INSTAPUNDIT’S AFGHANISTAN PHOTO CORRESPONDENT, Major John Tammes, sends this self-portrait and a Thanksgiving message:

Sir,

I wanted to wish you, the Instawife, Instadaughter and all the rest of the Instafamily (even your now-blogging-historian-Instabrother) a peaceful Thanksgiving.

I spent a good part of the day tramping through fields, vineyards and farm paths examining 107mm rocket impact sites. Somebody really wished us ill this past week. At least when I got back, I was able to follow the original purpose of Thanksgiving by being appropriately thankful for all the support from you and others – I have been astounded at the outpouring of help my family and I have been offered and have been given. After being thankful, I then nearly put myself into a food coma…

Sincerely,

Major John Tammes
Ordnance Corps, US Army
Bagram, Afghanistan

I’m thankful for Major Tammes, and those like him, every day. Here’s a list of ways you can help the troops.

Max Boot writes today in the Los Angeles Times:

It is all too easy to take the all-volunteer armed forces for granted. They’ve been around now for 31 years, ever since the draft was abolished in 1973. We have become used to having a high-quality military filled by dedicated young women and men willing to put their lives on the line for less money than Donald Trump hands out in tips every week.

It is worth remembering how extraordinary and unusual our service members really are — and how much we owe them this Thanksgiving.

He’s right. Read the whole thing.