Operation Thanksgiving at Fort Sill underway
By: David Gonzalez
Updated: November 21, 2012
There are many Texomans who will have the opportunity to sit around the dinner table with their loved ones on Thanksgiving but there are thousands of soliders stationed in our backyards that won't have the chance to do that for.
Officials at Fort Sill in Oklahoma are doing everything they can to make this year's Thanksgiving special for our soldiers.
Fort Sill expects to feed about 6,000 people on Thanksgiving at four different dining halls.
We got a behind-the-scenes look at one of them to see what it takes to pull off Operation Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving at Fort Sill's Garcia Dining Hall will feed about 1,000 soldiers, retirees and civilians.
Garcia Dining Hall Manager Billy Belvin says there are about 50 army personnel working to meet the task.
Belvin says it is going to be a long night of preparing the large Thanksgiving meal.
"For most of us seniors, it will be a 24 hour operation," Belvin says. "The sleep is very lacked but it is something we all enjoy at the end of the day, coming in and seeing smiles on the soliders faces. It's all worth it after that."
Adam Hermann. food services operation specialist, says it is crunch time.
Hermann says he and his crew are pulling out all the stops for the meal, creating works of art.
Hermann says Thanksgiving should feel extra special for those who fighting for our freedom.
"We want them to walk away with a feeling that they just had dinner at home," Hermann says. "We want to kind of alleviate that home sick feeling and try make them feel a little bit more comfortable about being away."
Even though preparing such a huge meal is not easy, Fort Sill officials say it's the least they can do for the brave men and women who do so much for this country.
"It's again our way of showing our appreciation to them by going all out," Hermann says.
Belvin says, "It's for the soldiers that their families are not here and they have a place to go and enjoy it with their family now, the Army and they don't get to be with their immediate family. That's the joy i get out of it."
Garcia Dining Hall is the only dining facility on Fort Sill open to civilians.
You're invited to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with some of america's finest and the meal will only cost $7.50.
