U.S.
GalleryTroops celebrate Thanksgiving with football, cook-offs and feasts
Stars and Stripes
November 27, 2025
The dining facility at Fort Rucker, Ala., is decorated as Aviation Center of Excellence leaders help serve an early Thanksgiving meal to soldiers on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Kelly Morris/U.S. Army)
U.S. service members at home and around the world celebrated Thanksgiving this week with football, cooking or dining facility competitions and traditional feasts.
At Fort Benning, Ga., senior leaders and drill sergeants maintained the tradition of serving Thanksgiving meals to trainees. Over 13,000 meals were served this week, including 15,000 pounds of turkey and 13,000 pounds of ham.
Some installations held cooking and dining facility competitions, such as the Best Mess competition at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, or the Best Thanksgiving Warrior Restaurant Competition at Fort Hood, Texas.
At Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., and Hurlburt Field, Fla., meanwhile, volunteers gave food to service members and their families.
Fort Benning trainees in the 194th Armored Brigade, which oversees Armor One Station Unit Training, move through a dining facility line as a drill sergeant looks on during a Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, at the Georgia Army post. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Feltey taste tests food during the Best Thanksgiving Warrior Restaurant Competition at Fort Hood, Texas, on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. The annual competition sees participating dining facilities compete in a variety of categories. (Julian Winston/U.S. Army)
Culinary specialists from the 25th Infantry Division showcase their decorative cakes at the "Best Mess" Thanksgiving Competition at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, on Wednesday, November 26, 2025. (Johanna Pullum/U.S. Army)
Donation bags on a table during a Thanksgiving meal giveaway at Hurlburt Field, Fla., Nov. 25, 2025. The event was made possible by Operation Warm Heart, a nonprofit that provides financial relief and morale-boosting events for service members and their families. (Isabel Tanner/U.S. Air Force)
Lance Cpl. Lance Forrest, a food service specialist with the Marine Corps’ Combat Logistics Battalion 6, stages turkey in preparation for a Thanksgiving meal during Exercise Freezing Winds 2025 in Dragsvik, Finland, Nov. 20, 2025. (Brady Hathaway/U.S. Marine Corps)
Plenty of eating took place overseas.
U.S. personnel, coalition forces and independent contractors supporting Operation Inherent Resolve held a feast on Thanksgiving Day at Logistical Support Area Danger in Erbil, Iraq, and at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Elsewhere in the Middle East, service members ate turkey at Naval Support Activity Bahrain.
That is in addition to festivities that took place, as always, across Europe and Asia — some of which burned away the calories. Soldiers assigned to the Forward Land Forces Battlegroup Poland and soldiers at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, among others, took part in respective Turkey Bowls.
Soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division play a game of flag football as part of a Thanksgiving celebration on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, at U.S. Army Garrison Black Sea on Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, Romania. (Kemarvo Smith/U.S Army)
Service members assigned to Forward Land Forces Battle Group Poland, a NATO battle group, participate in the Turkey Bowl at Bemowo Piskie, Poland, on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. (Andre Gremillion/U.S. Army)
A soldier assigned to the 1st Signal Brigade passes to a teammate during the Turkey Bowl football game held annually at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. (Seu Chan/U.S. Army)
Independent contractors prepare to cut into a turkey in LSA Danger dining facility, at Erbil Air Base, Iraq, on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (Jordan Foster/U.S. Army)
Navy Vice Adm. Curt Renshaw, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet, serves Thanksgiving meals to base personnel and their families at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (Naomi Johnson/U.S. Navy)
High-ranking officials also celebrated with the troops. Vice President JD Vance visited Fort Campbell, Ky., on Wednesday, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made morale calls with deployed troops. At Pabradė Training Area in Lithuania, the U.S. ambassador to NATO and Lithuania’s defense minister served meals to troops.
Vice President JD Vance gives a speech to soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., on Wednesday, November 26, 2025. (Joshua Joyner/U.S. Army)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth makes Thanksgiving morale calls with deployed troops from the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. (Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Navy)
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania Kara McDonald and Lithuanian Defense Minister Robert Kaunas serve Thanksgiving meals to soldiers at a new dining facility at Pabradė Training Area in Lithuania on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (Brian Sutherland/U.S. Army)
Stars and Stripes reporter Corey Dickstein contributed to this report.