Pvt. Annabelle Mowery, an 18-year-old Petroleum Supply Specialist and Soldier in training with Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment hides behind a barricade during a game of laser tag Dec. 30. Mowery and other Soldiers, who didn't go ...

Pvt. Mohamed Kadar Idle, an advanced individual training student with Charlie Company, 369th AG Battalion and Rochester, Minn. native, prepares to gun down his rivals during a friendly game of laser tag Dec. 30 on Fort Jackson. The 19-year-old Idle w...

It may not have been the Christmas some of them dreamed of -- gray and wet, and far from the bosom of Family and friends -- but the nearly 300 Soldiers held over at Fort Jackson through the holidays at least were busy.

They took in the lights at Riverbanks Zoo and Saluda Shoals Park. In the rain.

Those who dared -- or who already knew how -- tackled ice skating at the Plex complex in Irmo the day after Christmas, with varying degrees of success. One Soldier branded his attempt on the ice as "more terrifying" than rappelling down Victory Tower.

And, at a few specially arranged times, throngs of them did what every Soldier is good at:

They ate.

And ate.

And ate -- mostly brown things: Meat. Potatoes. Chocolate.

"Some of them didn't even eat anything (healthy)," said Staff Sgt. Adam Gamache, a drill sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment who shepherded the holdovers on a trip to Golden Corral on Dec. 29. "They just went to the dessert area and piled it on."

Billeted at the recently renovated barracks of the 2-60th, the holdovers also had video games and movies at their disposal.

On the Sunday after Christmas, Soldiers bused to Charleston for a Stingrays hockey game and special dinner.

The following Wednesday, they traveled to Charlotte for a Hornets basketball game at which they presented the American flag pregame and shot free throws after the game had ended.

On Dec. 30, the Directorate of Family, Welfare, Morale and Recreation set up bouts of laser tag.

FMWR arranged most of the outings for the week, with aid of the USO.

Overall costs to FMWR: about $12,000, according to Chuck Stoudemire, FMWR delivery programmer. That's about the cost of airline tickets for five Soldiers who would have flown home to Alaska or Hawaii, given the money.

According to those who stayed behind, the money was well spent.

"It's been a really fun week," said Pvt. Dallas Morgan of Bravo Company, 120th Adjutant General Battalion. "The drill sergeants are really helpful with us, (and) they've been taking us on trips."

Pvt. Cody Lane of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment, appreciated the welcome the community had given the Soldiers during their travels.

"People are taking photos and clapping hands," he said.

That kind of treatment "kind of makes us feel human again," said Pvt. Matthew Haines of Charlie Company, 369th AG Battalion.

First Sgt. Hilario Velasquez of Bravo Company, 2-60th, said the group of about 270 holdovers had been a good one, presenting few discipline problems beyond using their cell phones when they shouldn't have. The group, he said, grew by one or two each day, as basic trainees and Soldiers in Advanced Individual Training trickled in.

One Soldier even left post and returned in four days.

His Family bored him, he told employees of FMWR setting up activities, and he knew he'd be busy on post.