BARAKI-BARAK, Afghanistan (AP) Between patrols on the snowy peaks in Afghanistan, U.S. Army troops are getting a taste of home this Thanksgiving Day.

The 10th Mountain Division troops started their work day with a 6-mile cold-weather slog aimed at helping equip some village schools that lacked windows and desks.

And they're ending it with a feast of ham basted in brown sugar and honey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and other traditional treats. That's in addition to five turkeys bought from a local farmer weeks ago.

A special version of the feast is also being helicoptered in to a handful of soldiers posted on a nearly 7,000-foot high observation perch.

It's a bleak landscape with barren field and compounds, but the camaraderie is strong. A staff sergeant from Connecticut nods to his fellow troops when he says, "We're with our family, just like we would be at Thanksgiving back home."


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