Hi, Bill Crystal here from the bulwark, joined by my colleague, Mark Hurtling, retired Lieutenant General, many years of distinguished service in the military, speaking in the Army. We thought it would be interesting to people to talk about what happens on Thanksgiving when you're in the military, and I suppose, especially when you're deployed overseas, which you were for so much for your career. But I don't want to prejudge it. So you tell me what do we not know about what it's like to experience Thanksgiving in the military?

Oh, man, Bill, I tell you, I'm so glad we're talking about this because one of my new bulwark colleagues asked me about how do soldiers spend Thanksgiving when they're on duty.

And it's kind of fun because it's a great holiday.

And if you haven't experienced on an Army post in peacetime, it's terrific because what you

see are the cooks and the mess chiefs and the mess halls or the dining facilities, as they

are officially called, turn into a wonderland.

It is unbelievable the things that they do, the amount of food

they prepare. And I think most Americans would say, well, why are they doing it? Aren't they

having their Thanksgiving at home? Well, you know, there's a certain percentage of soldiers,

about 40 percent that are single, that are usually either not going home for the four-day weekend

or they hang around the post.

And what happens is the soldiers who are there,

single soldiers, certainly have a great meal

and it's turned into an unbelievable treat for them.

But for most of the military families,

they go into the mess hall for their Thanksgiving Day dinners too.

And I think when you see the food service specialist, as the cooks are officially called,

their nicknames are spoons.

You know, you just call a cook a spoon when you're in the military or mess daddy for the mess sergeant.

They turn this into their premier event of the year. And if you haven't been to a dining

facility in the Army or any of the other services, it is not something you would expect. They have

ice carvings. They have the turkeys and cakes and pies and things all over the place. And the

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