Ten service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan received special Thanksgiving Day greetings – from the President of the United States.

A feature on the Navy Times shared that President Barack Obama placed a total of ten calls – two service members each from the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy – to wish them, as well as their families, a happy Thanksgiving. And in the spirit of the holiday, the President also expressed his gratitude for their “service and sacrifice.” The President was said to have made the same calls to deployed troops last year, during his first Thanksgiving as President.

Incidentally, the President figured in a basketball injury the day after Thanksgiving, while playing a private basketball game at Fort McNair in Washington. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gave the following statement, shared on The Washington Post: “After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player’s elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the President received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit.”