Holiday feast totals $1.5 million

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There will be plenty of traditional holiday foods with all the trimmings available for America’s servicemembers, including those located throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East during the upcoming holiday season.

The food list includes 77,000 pounds of turkey; 50,000 pounds of beef; 91,000 pounds of hams; 87,000 pounds of seafood; 7,900 cans of cranberry sauce; 4,036 cans of sweet potatoes; 1,630 cans of egg nog; and more than 29,000 different kinds of pies. Total tab: $1.5 million.

“It is at times like this when troops are deployed that providing holiday food takes on a different spin,” said Rich Faso, chief of the subsistence directorate’s operational rations branch within the Defense Logistics Agency’s defense supply center here.

“We begin planning in June for Thanksgiving, and in July for Christmas,” said Maj. David Selnick, a readiness officer in the subsistence directorate. “While other people are planning their summer vacations and deciding what to put on the grill for July Fourth, we’re thinking turkey and mistletoe.”