Thanksgiving Memory: 1985 – I was the newest guy in the platoon at my 1st duty station (2nd Platoon, Fox Troop, 2/2 ACR, Bamberg, Germany). I had gotten to the unit just days before Thanksgiving, I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t want to get into my dress uniform to eat dinner in the mess hall (required way back then). I was also broke as hell because a finance snafu had my pay hamstrung until after the holiday. Everyone else in the barracks had gone off to share Thanksgiving with the families of those Soldiers who lived off post so the whole building was pretty much empty. IT was looking like this was going to be a pretty craptastic 1st Thanksgiving in Germany for me. As it turns out, there was one other Soldier in the barracks – Cody W Hampton. I don’t know why he wasn’t out too, but he was bumming around the barracks too and he heard my radio going in my room. Sticking his head in the door, he asked me what I was doing and why I hadn’t gone to our Platoon Sergeant’s like the rest of the guys. I told him I didn’t really know anyone and I didn’t feel comfortable. Shaking his head, he asked if I wanted to go down town with him and we could get our own Thanksgiving dinner. I thanked him, told him I was broke and why, and he said, “Ah, screw that! Get dressed – I’m buying!” Well, that’s what we did. We took the bus into downtown Bamberg, he showed me around the town and some really interesting tourist places, we went to a very old German Gasthaus for a very nontraditional Thanksgiving dinner of Jagerschnitzel and pomme frits, hit the Green Goose for a few drinks, and then headed back to the barracks. We got back right around the time everyone else was getting back. I never did really pay Cody back for that Thanksgiving but I like to think I paid it forward. When I got married and had a place of my own, I would scour the barracks and DRAG any Soldier I found back home for a family dinner with all the trimmings. Thanks Cody, for the most memorable Thanksgiving I’ve ever had!
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 12:51:53 +0000