Christmas in the Guard
Trent Reedy
Many Decembers ago, I proudly served in the 834th Engineer Company, based in a small armory in the middle of Davenport, Iowa. December was great because it was the one winter month when there was no chance our one-weekend-per-month Army National Guard drill would involve freezing in the woods on some training exercise. Instead, the weekend was devoted to annual mandatory briefings, dress uniform inspection, and our Christmas party. It was the most wonderful time of the training year.
Saturday began with a squad-level review of our Class A uniforms on their hangers. Each dress uniform was tailored to fit an incredibly lean Army basic training graduate who had spent months on a carefully administered scientific diet with constant exercise. Many great soldiers maintained or improved upon their conditions. I’m ashamed to admit I did not. November often involved a lot of anxiety for me. The uniform could only be let out so much.
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It was fascinating seeing some of the decorations on some of the uniforms. Some wore infantry cords or combat patches from deployments. In the pre-9/11 military, combat and deployment awards were unusual. Purple Heart ribbons were still less common. That would change in the years to come.
Most of Saturday was devoted to annual mandatory briefings. Unfortunately, the Army had recently discovered PowerPoint. The presentations were horrible. There was the operational security briefing — Don’t share classified or nonclassified sensitive information. The soldier’s insurance briefing — Hey, want some insurance coverage? The quid pro quo briefing — You are not allowed to tell a subordinate that promotion depends upon sexual favors. That last one seemed crazy. Was it really necessary? (Unfortunately, anyone who’s served knows that every once in a while, there’s an officer or senior enlisted who thought that briefing didn’t apply to him.) We would also hear about the code of conduct — Repeat this long pledge if you are captured so that you do not break under torture. Later, in Afghanistan, my fellow soldiers and I each kept one final round in our pockets to use to prevent being captured by the Taliban. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Code wasn’t going to be enough. Taliban torture wasn’t an option.
On Sunday, we’d all arrive in full dress uniform and stand at attention for morning formation. The first sergeant would call out, “Open ranks — march.” The squads would separate forward and back to allow room for uniform inspection. “Dress right — dress.” The men would straighten the lines. The CO or first sergeant would move through, checking each man’s uniform.
Once that formality was over, soldiers were allowed to leave to bring family to the annual Christmas party. Most soldiers brought their wives and children, but a few, strangely, brought parents, grandparents, and other extended family. Some, not content with the regular-size paper plates, came prepared with large trays to raid the turkey dinner. It was a solid meal at long tables on that gymnasium-size armory drill floor, and it was fun talking with the guys, even if the presence of women was unusual back in those men-only days.
Near the end of the meal, Santa Claus arrived for the children, and the raffle began — proceeds to the Family Readiness Group. In my last year of service, before deploying to Afghanistan near the end of my enlistment, I was asked to be the announcer. The only problem was they couldn’t find the microphone. I’d be announcing each prize — Gloves! Gift certificates! A VCR! — and calling the winning tickets across that vast echoing space just by shouting … for hours. There were some good prizes, and we had fun cheering or accusing one another of cheating.
Since I’d enlisted in December, each 834th Engineers Christmas party marked the end of another full year of service. I miss those times and those men. I’m grateful to have served with them. And as this is my last column of 2023, may I say, I’m grateful to you, faithful readers. I wish you all great holidays and a fantastic year to come.
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Trent Reedy, the author of several books, including Enduring Freedom, served as a combat engineer in the Iowa National Guard from 1999 to 2005, including a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
*Some names and call signs in this story may have been changed due to operational security or privacy concerns.