Here's what Thanksgiving looked like for US troops at the southern border

Thousands of US troops spent the Thanksgiving holiday not with their families but at the US-Mexico border, where they are awaiting the arrival of migrant caravans alongside the border-patrol personnel they were deployed to support and defend from harm.

The Pentagon provided traditional Thanksgiving meals to American troops at the border as well as those abroad in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other parts of the world.

These photos show what the holiday looked like for some of the US troops at the border.

The Department of Defense sent more than 300,000 pounds of traditional Thanksgiving food to American troops serving overseas and at the southern US border, the Pentagon said Monday.

"Many of America's military men and women are away from home this Thanksgiving, making sacrifices to secure our freedom and to protect our southern border," Army Brig. Gen. Mark Simerly, the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support commander, said in a statement.

"The DLA Troop Support staff and I are excited about this amazing opportunity to provide them the very best Thanksgiving meal our country has to offer," he said.

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51,234 pounds of roasted turkey, 16,284 pounds of sweet potatoes, 81,360 pies, 19,284 cakes, and 7,836 gallons of eggnog were sent to 270 dining facilities serving US military personnel.

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Nearly 800 pounds of turkey was delivered to US troops serving along the southern border in Texas.

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Thursday was a "light-duty day" for troops at the border, US Army North told reporters, explaining that the deployed military personnel would be doing little to no work during the holiday.

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An estimated 5,800 active-duty troops are serving at the US-Mexico border. This is in addition to the 2,100 National Guard troops who were deployed to the border in April.

The newest arrivals were deployed to the border late last month in response to White House pressure.

Troops from across the country were sent to support Customs and Border Protection officials as they prepare for the impending arrival of caravans consisting of thousands of migrants from across Latin America determined to enter the US. The Trump administration sent the US military to help harden and secure the southern border.

Critics of the deployment of troops to border areas in Texas, Arizona, and California have called it a political stunt, but Trump administration officials, including Secretary of Defense James Mattis, have rejected such accusations, insisting that the approaching migrant caravans are a threat to US national security.

Some observers have expressed disappointment that the US military personnel deployed to the southern border were not allowed to go home for Thanksgiving.

"These are tough people," President Donald Trump said earlier this week, adding: "They know what they're doing and they're great, and they've done a great job. You're so worried about the Thanksgiving holiday for them. They are so proud to be representing our country on the border."

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The deployment is expected to last until December 15, but it could be extended.

Mattis said Wednesday that some US troops might spend Christmas as the border.

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For weeks, the military has been tasked with erecting barriers at the border.

Troops ran miles and miles of razor wire with no clarity on what the mission, previously known as "Operation Faithful Patriot" and later changed to "border support," would look like going forward.

The White House on Wednesday authorized US troops to take protective measures, including the use of lethal force, to defend border-patrol officials from violence, expanding the mission from support to security.

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"If they have to, they're going to use lethal force," Trump said Thursday.

Mattis said the day before that there had been no request for lethal force, that troops would not be armed, and that the military was not there to kill migrants. "Relax. Don't worry about it," he told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

Source: , Task & Purpose

Here's what Thanksgiving looked like for US troops at the southern border

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