A Very Desert Christmas

A Very Desert Christmas


Everyone has a special Christmas, one that will remain
forever in his or her memory. Some will remember a special gift, or
maybe when all the family was able to get together. Others will
remember that first Christmas when their child begins to understand and
is no longer afraid of the Mall Santa Claus. My special Christmas
memory is a little different. You could say that it had to do with my
family, my expended family that is, and what I like to consider as a
Very Desert Christmas.


My military unit shipped out and arrived in Saudi Arabia for
Operation Desert Shield on October 3rd, 1990. After a week spent
waiting for all our equipment to arrive we moved forward to our desert
position. Most of us were not to see a town or village for over six
months. The battalion consisted of five companies; four were regular
Army and one National Guard comprising approximately 780 men. Since we
were a combat unit, no women were assigned.


After about a month some of our mail finally began to catch
up with us. A few soldiers began to receive mail pretty regularly,
while others hardly seemed to get any at all. To help the situation,
around the end of November we started to receive 'Any Soldier' mail
from folks back home. As Platoon Sergeant of the battalion headquarters
platoon, the mail was one of my responsibilities. Knowing the
importance of mail to morale, I tried to insure that the 'Any Soldier'
mail was distributed equally and encouraged those who received little
mail to read and answer several letters.


In December we started to receive a large quantity of 'Any
Soldier' packages. As Christmas got closer, we were receiving as many
as 50 to 75 packages each day. One of my soldiers came to me with what
I thought to be a magnificent idea. His idea was simple; hold the 'Any
Soldier' packages and not distribute them until Christmas Eve. This way
we could insure that all soldiers and especially those without families
would get something for Christmas. By Christmas Eve we had accumulated
several hundred packages, almost enough to fill a small tent.



About three days before Christmas, I had received a package
from my wife and daughter that contained a small three-foot Christmas
tree, fully decorated. I set it up in the common area of our tent so
that all could enjoy it.
Some soldiers in my platoon had received packages from home and started
putting them under the tree to wait for Christmas Eve. This way all
could enjoy the opening of gifts; even they hadn't received any of
their own.


Christmas Eve morning started like many others had, really
cold with the usual, almost daily, dust storm. From the looks of our
area of operation, one wouldn't know it was almost Christmas. Since we
were 'visitors' to this Moslem country it had been determined that we
should not have any decorations that might offend our 'hosts'. Putting
up any outside decorations, especially religious ones were
unauthorized. Of course that didn't stop us from decorating as best we
inside our living areas.


After the daily mail run, I sent word to all unit First
Sergeants' to come and pick up the mail and packages for their units.
To insure even distribution, I had five areas set up outside the mail
tent, one for each company. Each 'Any Soldier' package had a customs
tag indicating what was inside. To ensure that they were distributed
fairly, I had the mail handler's divide the packages into even piles
purely at random without reading the labels. By the time we had
dispersed them, there were many packages of all shapes and sizes in
each pile.


I don't know how the other companies distributed the
packages; however, ours was done this way. I sent for the Platoon
Sergeants and divided the packages from our Company's pile equally
among them. Each Platoon Sergeant could then decide how to have his own
Platoon's Christmas party. The soldiers of my platoon placed their
packages around our tiny Christmas tree.


After dinner we had our Christmas celebration. One of the
soldiers had received a tape of Christmas music from home. He put the
tape on and we soon had Christmas music floating throughout the tent.
Another soldier decided to dress up like Santa, well, Santa in
camouflage anyway. Somewhere he had gotten something to make a big
white beard. I don't know what was used to make that beard, and I
really didn't want to know. It looked good anyway.


We borrowed a big pan from the kitchen trailer and all the
soldiers brought out packets of MRE, Meals Ready to Eat, Cool Aid. We
had lemon, grape, cherry and orange; it really didn't matter. We simply
mixed it all together and made Christmas Punch. Then it was time for
Cammo Claus to do his thing.


First he gave out the packages that had been received from
home. Then he gave out 'Any Soldier' packages to all the soldiers that
had not received any from home. After everyone had at least one package
he divided out the remainder of the packages equally among all the
soldiers. Everyone waited till all had been distributed before opening
the packages.


With shouts and laughter, everyone began opening the
packages at the same time. Then came the comparisons of what each had
received and of course, as soldiers will, trading of presents.



The festivities continued for some time. Finally, after the
Christmas punch was consumed the festivities began to wind down. As the
coldness started creeping into the tent the soldiers drifted away to
their own areas, the warm sleeping bags and thoughts of home.



I decided to leave the tiny tree lighted all night. No one
seemed to mind.



by pj lawton