136th Expeditionary Signal Battalion

1182 Ellington Field
Bldg. 1182
Houston, Texas 77034 

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Tailgaters,

We had a great time Sunday, January 13th with the HQ 136th ESB at Ellington Field on their family day!  This National Guard unit is based at Ellington and really took care of us.  The weather was wet, windy and cold but they got us set up in a loading ramp adjacent to their building and provided some pop-ups, and let us use their kitchen so the set up was perfect, and we were out of the wind and weather.   It helped a lot that Larry Seriani (and Don Whisman?) already had all the meat cooked and sliced when they showed up early Sunday morning.  We served at least 225 meals, probably a little more, and we seemed to have just about the right amount of food, except that the brisket ran out just before we were done serving.  We thought 73 pounds of brisket (uncooked) and 48 pounds of sausage would make a combined 200 servings (plus we served about 40 hamburgers, hot dogs and a few grilled chicken breasts) but it seems the brisket cooked down and had more fat than we had counted on.  I didn't count noses but I think we had about 15 volunteers present which worked out fine.  A large thank you to all of you who made the drive through the rain and worked this event. 

As we were leaving, the unit colonel thanked us and gave us a recognition certificate and then handed us an envelope with some cash in it.  I didn't look at it closely then and I figured it was a few bucks they had collected that morning - I was wrong.  They donated almost $400 to us to use for future events!  We certainly were not expecting that and they certainly didn't need to do it but we will use it!