Christmas Carol written by PFC Matthew Nelson

On the evening of December 25th, eight soldiers from the 3rd platoon of the 58th CEC went on a Christmas Caroling Adventure. I was fortunate to be one of those eight happy singing men who was urged by our amazing lieutenant to bring cheer and joy to various houses on COB Speicher.

We practiced our songs repeatedly before starting our tour, the practice was essential to making out singing voices and rhythm near perfect. Afterwards we all met up at the coffee shop and prepared to start spreading our Christmas spirit. First we entertained our Commander. We sang our songs for him, and he seemed to appreciate it, though he did imply that our singing needed some improvement. We then left the TOC and ventured into the "crack house" area. A soldier suggested that we go and sing in front of his female friend's house. And so we did. Our songs attracted two young women to come out and listen to us, after that we left and decided only to entertain the people in our platoon. We walked to the house that mostly has 3rd squad and started to sing, unfortunately not everyone in that house enjoyed the sound of our voices, someone even threw things at us and slammed his door! But most of the people in that house liked us and we even had someone join us as we went on to the next building!

We continued to carol for our platoon at the next building, and then when we reached my house, things changed a little. We all went inside and started to sing in the empty hallway. Within a matter of seconds people opened their bedroom doors and stood in amazement as we sang our songs loud and proudly. It was a wonderful and memorable experience. We then left my house and ventured to the lieutenant's house, but one of us had the idea of entertaining the Sergeant Major. After some debating we decided to do just that, and walked to his house. As we got there he was just about to step outside. We stood around his front yard with our Platoon Sergeant witnessing, and we sang our songs for the last time that evening. The Sergeant major thanked us and took many pictures and then the eight Christmas carolers left.

The blessed night ended with most of us gathered around a fire in front of the lieutenant’s house roasting marshmallows and socializing. Altogether that night was fun and a morale booster. And I was very honored to be apart of it.