The title to this blog entry has no meaning until I connect it to a Thanksgiving Dinner I had with my wife and daughters in a unit mess hall long ago (no longer called that sadly, and they are no longer run by a "unit" having been contracted out today...and I am getting off the subject). Anyway, my quick Thanksgiving story.
With me wearing dress blues and my family attired in nice dresses, we went for the first time as a family, to have Thanksgiving Dinner "with the troops". It's a great tradition and one I hope never stops. After paying my respects to many unit soldiers and their families gathered that day, we entered the chow line with everyone else, looking forward to all the various offerings available.
Besides the usual roast turkey, there was also baked ham and roast beef, along with all sorts of cooked vegetables including the ever popular mashed and sweet potatoes, salads, turkey stuffing, and assorted deserts. The first items we were offered were the centerpiece turkey, baked ham and roast beef. My wife and kids were in front of me in line and they each asked the server for a portion of each. Never having eaten in an Army mess hall before, they assumed such would not be a problem, but they realized something was amiss when the serving soldier told them, "Only one meat Mam." They looked at me with eyes saying, "What's up with this?" and I just smiled and said, "Pick one meat, that's the way it's done." And, back then, that was the way it was done. The reason for this as I recall was that it was assumed most people wanted turkey as the main course, and as such the amount of ham and roast beef was limited, and thus the Mess Sergeant wanted everyone to pick "turkey" which most did...all except for my family...they each wanted a bit of everything...as was their custom at home.
After being served just one meat, they next were offered other food items as we slowly moved along the serving line, but I'm afraid they had been so intimidated by the initial episode, that they were afraid to say what they wanted. So, they just held out their trays to the serving mess personnel to see what might be provided. After we sat down to eat, I could tell this had been a traumatic experience for them, especially my wife, and I wondered if this would forever tarnish their feelings about us being in the military for a long time ahead. As it turned out it didn't effect how they felt about the Army that much, but it did grow into a family ritual each Thanksgiving Dinner we had afterwards at home...when they would never forget to remind me as I looked at the plates of tasty turkey and baked ham at our own dinner table, that the rule was, "Only one meat!"
May you all have a wonderful 2010 Thanksgiving, no matter where you are!
