3,600 Plates of Veterans Weekend Deliciousness: Exchange, Partners Serve BBQ to Troops at The Tip of the Spear

The Exchange's Sheldon Richburg, left, and Philip Tinsley prepare the beans for the Veterans Day Weekend feast.

By Steve Smith

Warfighters enjoyed 3,600 free plates of deliciousness at Kuwait’s Camp Buehring during Veterans Day weekend, compliments of the Exchange, Traeger Grills and other partners.

The Exchange, agencies and vendors delivered that special taste of home—2,000 pounds of smoked barbecue and 1,600 pounds of side dishes—to Soldiers, Airmen and Department of Defense civilians Nov. 8-9.

"Our Kuwait team knows the hard work was worth it when they saw thousands of smiling faces getting the best barbecue around.”

Traeger and Exchange teams spent 80 hours straight smoking the meat and preparing beans and sides.

“This was an epic event that will be remembered for a very long time,” said Jason Rosenberg, senior vice president of the Europe/Southwest Asia Region. “I know all the hard work and planning that went into this. Our Kuwait team knows the hard work was worth it when they saw thousands of smiling faces getting the best barbecue around.”

Kuwait/Jordan General Manager Stanley Young praised the partnership of the USO and MWR; vendors Traeger, Military Auto Source, DHI Telecom, Q-net and Great Steak; local command; Exchange directorates; and the Kuwait team of managers and associates.

“The Kuwait team completed another great customer-building event,” Young said. “As always, we could not have done this without great support from all angles. Since we began the planning in July, everyone stepped up to provide collaborative support from there areas of expertise.

“During the serving of the meals, everybody receiving the barbecue couldn’t stop saying ‘Thank you.’ We made a lot of customers for life.”