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American Morning

Interview With Scott Thomas

Aired August 30, 2002 - 07:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: If baseball players do walk off the field of dreams today, many sports fans will lose one of life's little pleasures. But for the U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, baseball is more than that. It helps relieve the stress of life in the combat zone.
All you have to do is ask Staff Sergeant Scott Thomas, a weapons squad leader with the 82nd Airborne Division. He comes to us via videophone from Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Sergeant, hello -- thanks for joining us.

STAFF SGT. SCOTT THOMAS, 82ND AIRBORNE DIVISION: No problem.

KAGAN: I understand you were so upset about the possibility of a strike that you wrote us a letter here at CNN, kind of like a letter to the editor, blasting the baseball players.

THOMAS: Yes, ma'am, I did. More to the truth, I read more about it and heard more about them going on strike, we thought it was just inconceivable for them to do something like that, when we're out here fighting for the very freedom and the very fact that they can play baseball, and they are fighting (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

KAGAN: Sergeant, I'm going to have you stand by there a second. We want to share the letter that you wrote to us here at CNN with our viewers at home, if we can put the letter up on the screen, and I'll read a bit of it.

"Baseball players need to stop thinking of their two house and five automobiles, and start remembering 9/11 and become Patriots and play for the game." And you also write: "I am a Braves fan, and have lived in Atlanta my whole life. If the playing conditions are so bad, Tom Glavine can come and stand guard behind one of my M-24B machine guns and see what the price of freedom really is." Written by Staff Sergeant Scott Thomas.

Sergeant, it sounds like you're much more upset with the baseball players rather than the baseball owners for this mess.

THOMAS: Yes, ma'am. It's just like us. They have a job like we have a job. If we go on strike, the very fabric and the very (ph) nation come crumbling down, and terrorism could just go rampant through our nation.

Baseball players should play for the love of the game, and not worry about the money. They make millions of dollars. Why do they need millions more? We are being paid far, far less than what they do for doing a lot more dangerous job. And you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) coming home, but many Special Forces and Rangers have proven (ph), you know, some of us just aren't going to come home. Baseball players need to realize they're playing for us and the nation as well.

KAGAN: If, in fact, there is no baseball strike, and it looks like they're kind of inching that way, will you stick with baseball and will you still support the Atlanta Braves and your other favorite players and teams?

THOMAS: I'll still support the players and the teams, not so much the players. I'll still be upset that they even thought about this, and that they put themselves before the game and the fans. I can't believe that they would do something like this.

KAGAN: We're going to forget about their job for just a moment, and salute your job. Sergeant, tell me exactly what your job is there in Afghanistan, and quickly introduce who's around you and let me know their hometowns, please.

THOMAS: Yes, ma'am. I'm a weapons squad leader. I'm in charge of two machine crews in the anti-tank section and the sniper team.

To my right is First-Class Agnew (ph). He's from Missouri. Behind me is Private First-Class Plekowski (ph). He is from Illinois. And to my left, Staff Sergeant Chambers (ph), and he's from...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Washington.

THOMAS: ... Washington.

KAGAN: Well, gentlemen, we salute all of you, and we want you to know even if the baseball players get it wrong, we truly, truly appreciate the job you are doing for us over there in Afghanistan. Our thanks so much for being on with us and the good work that you're doing for the United States.

Very good, Staff Sergeant Scott Thomas, 82nd Airborne Division.

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