will make the holidays different for troops at home and for their families at home. In the United States, nationally and locally, government leaders have placed restrictions on who can come and eat at their homes, saying such rules are needed to prevent the spread of the disease.

Still, DLA members have worked with local and global vendors to ensure military catering professionals have all the essentials to prepare a festive meal for troops away from home while on vacation. .

General DLA Lawrence said:

The holidays will be very different this year for everyone. I am proud that our workforce is doing everything possible to ensure that our fighters have a great holiday meal, especially since many of us will not be able to be with our family and friends. We want to make sure they taste like home no matter where they are in the world.

For more than 50 years, DLA Troop Support has provided traditional Thanksgiving food to country kitchens, restaurants and galleys in the United States as well as the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Korea, Japan, in Qatar, Honduras and other places around the world where our service members are deployed.

It takes months to plan and prepare the troop’s holiday meal, which began this year in March, coinciding with the coronavirus and making it all the more difficult to make it a reality.

“Many meal ingredients are available from major suppliers by September, and overseas sites start receiving high volume items, like turkeys and over 131 tonnes of trimmings, in October,” added the DLA.

[ad_2]

Source link