Senior military leaders serve Thanksgiving meal to service members at Fort Meade
FORT MEADE - Thanksgiving is all about spending time with your family and loved ones, but there are many people in the military who will be spending the holiday hundreds of miles from their homes.
That's why on Thursday, leaders at Fort Meade hosted a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the service members who are stationed there.
"It's the first time I've been on my own since I left home," said 19-year-old Private Kaleb Lampkin from Texas. "It's a little bit difficult, but me and my family have been counting down the days until I can go home for the holidays to see them again."
Private First Class Lampkin - like many of the other service members stationed at Fort Meade - is far from home and hasn't spent time with his family in months. Naturally, Thanksgiving can make them a little homesick.
"Waking up this morning, I didn't know how I was going to feel, and honestly, I miss my family," said 20-year-old Private Max Penn from Florida. "I'm on the phone calling them, seeing how they're doing."
To make the base feel a little more like home, senior leaders from Fort Meade served a Thanksgiving meal to those spending the holiday away from their families.
"This is a tradition for commanders of all installations and this is our time to give back to those who have given to us every year," said Yolanda Gore, Garrison Commander at Fort Meade.
Even the director of the National Security Agency (NSA) was in the kitchen serving mashed potatoes.
"It's about serving," Garrison Commander Gore said. "That's what the military is about, so this is what we come in every year to show them - that we're here to serve as well."
"It feels like Thanksgiving," said Private Penn. "Which is a hard thing to feel when you're not with your family."
Garrison Commander Gore said they wanted to create a home away from home and say thank you to those who serve our country.
"It was all about giving back today, that's all this was - giving back," she said.
