Baraki-barak

BARAKI-BARAK, Afghanistan - As daylight faded and the winter cold set in, soldiers huddled inside a crude wooden hut to tuck into Thanksgiving turkeys the unit itself had fattened and to give thanks for having survived a year of combat in Afghanistan.

BARAKI-BARAK, Afghanistan - Thanksgiving Day for soldiers in this valley ringed by towering snowy peaks began with a 6-mile (10-kilometer) slog to aid village schools without desks and windows, and ended with five, once scrawny local turkeys soldiers have been fattening up for the past month.