Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Cheer and Guard Duty

We had our hospital Christmas party last night and it was pretty cool. It was well attended (what else do we have to do?), and there was good food (pizza), holiday movies and even a trivia contest – officers vs. enlisted. The officers pulled an early lead thanks to my guess of 1895 as the year Christmas lights were first used as decoration, but we eventually fell to the enlisted who pummeled us with their insane knowledge of the movie A Christmas Story. I wonder if the fact that three of the four officers on our side were Jewish had anything to do with it… Afterwards, I broke out the guitar and played Christmas carols and requests. Nothing says Christmas like Billy Joel and Jimmy Buffett.

This morning was Christmas morning of course. On my normal walk to the chow hall, I always have to stop and show my ID card to the gate guard. It's usually the same team every morning, but today was different. Today it was the company commander who was all smiles as he shot me a salute and greeted me with a hearty, "Merry Christmas, sir!" His Christmas present to his soldiers was to give them the day off so they could sleep in and call their families. I also found out that their Command Sergeant Major was pulling shifts in the guard tower.

I may be Jewish, but I'm pretty sure this is what Christmas is all about.

5 comments:

BamBam said...

The sooner the world realizes that this is indeed the true spirit of Christmas, the better.

In all the best spirit of the holiday's from us here in Bedrock, Happy Holidays Doc!

Be safe !

CarmenSinCity said...

Merry Christmas!!!

Anonymous said...

Yo bro! It's true that one of the best things about being an officer or a senior enlisted person is what we get to give back to our troops when it counts. It's fun too! While they wouldn't let us pull guard duty here (mostly done by the ROK Army), I got to bring hot cocoa to all the guards in the freezing cold hours of christmas morning. Also, I volunteered to "pitch mail" at the post office and help make sure that all the troops got their mail from home during christmas. It was a blast!

Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa said...

Merry Christmas, Doc.

Perticelli's Plunder said...

Doc, Its an honor to be speaking to an individual like yourself, and all the other men and women who are doing the most important and selfless job that can be done. I not only applaud you, I humbly salute you Sir! Thank you from my family and myself, we respect and appreciate your service to our Country.

May your days be protected and guided by the Grace of God, as well as the Grace and Goodness of the most powerful and Justified group on the earth-our United States Military!

I look forward to reading your blogs on a regular basis and to follow your daily activities while in service. Im proud to be an American and proud to have found you here, through Bam Bam!

Thank you again and if i can be of ANY assistance, say the word.

Perticelli