Back from the standdown

This was a busy weekend for us.  We have mixed feelings about the standdown.  We really walked into a mess when we got there. The canteen trailer was a total disaster.  When they set the thing up they forget one of the most important things - Clean the thing up and get it ready.  We knew about the electrical issue as I had to be there the day before to try and figure out what had happened.  But we had figured that someone would of at least cleaned the thing up a bit.  When we arrived we were greeted with a bunch of boxes with chips etc just pushed into the trailer.  No one had even attempted to organize it at all.  The grill was a sticky mess that looked like no-one had even bothered to clean it for months.  The cleaning brick was still in its wrapper and had never been used.  So for the first couple of hours Laurie and I busted our backsides trying to get the trailer cleaned up and setup.  As well as serve any of the guys who came up.  We did manage to get the thing cleaned up to the point it actually looked like a canteen!.  Laurie handled the window and I handled the grill.  We served hotcakes, which seemed to go over pretty well.  The biggest item was coffee. We had taken a small coffee pot with us because the others were burned up.  It was a good thing too.  Laurie would make a pot of coffee and then pour it into a serving caraffe and immediately get another pot going. This allowed us to keep up with those who wanted coffee without having to wait for another pot to brew.  The Vets were really surprised and pleased when they found out that there was no charge for anyhting!  When we offered them more than one sandwhich many of them were very surprised.  Our goal was to fill the hollow spot. God only knows how long it had been since some of them had anything to eat.  I am proud to have been a part of the standdown and hope that I will be able to do it again.