Yule spirit finds those at war

Herald news services

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – “I got Play-Doh,” said Lance Cpl. David Howard.

“I got a football.

“I got candy.

“Clean socks.”

And it wasn’t even Christmas yet.

“You’re the only one who gets mail on a regular basis,” grumped Michael Barrie, a fellow Marine and tentmate at the U.S. military base at Kandahar’s airport.

“That,” Howard said, “is because nobody loves you.”

Every critical aside, every fatalist observation comes out sounding chipper, and on the 24th day of December this qualifies as the khaki equivalent of Christmas cheer.

U.S. troops deployed in the Central Asia theater on Christmas Eve made the best of a holiday spent so far from their loved ones.

But even as a midnight Mass filled the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis on Monday with hymns praising God and prayers calling for peace for all mankind, the deadly business of war was never far away.

A space had been cleared for the ecumenical service attended by hundreds of sailors and Marines, but workers continued readying F-14 Tomcats, F-18 Hornets and other warplanes and their ordnance for another night of searching out Taliban and al-Qaida targets in Afghanistan.

“This is our gift to America, so that people there do not have to live in fear of terrorism,” said Cmdr. Luis Garcia, 50, a Seventh-day Adventist minister who was a pastor in the Los Angeles area before joining the Navy as a chaplain.

“We’re here protecting our families and our country,” said ordnance technician Kirk Seirer, 42, of Dallas, who was arming a 500-pound laser-guided bomb while the Mass was under way. “It’s tough to be away for Christmas, especially for the young sailors, but we’ve got a job to do and everybody knows that.”

There are Christmas cards taped to air squadron ready-rooms, decorated trees in mess halls and Santa Claus hats on the heads of various personnel. Christmas movie favorites such as “Home Alone” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” are being shown on shipboard television.

A special Christmas dinner awaits the crew: New England clam chowder, tomato rice soup, baked ham, roast beef au jus, fresh-baked corn bread and more. Three hundred and fifty turkeys were being roasted Monday in enlisted and officers’ galleys throughout the ship.

At the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Kabul, the Christmas tree was hacked from the grounds outside the shattered front door. The angel on top was made from a roll of toilet paper. The eggnog was a mix of mashed banana, powdered milk, water and a dash of spice.

Outside, some Marines paced in the shadows with rifles at the ready and grenades in their vests. Inside, the rest bowed their heads and waited as the senior enlisted man said grace.

“May this food give us the strength, the courage, the wisdom to carry out the missions ahead of us, because this is only the first step in many more ahead as Marines,” said First Sgt. James L. Dalgarn. “In Jesus’ name, we pray.”

“There is a good thing about being here tonight” said Lance Cpl. Michael Rush, 20, of Somerset, Pa. “I can reflect about the true meaning of Christmas and not have it drowned out by Santa Claus and all those other things. It reminds you that Christmas is about the birth of Christ.”

They were 7,000 miles from home, and not a single man complained. Rush nodded to the other Marines, now between their shifts on sentry duty, lounging on the floor with their rifles all around. “Most of these guys in this room right here, I consider them my brothers,” he said. “If I was home with my family, I’d miss these guys.”

At the Camp Rhino outpost, Navy chaplain Lt. James West is tailoring his Christmas message to his audience. To a group of sergeants, he explained that when Christ reappears on Earth, “The deaf shall hear, the blind shall see, and corporals will do what they’re told.”

The sergeants nodded in approval.

This was the first Christmas that a soldier named Dan, stationed at the northern base at Mazar-e-Sharif, spent away from his wife of three years.

“I was kind of bummed,” said Dan, who works as a liaison with local forces in this Muslim country.

But an incident Monday afternoon made him change his mind, and gave him the best Christmas gift possible, he said.

Dan had spent the week trying to explain to an Afghan soldier the meaning of Christmas.

About two hours before the service, the soldier pulled him aside and said that in the spirit of the holiday he wanted to give him a message: “Thank you for your gift. The gift you’ve brought us. The gift of peace.”

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