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subgenius
5th March 2004, 10:29 PM
Hate fruitcake? Don't know what to do with the ones you get from Aunt Doris?
Here's a way to dump those lumps and do your bit for world peace:

Fruitcake becomes a big hit in Afghanistan

By SUELLEN DEAN
The Herald-Journal in Spartanburg, S.C.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Claxton fruitcakes have now contributed to world peace, or at least they've made Lt. Col. Glenn Bramhall of Spartanburg a popular American in Afghanistan.

Bramhall is commander of a unit of 300 soldiers from all branches of the military who are there to train and mentor the 3rd Brigade of the Afghan National Army.
The Americans train the Afghans to use tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
Bramhall left for Afghanistan before the height of fruitcake season in the South. So his mother-in-law mailed two Claxton fruitcakes to her son-in-law's compound outside of Kabul.
The U.S. commander shared his ``Southern delicacy'' during teatime with an Afghan general, who devoured it and demanded to know which ``secret'' bakery in Kabul baked the cakes, because his people had never had such a delicacy.
Bramhall gave him his second cake and promised more.
He called home and told his wife to please send more fruitcakes.
......
In the end, Sanders and the Civitans mailed 144 pounds of fruitcake _ or six cases _ to Bramhall in Afghanistan.

``The delivery caused riots, fights,'' because everyone wanted some, Bramhall said.

Bramhall has since e-mailed Claxton to let them know that their fruitcakes have been part of the ``peace-keeping'' effort in Afghanistan.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/custom/fringe/sfl-32fruitcakes,0,3507152.story?coll=sfla-news-fringe

waitew
5th March 2004, 10:33 PM
Now,that's funny!A fruit cake for the fruit cakes.I hate fruit cake..it's just what they deserve.My only regret is that they actually seem to like the darn things.

Roadtoad
6th March 2004, 02:14 PM
Actually, I like fruitcake. My grandmother used to send us a Corsicana Fruitcake every year for Christmas, and I'd eat it all. My parents and siblings hated that stuff.

If memory serves, James Villas said it gets better if you souse it with Bourbon and let it sit for a bit. I wouldn't know; it's never lasted long enough when it's been in my presence.:D

Mycroft
6th March 2004, 06:54 PM
I like fruitcake too. I don't know why it gets such a bum rap.

Cleopatra
6th March 2004, 11:41 PM
I adore fruitcakes and it requires good skills to make a good one.

The story made me smile bitterly though. It's like those stories of British collonialists who siad that they tamed the "savages" with giving them small mirrors...

Roadtoad
7th March 2004, 01:37 PM
Originally posted by Cleopatra
I adore fruitcakes and it requires good skills to make a good one.

The story made me smile bitterly though. It's like those stories of British collonialists who siad that they tamed the "savages" with giving them small mirrors...

I hadn't heard such tales. Unfortunately, the mention jars part of me to remember reading Allan Bloom's description of teaching a class in Ethics, and the kids sitting around sullenly as he presented a "Colonial" situation, and their insipid response, "Well, we shouldn't have been there in the first place!" (You'll have to read The Closing of the American Mind for the whole story.)

I don't think of this as "taming savages." I see it as a genuine act of friendship.

I keep hoping one day I'll get to visit Afghanistan. As chaotic and crazy (and dangerous) as it sounds, I think I could learn a lot from the journey.